The Puffer Forum

All I can say now is 'OHHH CRAP!' This afternoon I came home finding the 'freshwater' moray acting weird, as in his breathing was more slow then his normal pace. I thought that it was because he had not eaten in a while and the problem would be solved by later today. So I went out and got some krill, ghosties, garlic gaurd, and the other 2 morays (to give the other one company cause he seemed sluggish after he was taken away from the others.)

I get home to find him laying on the tank doing his slow breathes and then he gapes his mouth and lunges towards the glass (OK, seems I scared him) so then I continue to float the other morays in the QT. He looks at the bag, then goes back facing the glass.

45 minutes after complete floating and water being introduced to the bag the *new* eels go to check out the first one, they rub against him, nudge him, and seem to sniff him. One then goes off to a cave in the tank (a cup) and the other goes to the opening between where the aquariumglass and the cup meet. The original moray is just dazed for the moment. Then out of no where he follows the second eel to the crack. I watch for a little to find no aggression, so I go off to feed the puffs (oh and yes I soaked some krill in garlic gaurd to find he is not intrested, so I introduced 5 ghosties.) I come back down to check out the eels to find my 1st guy on his side (breathing) as if he were euthanatised. I get a soft brine net to nudge him and flips over to move to some PVC to support him (there is a pretty strong current in this bare bottom tank.)

I don't know what to diagnose this guy with so I have no clue on any remidies.

Only things I could think of were the following:

~SG hasn't been raised yet and the eel isn't taking to the temporary fresh too kindly.

~He is not eating, therefore he is weak.

~I medicated the tank with a partial dose of Pima Fix to help calm him and help treat him for anything bacteria related that I might have missed while examining him before taking him home.)

~I've been using DI water for watcher changes.

~Ph 6.5 has been added to help make the water slightly acidic (last water change with this added yesterday)

interesting..whats the SG supposed to be normally?

Why would you want a BW fish in such low pH? Possibly pH shock?

I don't think the additional two were really needed, especially since this one is sick. It's best to not dose them all together, the two new supposedly healthy ones don't need medicating and this will stress them out. QT the other into another tank or a hospital if you have one and medicate him separately. If they pimafix isn't doing anything I'd suggest to have marcyn 2 on hand just in case it is bacterial. Switching around meds isn't good for the fish though.

Your PH is also way to low for them. They like a more alkaline "hard" water. Many people buffer their water rather than make is softer for these guys. I'd suspect the problem might not be disease related but rather to low PH.

I've always found the best remedies are sometimes the natural ones. So the sooner you can add the salt the better. Even just a small amount for now will be great and do the eel good.

How long have you had the original guy for and how long has it been since the others were introduced? Best of luck, they're awesome little creatures. It must suck to have to watch one suffer.

Nick average gravity is 1.010 all though they can survive in 1.005 and slowly be brought up. They generally don't live very long in completely fresh water.