Eel Behavior Concern

[LCDRDATA]

Our snowflake moray, Erastus, hasn't eaten in at least two weeks. We've had him for several years now; he's never skipped eating this long before and my wife is getting worried. Generally, he sits in his PVC tubing, like so:

 

 

He's usually visible like this about 25-50% of the time, closer to all the time when he's hungry. Sometimes, especially when he hasn't eaten in awhile, he'll come all the way out and slither around the tank:

 

 

Last week, my wife was so worried I had to take two powerheads and stick them directly into two of the three portals to his tubing to try and blow him out to verify he was still alive. It took awhile, and he wasn't happy about it, but eventually he came all the way out. We looked him over as closely as we could, and while we couldn't tell if he'd lost weight or not there was no visible sign of disease or parasites. Still, he didn't want to eat then or the next morning. When we've put his food directly into the pipes we find it floating around the tank later (at least, what the trigger hasn't eaten). Nothing significant has changed in the tank.

 

So, with all that as background, any ideas? How worried should we be (or not)? Any suggestions?

Edited January 26, 2015 by LCDRDATA

[Sharkey18]

He looks really well fed..... maybe he's just not hungry? 

[Coral Hind]

Check the tank at night to see if he comes out. Nothing else in the tank picking on it? I've had angels and large tangs develop a nipping for eels. They were fine together for years then started nipping. I agree with Sharkey, he does look fat. Any fish, shrimp, or crabs missing in the tank? Is it too fat that it might be stuck in there? I had one eel go for a solid month without feeding.

[LCDRDATA]

He looks really well fed..... maybe he's just not hungry? 

 

Well, we try to keep him well fed, but he still usually wants something at least twice a week, and its been at least two, maybe three weeks since he's eaten anything as far as we can tell. So we'd think by now he'd be hungry.

 

Check the tank at night to see if he comes out. Nothing else in the tank picking on it? I've had angels and large tangs develop a nipping for eels. They were fine together for years then started nipping. I agree with Sharkey, he does look fat. Any fish, shrimp, or crabs missing in the tank? Is it too fat that it might be stuck in there? I had one eel go for a solid month without feeding.

 

We haven't seen him out at night, although I'll probably try checking more frequently. I've never seen anything pick on him -- except for a couple of apparently suicidal dwarf angels that he tolerated for awhile but eventually obliged. We have a humu trigger that does try to steal his food, which is why he pulls back into the tubing as soon as he grabs it. I've never seen any of the other fish (blue velvet damsel, scribbled foxface, and valentini puffer) pick on him, nor the humu directly. The CUC consists of a couple of large turbos and a pair of slate-pencil urchins that he couldn't really eat. As to being too fat, my wife has wondered about that also, but we used 2" PVC tubing. Moreover, if he had gotten stuck one would think he'd be a bit more careful going in after we blew him out, but he left his hidey-hole under the rocks in favor of the tubes as soon as he was sure the powerheads in the openings were gone - and we haven't seen him come back out since. So we're still trying to figure out how concerned we should or shouldn't be and what else, if anything, we can or ought to do about it.

[davelin315]

I had an eel not eat for 3 months. Hunger strikes are not completely uncommon but there is usually a trigger. It is not often that one stops feeding for absolutely no reason, it is just a question of why. Reasons in the past for me were changes of tanks, slight water quality issues, and current (electrical) and copper in the tank from a cracked heater (big water quality issues).

[LCDRDATA]

I had an eel not eat for 3 months. Hunger strikes are not completely uncommon but there is usually a trigger.... Reasons in the past for me were changes of tanks, slight water quality issues, and current (electrical) and copper in the tank from a cracked heater (big water quality issues).

 

Thanks. I don't think any of those are an issue, but they're all worth checking. After looking at your list of triggers, I don't know if the fact that all the other fish are still eating makes me more or less concerned.

[cynthia]

I have a snowflake eel and have had him for about 5 years and a dwarf golden moray eel.  The go  through periods of not wanting to eat.  They will not eat sometimes for a whole week and then they will eat.  They go through those periods.  Just like a normal snake would.  My eels will also get tired of eating one thing and if I give them something else they will then start eating.  I feed mine various things like, raw shrimp, squid, flarge freeze dried Krill, and silversides on occasion.  Make sure you are including Iodine in it's diet.  I add it once a week.  Eels and sharks need this supplement to maintain being healthy