i have had two peacock eels in the past two months
each one has died the first night after being in my 40 gallon tank.
i have guaramis, tetras, and platys in the tank and there all fine but every time i introduce a peacock eel they die. i have gravel and driftwood but i also have coral and shells for the eel ..
there were no marks or anything on the eel and im guessing the waters fine since all of my other fish are doing perfectt
any solutions or are eels just not cut out for 40 gallon community gravel tanks?!
Nitrates. The other fish are used to the elevated level but the ned fish feel immediate shock and die overnight. Test your nitrates and I am positive you will find them elevated. You shouldn't be "guessing" when you can know for sure!;)
It is very common, even with regular water changes, to have the nitrates slowly creep up on you (the water changes are diluting the nitrates but not enough and they keep slowly climbing rather than decreasing or staying stable as they would if the frequency/level of water changes were adequate). The fish in the system are slowly getting acclimated to the higher nitrate and can tolerate it and seem perfectly fine, until they hit their "wall" and suddenly have reached the level where the nitrates produce visible harm rather than just causing long term harm. OR until such time as the nitrates finally have been elevated long enough to cause the internal organ damage and the fish just suddenly get very ill or die.
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com Simple fix: do more frequent partial water changes until you get the level back in the "safe" range, then try again. Also remember to acclimate the eel carefully and slowly to the tank. Drip acclimate is best. You can do like 1/3 water change every other day until you have them back below 20ppm, preferably below 10ppm.
Then test for nitrates and make sure your level of water changes is enough to keep them in check for the future.
Also, do you have anything you are adding to the tank, like medication or "remedies" such as melafix, aquarium salt, etc? Stop.
Peacock eels are more sensitive to water conditions and infection than most tropical fish as their bodies are not covered in scales and as such absorb things much faster. So its quite possible that your hardier gouramis and tetras are fine in your current water conditions but the more sensitive peacock eel isn't.
Also when you add the eel, do you do so gradually, replacing the bag water with your water over and extended period slowly or do you just let it sit for a few minutes before dumping it in. Such a big change in water condition with such a sensitive creature can be enough to shock it and kill it suddenly if not give adequet time to adjust as well.
The problem is that they are species fish and they are shy and need a piece of piping big enough for them to go in.
Get your water tested. Don't settle for "It's fine", get the numbers. Ammonia and nitrite should be zero and nitrate under 20. Fish can build up a tolerance for poor water conditions if they aren ' t too poor, but any new fish added can't adjust fast enough and die. Like Roar Shack mentioned too, peacock eels are scaleless and a little more sensitive.
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com If your water tests okay, it may be pH or something else that's different and you may need a slower acclimatization. You could try drip acclimatization, it's a method often used for especially sensitive fish.
Drip Acclimatization:
Get a fish bucket (one that has never had soap or any other dangerous to fish substance in it) and pour the fish and enough bag water to comfortably cover it in. Put it near the tank, below the water line.
Take some tank airline hose and loosely tie a knot in it. Start a siphon with it and slowly tighten the knot until it's only dripping.
Let it drip into the bucket for an hour or two, but before the bucket overflows.
Net the fish, put it in the tank.
Discard the bucket water (great for watering plants) and top off the tank with fresh, dechlorinated water.
