China wrasse questions

[joeman829]

Yesterday I bought a China pearl wrasse from my lfs. I brought it home in the evening and it was picking off of every rock and went into the sand at around 430 am. It came out around 1230 pm today and has been acting strange but picking off of my power head and also ate some mystis shrimp. It is not a strong swimmer as it got stuck to the filter so I added a filter guard and it ate after that. It looks really fat, and I’m worried it might have a swim bladder/ buoyancy issue. Pics below

 

[ying yang]

Umm I no expert on fish problems but yeah looks like something going on,doesnt look that bad tbh,@Jay Hemdal made an article on a disorder wrasses get ,but in them pictures the fish was listless and darting around,let's see what he says or @vetteguy53081 very knowledgeable and for good luck let's tag #fishmedic ^_^

 

[ying yang]

Unknown Neurological Wrasse Disease (UNWD)

Unknown Neurological Wrasse disease (UNWD) There is a disease that afflicts newly acquired wrasses, usually Cirrhilabrus fairy wrasses or flasher wrasses, Pseudocheilinus, but occasionally other species as well. The gross visual symptoms are always the same; the fish shows a rapid onset of...

www.reef2reef.com

Here have read off this while expert help comes,if is swim bladder diesese,while feeding ,make sure no food floating on water as if wrasse goes to get it,it can swallow more air and will take time for it to go through it/expel it.
Good luck

 

[vetteguy53081]

Yesterday I bought a China pearl wrasse from my lfs. I brought it home in the evening and it was picking off of every rock and went into the sand at around 430 am. It came out around 1230 pm today and has been acting strange but picking off of my power head and also ate some mystis shrimp. It is not a strong swimmer as it got stuck to the filter so I added a filter guard and it ate after that. It looks really fat, and I’m worried it might have a swim bladder/ buoyancy issue. Pics below

China wrasse does best in a well matured tank with pods and deep sand bed as they do as you saw burrow in the evening coming out next day when good and ready as they spend much time in the sandbed. Regarding feeding, they eat or they dont as they are one of the harder wrasses to get eating regularly. Its not unusual to see them attack an eat a shrimp in the tank eagerly.
Your best bet is to try live food such as brine or mysis shrimp. LRS fish frenzy has a nice mix of meats in the package but again, fish may not even look at it

 

[joeman829]

China wrasse does best in a well matured tank with pods and deep sand bed as they do as you saw burrow in the evening coming out next day when good and ready as they spend much time in the sandbed. Regarding feeding, they eat or they dont as they are one of the harder wrasses to get eating regularly. Its not unusual to see them attack an eat a shrimp in the tank eagerly.
Your best bet is to try live food such as brine or mysis shrimp. LRS fish frenzy has a nice mix of meats in the package but again, fish may not even look at it

Mine is already eating frozen mystis pretty good

 

[joeman829]

China wrasse does best in a well matured tank with pods and deep sand bed as they do as you saw burrow in the evening coming out next day when good and ready as they spend much time in the sandbed. Regarding feeding, they eat or they dont as they are one of the harder wrasses to get eating regularly. Its not unusual to see them attack an eat a shrimp in the tank eagerly.
Your best bet is to try live food such as brine or mysis shrimp. LRS fish frenzy has a nice mix of meats in the package but again, fish may not even look at it

Also, does the way it swims concern you at all? I’m thinking it has a buoyancy problem but it swims across the thank but it is weak (can’t swim straight through a current like my other wrasses can)

 

[vetteguy53081]

Also, does the way it swims concern you at all? I’m thinking it has a buoyancy problem but it swims across the thank but it is weak (can’t swim straight through a current like my other wrasses can)

Wrasses swim wierd. If new arrival, during ship, they ingest water and air and soon rid of the air

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Yesterday I bought a China pearl wrasse from my lfs. I brought it home in the evening and it was picking off of every rock and went into the sand at around 430 am. It came out around 1230 pm today and has been acting strange but picking off of my power head and also ate some mystis shrimp. It is not a strong swimmer as it got stuck to the filter so I added a filter guard and it ate after that. It looks really fat, and I’m worried it might have a swim bladder/ buoyancy issue. Pics below

I can't tell from the video if the fish has an air bladder issue, or if it has UNWD. Getting caught to the filter isn't a good sign either way.

This species is pretty delicate, I usually avoid them. That yours is eating mysids is a good sign though.

Jay

 

[SaltyT]

To me it looks there is some pinching behind her head, but the video is too short to be certain. As previously mentioned, these wrasse are difficult to get adjusted to captivity. It sounds like she's trying to eat, but based on how weak she looks in the video it doesn't look like she's been eating enough before you bought her. Is she actually taking in the mysis or is she chewing it and spitting it back out?

 

[joeman829]

To me it looks there is some pinching behind her head, but the video is too short to be certain. As previously mentioned, these wrasse are difficult to get adjusted to captivity. It sounds like she's trying to eat, but based on how weak she looks in the video it doesn't look like she's been eating enough before you bought her. Is she actually taking in the mysis or is she chewing it and spitting it back out?

She’s eating about 5-7 solid pieces at best, I fed 2 cubes of mystis throughout the day and she ate without spitting out every time

 

[joeman829]

To me it looks there is some pinching behind her head, but the video is too short to be certain. As previously mentioned, these wrasse are difficult to get adjusted to captivity. It sounds like she's trying to eat, but based on how weak she looks in the video it doesn't look like she's been eating enough before you bought her. Is she actually taking in the mysis or is she chewing it and spitting it back out?

