Albino Dinosaur eel

Question
Christy,
I was wondering if you could give me some insight on whats happening in my tank. I have a 30 gallon long with one Albino Dinosaur eel in the tank all by herself.There was a Clown Pleco in there but he died recently. My water tested fine but my eel will not eat and she is very lethargic.I replaced the heater and she seemed to be a little more active but not much. I have had her for a year and a half and she has never been this way. She is only 8 inches long I'm not sure if she could grow bigger or if she is done growing.Also one of the two "whiskers" on her nose seems to be injured or shrinking.

Answer
Hi Mike
Sorry for your problems!

What happened to the pleco, what were the symptoms(if any) before he died?

Well I've never owned these fish before, so I did a bunch of research on them.  Mostly it's all just general info though, but one thing I found that was interesting, they have a special "coating" on their scales.  This makes them almost resistant to most types of bacterial, fungal, and parasitic infections most fish get.  They also mention that they usually grow between 13-20 inches-depending on the species, so yours has a bit more to go.  

You say the water tested fine, but what exactly are the readings?  Ammonia and nitrites should be at 0 ppm, and nitrates under 20 ppm.  Any amounts of ammonia or nitrites will stress the fish, even though some pet stores and some test kits show some ammonia and nitrites are safe, it's not.  

So, I would recommend doing a water change, and see if that helps.  Are you using anything to adjust the ph?  And are you feeding a varied diet, like bloodworms, regular worms, cut up fish/shrimp?  Also, you mentioned you replaced the heater.  What was the temperature reading before you added it back on?  They do prefer a warmer temp around 78-80 F ideally.  She's not rubbing or scratching on objects in the tank at all?

For the whiskers, I know with most fish that have those, it's recommended to have a softer substrate, like sand.  That way they don't get damaged when they're scavenging for food along the bottom.  That could be what's happened there.  You could try adding a little MelaFix to the tank for that.

Here's a coule of the links I found to read up on them.  The first 2 are very good and informative.  The third is just kinda general.

http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/breeding/Gallo_Senegal_Bichir.html

http://www.polypterus.info/keeping_polypterus.htm

http://badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile41.html

I don't know if that's much help, but definitely try the water change first.  Let me know how it goes!

Christy