Spiny Eel died

[Perky]

My Spiny died and it was with a BGK. It had a white belly and a white mark which I think is a bite mark from my Clown Loach after it died. It was fine a hour before I found it dead. The Eel was with a BGK, 3 Silver sharks, 4 Clown Loach and a Common Plec. The only fish bigger than him was the Plec but they have been together for over 3 months. The Common Plec was first in followed by the Spiny Eel. I would like to know why it died but it may be a mystery. Any thoughts post them here. My LFS has a bigger one so I will buy him soon or get one from Tri-mar in the future.

 

[CFC]

It is a sad fact that sometimes fish just drop dead without warning and for no visable reason, i have lost count of the number of fish i have had die over night for no apperant reason. I believe that a lot of the time these deaths are caused by a insufficient diet which has prevented them from growing properly inside, most fish shops and commercial breeders are pretty tight with feeding and will often only offer the fish a pinch of flakes or a few pellets as a daily feedwhich fish like eels are reluctant to eat if they eat them at all.

Keep a eye on the other fish for the next few days and look out for any signs of disease but i expect as in most cases like this it will be a one off death.

 

[short_term_memory_loss]

Yeah i would definately keep an eye on the remaining fish for the next week or so eel's commonly carry whitespot which cause's alot of eel death's in captivity and as the post above says if he's been underfed or wrongly fed at the lfs your off on a bad footing with eel's from the start i recon.
If you plan on adding more eel's in the future i would keep them in a Q tank until your sure there is no illness in the fish and that he takes food properly on a daily basis before adding him to his home. Hope this help's you a little

 

[Perky]

He has been in my tank for 3 months and no white spot. I havn't seen him eat lately but I have not tried to watch him eat. The only other tank I have is a 15 Gallon with fish in it so I can't QT. My lfs is very good for quality. They also never give up on fish. They will seperate it and treat it if they have to and use meds for other peoplles use. I have seen them feed the fish and they have left overs usually that they throw in with the Lung fish and other fish that eat a lot.

 

[lonelyneon]

As a reply to the LFS comment on food it is so true because when I got my first fish and I asked them how often they fed them and how often I am too he replied that they fed them once every other day and that i was to do the same but the food package said twice a day -shrugs-