Pinching behind the head? What does it that mean and is it treatable?

 

[joeman829]

I can't tell from the video if the fish has an air bladder issue, or if it has UNWD. Getting caught to the filter isn't a good sign either way.

This species is pretty delicate, I usually avoid them. That yours is eating mysids is a good sign though.

Jay

What is UNWD

 

[SaltyT]

Pinching behind the head? What does it that mean and is it treatable?

The fact that she's eating without spitting any of it out is a good. 5-7 pieces of mysis is a good start. I know you haven't had her long, but it's important to keep attempting to feed her as much as you can. Anampses wrasses have high metabolisms especially at her size.

Pinching behind the head means that she's losing too much weight. It could be due to the LFS not being able to feed her properly or she could have internal parasites which is preventing her from putting on weight. It's tough to say which one it could be since you've only had her a short while.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

What is UNWD

Scroll back to the post at 3:05, somebody posted a link to it (I’m on my phone and it is tough to make links on it).
Jay

 

[joeman829]

Scroll back to the post at 3:05, somebody posted a link to it (I’m on my phone and it is tough to make links on it).
Jay

My bad right after I posted it saw what it meant. I’m leaning more towards that as she is able to swim close to the ground but her stomach is fat, witch makes me think bloat/ or something like that.

 

[joeman829]

The fact that she's eating without spitting any of it out is a good. 5-7 pieces of mysis is a good start. I know you haven't had her long, but it's important to keep attempting to feed her as much as you can. Anampses wrasses have high metabolisms especially at her size.

Pinching behind the head means that she's losing too much weight. It could be due to the LFS not being able to feed her properly or she could have internal parasites which is preventing her from putting on weight. It's tough to say which one it could be since you've only had her a short while.

Ok I’ll definitely keep feedings lighter but more frequent and closer to her. Here’s some more footage I just took. It’s midnight and she’s still not in the sandbed.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

My bad right after I posted it saw what it meant. I’m leaning more towards that as she is able to swim close to the ground but her stomach is fat, witch makes me think bloat/ or something like that.

In looking at this video, I'm not thinking that this is UNWD, so that's good.

Gas can build up in fish in two locations - the stomach (due to bacteria) or the swim bladder (due to bacteria or pressure changes). One way to try and diagnose this, is if you see the fish stop swimming for a bit (rare in wrasse, I know) the fish will bob up just a bit.

Curing these issues can be difficult as they are internal.

For stomach gas, Feeding peas is suggested, but useless for most fish (it was originally developed for Oranda goldfish that have a specific intestinal issue). Really, anything with a lot of fiber in it (like frozen brine shrimp) will help decrease the gut transit time, in turn, reducing the amount of gas the bacteria is producing. Never let deep water marine fish feed from the surface. Genicanthus angelfish for example, when fed at the surface, will swallow air bubbles, causing them to bloat and float.

Swim bladder issues are even tougher to treat. Sometimes, they develop when fish are shipped by air cargo, as the air pressure in the plane's hold is a bit lower. Their swim bladders expand, and then they have issues regulating it later on.

Jay

 

[Tamberav]

I had this problem with a china wrase, it started out mild but slowly got worse but kept eating. I ended up venting it with a diabetic needle and some topical iodine to clean the area. It wasn't easy, super stressful on us both.. I had to scrape off a scale to get the needle through.

However, the fish lived and is with me still. I wouldn't expect most wrasse to survive such a thing though... I only did it because I had nothing left to try as it had gotten so bad the fish was stuck at the surface.

It seems like trying to feed fiber is the best first action and hope the problem is the stomach and not the swim bladder.

I did have a clownfish swallow a bunch of air once and was floating butt up until it farted... literally a bunch of bubbles came out its bottom.

 

[SaltyT]

Ok I’ll definitely keep feedings lighter but more frequent and closer to her. Here’s some more footage I just took. It’s midnight and she’s still not in the sandbed.

Was she able to bury? I agree, the new video does show she's having a buoyancy problem. I had a femininus delivered that was swimming that same way with her head down. She didn't get as bad as Tamberav's wrasse did so after about a week of feeding her brine shrimp like the others suggested her swimming corrected. Then I switched her to mysis and LRS fish frenzy to pack some weight back on her. I got lucky with mine I hope yours pulls through too.

 

[joeman829]

In looking at this video, I'm not thinking that this is UNWD, so that's good.

Gas can build up in fish in two locations - the stomach (due to bacteria) or the swim bladder (due to bacteria or pressure changes). One way to try and diagnose this, is if you see the fish stop swimming for a bit (rare in wrasse, I know) the fish will bob up just a bit.

Curing these issues can be difficult as they are internal.

For stomach gas, Feeding peas is suggested, but useless for most fish (it was originally developed for Oranda goldfish that have a specific intestinal issue). Really, anything with a lot of fiber in it (like frozen brine shrimp) will help decrease the gut transit time, in turn, reducing the amount of gas the bacteria is producing. Never let deep water marine fish feed from the surface. Genicanthus angelfish for example, when fed at the surface, will swallow air bubbles, causing them to bloat and float.

Swim bladder issues are even tougher to treat. Sometimes, they develop when fish are shipped by air cargo, as the air pressure in the plane's hold is a bit lower. Their swim bladders expand, and then they have issues regulating it later on.

Jay

Thanks for the helpful replies Jay. I just checked on the tank and she was in the sand with her head exposed. I was planning on putting some sand in her head to cover her when she saw me through the glass and popped back out of the sand. My Melanarus wrasse is giving her a hard time and she is now laying on her side in the sandbed.