3 year old Leopard Wrasse won't eat

[shornik]

I have a Divided Leopard Wrasse (Macropharyngodon bipartitus) that I've had for 3 years. For the last few weeks he/she has been eating less and less. The wrasse seems more and more lethargic and instead of swimming around "hunting" it's swimming but doesn't seem interested - if that makes any sense.

I've been varying what I feed the tank, Doc Eco's eggs, LRS eggs, LRS reef frenzy, LRS nano, Hykari Mysis, Reef Nutrition Brine shrimp, PE Mysis pellets. The latter is about all the wrasse has eaten for the last almost 1 week, he'll eat it from the top of the water but this morning he didn't even eat that.

Other than not eating and becoming lethargic I don't see anything outwardly wrong with it. Sometimes when I feed I can see it opening (stretching kind of) its mouth.

I'm at a loss as to what I can do or what I should look for that might explain what's happening. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in Advance. Here's a pic of the wrasse I took a while back if that is useful.

 

[ngoodermuth]

When he's stretching his mouth, is it like he's yawning? That could possibly mean flukes, which also could explain the lack of appetite. Have you added anything to the tank recently?

 

[Humblefish]

Have you added anything to the tank recently?

^^ This. Any new fish, corals, inverts recently? Do you QT them?

Let's also invite the wrasse experts @evolved @eatbreakfast into this thread.

 

[evolved]

^^ This. Any new fish, corals, inverts recently? Do you QT them?

+2
I'm quite suspect of flukes or internal worms.

 

[shornik]

^^ This. Any new fish, corals, inverts recently? Do you QT them?

Let's also invite the wrasse experts @evolved @eatbreakfast into this thread.

Also when he's opening his mouth it is kind of like yawning but it only does that when I feed the tank - or at least thats when I notice it. I haven't added anything new, no corals no fish. But I did add some live amphipods a while back, I can't remember how long ago. If it is Flukes can I treat the tank, I think it would be impossible to try to get the wrasse out.

I don't know if this helps or not and I should have mentioned it in my first post, I also have a Canary wrasse, also three years old and that one's clock is off. Coming out in the morning for food, then sometimes burying itself right after and coming out for "lunch" feeding, then burying itself and sometimes coming back out and sometimes not until the next day. It's very weird, but it eats just fine. Actually everything else in the tank is eating fine too its just the leopard wrasse that isn't.

Anyway, thanks again for any ideas you might have.

 

[shornik]

+2
I'm quite suspect of flukes or internal worms.

I missed your post when I was replying to others, can I treat the tank? I don't think I'd be able to catch the wrasse to put it in a hospital tank.

 

[melypr1985]

I missed your post when I was replying to others, can I treat the tank? I don't think I'd be able to catch the wrasse to put it in a hospital tank.

Yes you can. Prazipro is reef safe and if one has flukes, the others will too. You might want to check one fish for flukes you can catch one and do a freshwater dip on him before dosing the prazi.

 

[ngoodermuth]

Yep, prazi is one that you can do in a reef. Have you seen any white, stringy poop?

 

[4FordFamily]

Wrasse often open their mouth wide when anticipating food, while eating large pieces of food, and afterward.

If this behavior happens any other time, noticeably often -- I highly suspect flukes.

The fact that it's not eating and still doing this -- makes me quite concerned. It can't hurt to prazipro the display!

 

[shornik]

Yep, prazi is one that you can do in a reef. Have you seen any white, stringy poop?

I haven't noticed any white stringy poop but I haven't noticed the sort of gravelly poop that would be normal for this wrasse either. I'm going to start the Prazi today and see what effect that has. Thanks everyone again for all your help.

 

[shornik]

Alright I got the Dr. G's for the parasites but the wrasse didn't eat it, that was kind of predictable! I also dosed the Prazi - I did 2.5 tsp for my 60 gallon tank, it says 1 tsp per net 20 gallons so I'm guesstimating what the actual water volume is. Will see if this has any effect, fingers crossed

 

[dealseer]

I thought wrasses were prone to having a hard time with Prazipro.

 

[shornik]

I thought wrasses were prone to having a hard time with Prazipro.

I'm dosing what was recommended, in this thread. Also if this forum the suggestion is to run carbon after 24 hours to minimize any negative effects to the wrasse. I'll follow-up with results ...

 

[shornik]

Update: The canary wrasse which has been fine is eating and swimming normally, but the sick Leopard wrasse is now lying on the sand bed breathing pretty rapidly - the effects of the Prazi? Is this normal? The wrasse definitely does not look good.

 

[ngoodermuth]

Are you absolutely sure you used the correct dose? Wrasses are sensitive to over-dose, but are usually fine with the recommended dosage. If the other wrasse is fine, it's probably not the case but just wanted to double check.

If he was heavily infested, all the worms could be freaking out at once and causing discomfort. This is one of the reasons a freshwater dip is helpful before dosing :/

 

[shornik]

Are you absolutely sure you used the correct dose? Wrasses are sensitive to over-dose, but are usually fine with the recommended dosage. If the other wrasse is fine, it's probably not the case but just wanted to double check.

If he was heavily infested, all the worms could be freaking out at once and causing discomfort. This is one of the reasons a freshwater dip is helpful before dosing :/

I did 2.5 tsp for a 60 gallon tank which should be enough for 50 gallons as each tsp is for 20 gallons. So I thought was under dosing by a little.

 

[shornik]

So, first sorry for all the posts. Since today is my regular water change day I had 5 gallons already mixed and ready to go. So just in case I dosed too much I did a 5 gallon water change so ~8-10%. Will see if that causes the wrasse to improve but otherwise its still just lying down, breathing heavy. But it seems aware so maybe it is just a result of the discomfort, I hope so. I'll post back later tonight/tomorrow with any updates.

 

[ngoodermuth]

Do you still have your skimmer running (without the cup) or maybe an extra airline you could throw in? Sometimes the medicine can deplete O2 in the tank.

Could you get a picture or video clip possibly? I almost want to suggest a fw dip, but I think maybe I'd like a second opinion. @melypr1985? @4FordFamily

 

[shornik]

Do you still have your skimmer running (without the cup) or maybe an extra airline you could throw in? Sometimes the medicine can deplete O2 in the tank.

Could you get a picture or video clip possibly? I almost want to suggest a fw dip, but I think maybe I'd like a second opinion. @melypr1985? @4FordFamily

I did have my skimmer running and had put in a large airstone when I dosed the Prazi so to keep up the oxygen. Unfortunately I had to leave so couldn't get a pic/vid but will try tomorrow if the wrasse is still alive. Its still on its side, breathing very heavily, I've never had a fish recover that did this so I'm not very hopeful. But like I said earlier I did a 5 gallon water change and I just started running carbon and am getting another 5 gallon's ready. So I'll be able to do another 5 gallon water change first thing in the morning if the fish is still with us.

 

[melypr1985]

There are two possibilities here:1. There was such a large fluke infestation on the fish that when they spasmed and started to die it was overwhelming for the fish and she's at the bottom acting the way she is.

2. There is a different issue at play here other than flukes.