How long can a SF Eel survive out of water?

[Jiggz]

the only way i could think of him escaping, is that he pushed the top off the tank. the tank is weighed down now and theres are no opening that i can see. im also pretty sure he is too thick to slip through the holes in the eggcrate.

 

[Patchy]

proberl;y got through you egg crate they are like mice you think they cant fit through a hole then they do it! their slime makes the move through narrow spaces even easier.

He may be out of it for a little while make sure nothing picks om him til he is fully recovered

 

[dhoch]

You'd be surprised how small an area these guys can get through... I had a snowflake once they got in my overflow, down to the sump and then out of the sump (I found him two days later behind the sump... no recovery that time).

Dave

 

[mitzel]

thats what mine did had I not had sponge pre filters in he would have been in the sump . the only reason he hit the ground that time was I was trying to net him with too small of a net . because it was the only net that would fit in the over flow .

 

[TropTrea]

I got several shipments of these when when I had my store. Regardless how tightly I'd button up there tanks the next morning I'd always find several of them on the floor. After a few days though they seemed to settle down and would not escape.

Overall survival rate though was probably just under 50%. Light would go out at 8:00 PM and no one would be back in the store till 10:00 the next day. So the ones that did not survive were probably close to 14 hours out of the water.

Dennis

 

[mitzel]

yes they mellow out a lot once they can establish a teritory . Moving the rocks around seams to make them un easy . and gets them moving around again . I try not to mess with the bigger rocks that the eels call home. My eel comes out when the moon light is on and swims around looking for food. Other than that he hangs out and you can see his head sticking out .

 

[XtrmCHoPZ]

I used to have 3 SF eels............all of them ended up on the floor at one time or another. All lived too! Sometimes I would find them in the morning when I go check out my tanks, feed, etc. THey would be kinda crusty and stiff. As soon as I put them in a bucket a H2O they started to move around. From what Ive heard/read they start to form a mucous layer of some sort around them when they get out of the water and that helps them stay alive. Its only a guess but Id say mine had to have been out of the water for at least 4 hrs before. The only eel that hasnt survived a vacation to the floor was a little yellowhead I had. He dried up real quick.

 

[Jiggz]

well this kinda sucks. i was lookin at my sf eel today and he has a gash on his head. i have no clue where it came from, im guessin it rubbed its head a little too hard on some rocks. it looks like pretty deep gash cuz i think i can see bone or something. i feel so sorry for him, i really hope he makes it through and that damn gash heals. he hasnt eaten yet but i seen him swimming around today and but still hides most of the time. is there anything i can do to help the gash on his head heal? i know good water quality but is there some medication i should use?

 

[stykthyn]

soak his food in some vitamins to help boost him up, should pull through on his own, just watch for infection.

 

[Jiggz]

if it were to get infected wut can i treat him with? cuz ive read that morays dont do well with medication. i was thinking of using melafix because it works great in fw, but does it do anything in salt? ive also heard it can mess with skimmer pretty bad.

 

[XtrmCHoPZ]

THey heal fairly quick if theyre eating. Mine ripped eachother up at first and left gashes on eachother. They healed up in a bout a weekk and a half, good as new

 

[mitzel]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7280927#post7280927 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Jiggz
if it were to get infected wut can i treat him with? cuz ive read that morays dont do well with medication. i was thinking of using melafix because it works great in fw, but does it do anything in salt? ive also heard it can mess with skimmer pretty bad.

If you decide to use Melafix YOu'll want to turn off your skimmer . Otherwise its gonna foam over big time

 

[Jiggz]

thanks for all the tips. are sf eels not compatible with one another? i see a lot of them in thet same tank at the lfs but these were small eels. ive seen people put in a sf with other eels with no problems.