Zebra Moray Stopped Eating - Entering Hibernation????

[Crazy Cracker]

I have had my Zebra Moray for about 3 years and he has always had a voracious appetite - until recently.

About six weeks ago, his eating slowed and his appetite seemed to wane. For example, when I would normally feed him two shrimp at a feeding, he would only eat one of them and leave the other uneaten.

This progressed to the point where he would no longer exit his cave to seek out the food, but would only eat if I placed it inside or in front of his cave for easy access.

Now he has stopped eating completely.



I usually fed him frozen shrimp from the grocery store and when his eating slowed I began experimenting with other foods. I have tried scallops, muscles, snow crab, live shrimp (from the bait store) and krill "“ all to no avail.

He is completely unresponsive when I place the food in his cave and it remains uneaten.

His color still looks good and his physical appearance is essentially the same, but his activity has decreased along with his appetite. I have not introduced anything new to the tank in over a year (except for the live shrimp from the bait shop, which are quite happy living in my tank by the way).

Is it possible that he is entering a hibernation period? In the 3 years that I have owned him he has never behaved like this before. He is close to 3 feet long, so is it possible that he is approaching the end of his life span?

What should I do??? Any suggestions????

 

[billdogg]

I have had my Gymnothorax Undulatus for ~24 years. In that time, he has gone on several hunger strikes. The longest was just over 6 months. If it is looking ok otherwise, I would not worry too much. Keep trying every few days or so- eventually he'll eat again.

 

[snorvich]

Hunger strikes are common. Try with delectables such as squid every several days.

 

[davelin315]

What I have found is that typically when they stop eating there's something amiss with the water quality. Check your levels and then also see if a pump or something burned out. I had a zebra moray kick the bucket when a powerhead impeller on a skimmer shredded itself to bits. The first thing I noticed was that the fish weren't eating, next thing the eel was dead.

FWIW, I've had them not eat for several months, too, but the hunger strike can affect even a seemingly healthy fish in many different ways depending on the root cause.