Tire Track Eel Cannot Move Neck Right

[jonny5]

so my eel which i was told and i think is a tire track eel has been in my tank for about 4-5 months now. I saw him today moving somewhat eradictlly and unable to burrow into the soft substrate, almost as if his neck had broken. My Sg is at 1.004 and im thinking that maybe the salt level is killing him so im gonna acclimate him to my freshwater tank even though i think he will die from shock.

question is, can the salt level cause that type of effect, where he could not properly move, unable to burrow. Or did he most likely just somehow injure his neck within the tank?

 

[nmonks]

Tyre-track eels do well, perhaps best, when exposed to very slight salinity, SG 1.001 to 1.002 being about right. For a variety of reasons slightly saline conditions seem to help these and some of the other large spiny eels to thrive. They should do well in freshwater too, but for some reason often don't. In any case, SG 1.005 at 25 C would be too saline, so yes, at least halving the salinity would be beneficial.

With that said, tyre-track eels most commonly die from either jumping out, from starving to death, or from being fed a chronically poor diet (i.e., one rich in thiaminase*). Physical injury is possible but very unlikely.

Cheers, Neale

*In other words, use of feeder fish and too many shrimps and mussels; instead, don't use feeder fish at all, and make sure most of the eel's diet is earthworms, cockles, and tilapia fillet. Thiaminase causes vitamin B1 deficiency, and that will lead to a variety of things including neurological and muscular damage.

 

[jonny5]

Tyre-track eels do well, perhaps best, when exposed to very slight salinity, SG 1.001 to 1.002 being about right. For a variety of reasons slightly saline conditions seem to help these and some of the other large spiny eels to thrive. They should do well in freshwater too, but for some reason often don't. In any case, SG 1.005 at 25 C would be too saline, so yes, at least halving the salinity would be beneficial.

With that said, tyre-track eels most commonly die from either jumping out, from starving to death, or from being fed a chronically poor diet (i.e., one rich in thiaminase*). Physical injury is possible but very unlikely.

Cheers, Neale

*In other words, use of feeder fish and too many shrimps and mussels; instead, don't use feeder fish at all, and make sure most of the eel's diet is earthworms, cockles, and tilapia fillet. Thiaminase causes vitamin B1 deficiency, and that will lead to a variety of things including neurological and muscular damage.

ya he is very thin too so he could have staved, but i use krill and mysis shrimp at night every other night so the next best thing to live food is available(I was under the assumption mysis had no thiaminase and is considered the best overal fish food). I feel bad, i salted and or starved the guy to a slow painful death. Hopefully he can live through the acclimation, i do not believe he is not big enough to eat any of my celebes rainbows so my fw tank will be his temporary home until i get him to the LFS. Thanks for the info neal.