Christmas Wrasse laying on side

PorterK · Apr 16, 2019

Hi, I've had this wrasse for almost 3 weeks now. For the past 2 weeks it has been perfectly fine (hunting/eating). This morning I noticed it was laying on the bottom of the tank in the corner. I didn't even see it breathing so I got out the net & tried to net it because I thought it was dead. As soon as the net got close he darted to the front of the tank and layed down again.

I do have a small sailfin tang in this tank but I haven't seen him picking on the wrasse and the wrasse has no signs of being bullied or anything. I have 2 green chromis, 2 clowns, 1 sailfin, and 1 wrasse. They are all in a 55gal currently (I have a 120 gal on the other side of the room, just slowly acquiring equipment to get it up and running).

Before today the last time I saw the wrasse was a couple days ago. It's usually in a cave between rocks. I just did a water change 2 days ago & I change out the sock filter to my sump every 3 days.

From reading online I have seen that this can be just a thing that wrasse's do. Is that true or is this a sure sign of stress? It seems to be breathing slightly heavier than usual but not too much. I got it from a local pet store about 3 weeks ago to eat some zoanthid eating nudis (which it did!). It was discolored slightly (darker) when I got it but has since gotten brighter.

Any help would be appreciated! None of the other fish appear to be stressed at all, corals are all out & happy.

PorterK · Apr 16, 2019

Bump ^

ngoodermuth · Apr 16, 2019

Wrasses are notorious for two things- flukes and intestinal parasites...

I’m guessing if you haven’t seen it scratching on rocks, it’s probably the latter. Is it still eating?

Frtdrmrose7 · Apr 16, 2019

^^i agree more than likely a sign of illness.

PorterK · Apr 16, 2019

Sorry for the late reply. Last time he ate was around 2 days ago. Before that he was eating fine with the rest of the fish.

PorterK · Apr 16, 2019

When I got him to move earlier he did swim under a rock & then back to the glass but on his way he scratched his head in the sand (not sure if on purpose though)

Frtdrmrose7 · Apr 16, 2019

PorterK said:
When I got him to move earlier he did swim under a rock & then back to the glass but on his way he scratched his head in the sand (not sure if on purpose though)

If he is flashing I would do a FW dip as Wrasse are fluke magnets.

PorterK · Apr 16, 2019

Frtdrmrose7 said:
If he is flashing I would do a FW dip as Wrasse are fluke magnets.

How long should I dip him for? Is it in RO/DI or tap? Never had to do a FW dip. If RO/DI concerned a little about temperature as well since it's attached to the cold water line. I do have a little water heater, but does it matter?

Crabs McJones · Apr 16, 2019

PorterK said:
How long should I dip him for? Is it in RO/DI or tap? Never had to do a FW dip. If RO/DI concerned a little about temperature as well since it's attached to the cold water line. I do have a little water heater, but does it matter?

Here is a really good Guide to Freshwater Dip

PorterK · Apr 16, 2019

Crabs McJones said:
Here is a really good Guide to Freshwater Dip

Was just looking at that. I appreciate it!

Frtdrmrose7 · Apr 16, 2019

PorterK said:
Was just looking at that. I appreciate it!

Have you done the FW dip? Any flukes?

PorterK · Apr 16, 2019

Frtdrmrose7 said:
Have you done the FW dip? Any flukes?

I did do a FW dip but was rushed out of the door towards the end. Did it in a white bucket but think I saw white flatworms floating around at around the 3rd minute. I can say when I added him back to the tank he didn’t go on his side & actually swam normally before disappearing into the rockwork. Going to setup a QT over this next week to observe him better. I think I bought some time though.

Frtdrmrose7 · Apr 16, 2019

PorterK said:
I did do a FW dip but was rushed out of the door towards the end. Did it in a white bucket but think I saw white flatworms floating around at around the 3rd minute. I can say when I added him back to the tank he didn’t go on his side & actually swam normally before disappearing into the rockwork. Going to setup a QT over this next week to observe him better. I think I bought some time though.

Did you see worms or opaque sesame seed shapes? Flukes often resemble sesame seeds but opaque in color.

PorterK · Apr 16, 2019

Frtdrmrose7 said:
Did you see worms or opaque sesame seed shapes? Flukes often resemble sesame seeds but opaque in color.

I saw small white dots floating in the water, I left the bucket so I will inspect when I get home. Maybe 30 mins. I’ll update you.

PorterK · Apr 17, 2019

Frtdrmrose7 said:
Did you see worms or opaque sesame seed shapes? Flukes often resemble sesame seeds but opaque in color.

Tried to look this morning & couldn't see anything. Wonder if it is just because the bucket is white, maybe they settled in the bottom. Any tricks to finding them in a white bucket? I'm going to get him into QT anyways tomorrow or Friday with some medication. Is a sponge filter good enough to run in a QT tank? Wondering if I should take one of my sponge filters & throw it in my sump until Friday to build up some bacteria while I get the tank setup.

ngoodermuth · Apr 17, 2019

I’m thinking the white flatworm looking things you saw were definitely flukes.

Having a QT is helpful/less risky, but you can generally treat for flukes in-tank using PraziPro. Might lose some feather dusters and if you have a large bristle-worm population could cause issues due to die-off.

If you choose to treat your tank, just remember to remove any chemical filtration (carbon,gfo, etc) and keep your skimmer running for oxygen exchange, but remove the cup because it will go crazy.

Frtdrmrose7 · Apr 17, 2019

PorterK said:
Tried to look this morning & couldn't see anything. Wonder if it is just because the bucket is white, maybe they settled in the bottom. Any tricks to finding them in a white bucket? I'm going to get him into QT anyways tomorrow or Friday with some medication. Is a sponge filter good enough to run in a QT tank? Wondering if I should take one of my sponge filters & throw it in my sump until Friday to build up some bacteria while I get the tank setup.

I agree most likely flukes, treating in QT is best in case other issues arise but you would need to QT all fish and leave your DT fallow for 4 weeks.
But you can run Prazipro in your DT to treat flukes. Treat twice 5-7 days apart but make sure you aerate heavily as Prazi depletes O2.