Icewing726
New member
So... my happiness has quickly turned to horror and I'm looking for advice.
Background:
1) Bought two ribbon eels a month ago, one ate frozen pretty easily and I got the other one eating after a month of intense work.
2) The smaller one that I just got started eating disappeared, I moved rocks, used flashlights, checked at all hours and nothing. Gone.
3) I assumed he was dead and an api test started to show a hint of green instead of yellow so I thought that was my ammonia spike and figured I needed to get it out since it was going to foul the water.
My plan was to evacuate the other eel (which was tougher then I thought but I managed it by luring him with food and holding him in the net) and use a siphon with an inner diameter as close to the tube as I could in case the eel was alive. I proceeded to move the water into a clean bucket with the plans of relocating him to the refugium where I could target feed him IF he turned out to be alive.
He did turn out to be alive and was actively swimming. However when I got done making a new pvc home for the refugium (should have done it first but I really thought he had died) the gravity of the situation became clear. I have no idea how it happened but the tail end of him was ripped off...
Questions:
1) Is all hope lost for this guy? When I saw him again I thought he looked small but I hadn't seen him in a long time. I mean most of him is there...
2) Advice on treating him if its even possible...
I really can't imagine how a siphon would have enough force to rip his tail off... I don't think anything could have attacked him though and done that. Seriously feel like an idiot now, thought I had planned this in a way that I would avoid harming him if he was alive.
Anyway, any advice/experiences with an injured eel would be appreciated.
Background:
1) Bought two ribbon eels a month ago, one ate frozen pretty easily and I got the other one eating after a month of intense work.
2) The smaller one that I just got started eating disappeared, I moved rocks, used flashlights, checked at all hours and nothing. Gone.
3) I assumed he was dead and an api test started to show a hint of green instead of yellow so I thought that was my ammonia spike and figured I needed to get it out since it was going to foul the water.
My plan was to evacuate the other eel (which was tougher then I thought but I managed it by luring him with food and holding him in the net) and use a siphon with an inner diameter as close to the tube as I could in case the eel was alive. I proceeded to move the water into a clean bucket with the plans of relocating him to the refugium where I could target feed him IF he turned out to be alive.
He did turn out to be alive and was actively swimming. However when I got done making a new pvc home for the refugium (should have done it first but I really thought he had died) the gravity of the situation became clear. I have no idea how it happened but the tail end of him was ripped off...
Questions:
1) Is all hope lost for this guy? When I saw him again I thought he looked small but I hadn't seen him in a long time. I mean most of him is there...
2) Advice on treating him if its even possible...
I really can't imagine how a siphon would have enough force to rip his tail off... I don't think anything could have attacked him though and done that. Seriously feel like an idiot now, thought I had planned this in a way that I would avoid harming him if he was alive.
Anyway, any advice/experiences with an injured eel would be appreciated.
