need advice for Moray eel w/extended stomach and white solid excrement

[Dapg8gt]

A friend of mine has a 280g tank with a Moray eel and a few other eels in it. For the last few days the eel has had a very large ball in its stomach.

Today the eel passed the ball and it was a solid white substance both solid and heavy liquid (puss like) and he stated he thinks there is a hole next to the Anus that the substance was also coming out of. The eel at this time seems to look normal but is breathing heavier than normal. This is not my tank so I'll pass on what I know and hope someone can give some advice..

Tank size 280g.
Eel 5 years old approx 3' long(with issue) ..
Last meal was squid
Tank has always had high nutrients but don't think that's the cause of it personally.
All other tank mates are fine (cotton mouth eel? 2',unknown to me eel 20" and a panther grouper approx 14")
Monthly water changes, runs carbon in a reactor and feeds a variety of foods heavily..

There is no way at this time to remove the eel due to the size to treat outside of the tank but I think if it needs to happen it will.. Is there any broad spectrum meds that he can use in tank? Should it be an antibiotic at this time or something else? He has live rock and sand in tank fwiw..

Thanks in advance I'm trying to get some pictures of it but he says he really only has pictures of the ball in his stomach and nothing of the time when it came out.. Any recommendations would be appreciated..

If I left any critical info out let me know or if you have had a similar thing happen please share the outcome.. I'm a reef guy so large carnivorous fish are not really my cup of tea and I'm lost when asked for help medication wise except for standard QT treatments of fish for the usual suspects on new to me fish.

My advice so far has been do a series of water changes to get the cloudiness from the event out of the tank, change carbon and hold off on feeding for a bit to see if this get better..

Thanks in advance
Daniel

 

[HumbleFish]

I haven't kept an eel in many years, so all I can tell you is there are no "reef safe" antibiotics. I have, however, used erythromycin and minocycline in a FOWLR many times will minimal impact on nitrifying bacteria. However, I'm not even sure antibiotic treatment is needed here. If the eel has intestinal parasites, for example, your friend would need to use metronidazole. You can safely mix that with the fish's food right in the tank.

However, based upon the symptoms you described and my lack of knowledge of eels, I cannot give you a solid diagnosis. My suggestion would be to also post this in the Fish Only & Aggressive Tanks forum, as you may encounter people in there more experienced with eels.