Carpenter wrasse dying?

[Canaan Gary]

I purchased a carpenter flasher about a week ago. At first it had a hard time adjusting but then it did just fine. It was eating well. Now it’s just lying in the corner of my tank. I tried feeding him today and he didn’t even flinch. I have no clue what’s going on with it. Any thoughts?

 

[Crabby48]

They can stress easy. Doesn’t take much sometimes if a fish is a little pushy. They also don’t recover good of being pushed around. Hope it eats tomorrow

 

[Glenner’sreef]

Any possible aggression by other tankmates?

 

[Canaan Gary]

Any possible aggression by other tankmates?

There was a bit in the very begin from my damsel but nothing after that at all.

 

[Canaan Gary]

They can stress easy. Doesn’t take much sometimes if a fish is a little pushy. They also don’t recover good of being pushed around. Hope it eats tomorrow

Being pushed around? Like as in other aggressive fish messing with it?? And yeah me too…is there anything you’d recommend to get it to eat??

 

[Glenner’sreef]

Being pushed around? Like as in other aggressive fish messing with it?? And yeah me too…is there anything you’d recommend to get it to eat??

If you can somehow separate the damsel and your wrasse. He knows the threat is still there.

 

[Canaan Gary]

If you can somehow separate the damsel and your wrasse. He knows the threat is still there.

I was planning on bringing the damsel back anyways so I’ll do that. Anything else?

 

[Glenner’sreef]

You can move some live rock around to throw off the damsel and his territorial tendencies.

 

[REM2021]

So sorry to hear that, my carpenter is one of my favorite tank residents, so I really hope yours pulls through. If you have an acclimation box on hand and if you have a low-stress way to catch him like a specimen container, not a net, you may want to consider relocating him to the box (or to QT) for observation while he's somewhere easy to catch. Trying to figure out what happened to a wrasse that suddenly goes missing, especially if you have intricate rockwork that you then have to move around, is not a great experience.

 

[i cant think]

What other fish are in the tank?

 

[Canaan Gary]

What other fish are in the tank?

Two clowns, a diamond goby, and a blue damsel

 

[Canaan Gary]

So sorry to hear that, my carpenter is one of my favorite tank residents, so I really hope yours pulls through. If you have an acclimation box on hand and if you have a low-stress way to catch him like a specimen container, not a net, you may want to consider relocating him to the box (or to QT) for observation while he's somewhere easy to catch. Trying to figure out what happened to a wrasse that suddenly goes missing, especially if you have intricate rockwork that you then have to move around, is not a great experience.

I don’t have a QT tank sadly. And yeah I can see where he hides though from the other side of the tank so it should be ok. I’m bringing back my damsel today to reduce stress

 

[i cant think]

Two clowns, a diamond goby, and a blue damsel

The clowns and damsel may be giving him a hard time and these wrasses don’t take lightly to aggression. I think it’s more likely the damsel is giving him the hard rime but you can’t take the clowns out of the picture. These gobies completely ignore other fish so you can take him out of the aggression issue.

 

[Canaan Gary]

Yeah I’m bringing back the damsel today. I haven’t seen the clowns mess with him, but maybe they have.

The clowns and damsel may be giving him a hard time and these wrasses don’t take lightly to aggression. I think it’s more likely the damsel is giving him the hard rime but you can’t take the clowns out of the picture. These gobies completely ignore other fish so you can take him out of the aggression issue.