[xerxeswasachump]

Ok, so i was an idiot and bought a "spiny eel" for my 55 gallon on impulse two days ago. He seemed to settle in nicely, hiding near rock overhangs and such. Unfortunately, i haven't seen him since the night i bought him. I understand theyc an burrow in the substrate, but wouldn't his head be stickign out of something? I'd rather not tear apart all of my tank just to find this stupid critter. Are there any good methods for coaxing him out of hiding? Also, i use standard hoods over my aquarium, meaning that there are some small holes in the back, i also have the tank pretty full. Could he have jumped out? I haven't found a corpse or anything and i doubt he could crawl far, although i guess my cat could have eaten it.

Also, i have another slightly unrelated question. I have a big HOB filter for my 55. Unfortunately, it seems to be pumping a little too hard and some of the fish don't seem to appreciate the current (a juvenile angelfish died overnight, my water is fine, i swear). So are there any neat, easy, do-it-yourself methods for decreasing the impact of the filtered water? I read somewhere about a guy who floated pieces of styrafoam by his filter outtake to disperse the exit flow to lower oxygen (something else i would like to do for my plants), and slow down the current.
Would modifying my exit flow mess up my biowheels?