Exquisite Fairy hiding for a week

[fragit]

A week ago yesterday I picked up two wrasses from my LFS. I got an exquisite fairy, and yellow fin flasher. After acclimation and in my observation QT they were both out swimming and ate right away. They were both a little timid but eating well. For a couple days. No immediate signs of disease, no rapid breathing etc. I have not seen the exquisite for almost a week. The flasher is out and about every day, eating like a pig. The tank is covered, no signs of an escape anywhere, and the flasher appears to be disease free. My observation tank is a fully cycled 29gal with rock sand and some macro algae. Should I keep watching or go searching for a body.

 

[Sashaka]

Sorry to hear you're having trouble. I would go searching. If it did die, water quality will go downhill. If water quality has been good the whole time, the fish likely died of some disease. I would treat the tank with copper or CP for 28 days and follow up with 2 rounds of Prazi Pro when the copper treatment was over. The first fish died of something. The healthy fish is likely to have whatever killed the Exquisite. Better to be safe than sorry before adding the living fish to your main display. If when you go searching and find the fish fat and happy, just hiding, then it's just a shy fish and comes out to eat when you're not looking.

 

[moz71]

I would NOT go searching. new ones tend to do this. My leapord wrasse stayed in sand for 15 days straight. You will only stress him out more. I have read some even god longer. Just my opinion

 

[pecan2phat]

A week for a Fairy wrasse of not eating is not good.
Fairy wrasses do not bury, maybe you can use a flashlight and do a precursory search.

 

[Sashaka]

For every question posted here, you will find people who have different opinions. That's okay. There are many ways to go about taking care of our tanks and fish. Do a little googling and research and then decide what you want to do. Some wrasses do tend to hide in the sand when first purchased. The fact that your fish did not hide when you first got it and then went into hiding later makes me think something else is wrong. It may be nothing...as moz71 says, but a little disturbing of a hiding wrasse (that will quickly duck back down into the sand if okay) IMO is better than a dead fish polluting up my tank. I have disturbed my wrasses accidentally and a few times on purpose with no dire consequences. I must have disturbed my Melanurus wrasse a dozen times over the 10 years I had him.Is it my first go to, no. It does stress the fish. Did it kill my fish, no. Most people will tell you not to stress out an already stressed fish. It's good advice.

Some info on your fish: http://justrarefish.com/exquisite-wrasse/

Let's get a wrasse expert here to chime in if possible. We have many knowledgeable people at R2R who specialize in specific species of fish. I know the Exquisite is a more sensitive fish than some other types of wrasses and don't sleep in the sand normally, but I have never owned that species. @evolved

 

[zalick]

I second DO NOT go digging. Fairy wrasses will hide in sand, though they don't sleep in there. I've had non-fairy wrasses hide for two weeks. I've read of others who've had them hide up to a month.

Digging it up will cause tons of stress.

I've not heard of a wrasse burying itself due to illness. So it probably went under relatively healthy. IMO. I've also not heard of a wrasse burying itself and then dying under the sand. But it may be possible.

 

[Zack K]

For every question posted here, you will find people who have different opinions. That's okay. There are many ways to go about taking care of our tanks and fish. Do a little googling and research and then decide what you want to do. Some wrasses do tend to hide in the sand when first purchased. The fact that your fish did not hide when you first got it and then went into hiding later makes me think something else is wrong. It may be nothing...as moz71 says, but a little disturbing of a hiding wrasse (that will quickly duck back down into the sand if okay) IMO is better than a dead fish polluting up my tank. I have disturbed my wrasses accidentally and a few times on purpose with no dire consequences. I must have disturbed my Melanurus wrasse a dozen times over the 10 years I had him.Is it my first go to, no. It does stress the fish. Did it kill my fish, no. Most people will tell you not to stress out an already stressed fish. It's good advice.

Some info on your fish: http://justrarefish.com/exquisite-wrasse/

Let's get a wrasse expert here to chime in if possible. We have many knowledgeable people at R2R who specialize in specific species of fish. I know the Exquisite is a more sensitive fish than some other types of wrasses and don't sleep in the sand normally, but I have never owned that species. @evolved

+1 to all of this. Just to add i didn't see mine for a good 10-12 days after adding him.

 

[Sashaka]

Just wondering. Has the fish make an appearance yet?

 

[OrionN]

Fairy wrasses do not hide or sleep in the sand. They do hide in rock structure or even crevices between sand and rock.
In a 29 gal, I would be able to see if I still have a living wrasse. IMO, most of us would be able to find a Exquisite wrasse in this small tank, therefor I think he is in the reef in the sky. Sorry.

 

[saltyhog]

As above, Cirrhilabrus wrasse do not sleep or dive in to the sand. I have kept C. exquisitus in a couple of tanks and have not found them any more demanding or difficult to care for than other fairy wrasses. My present varies from #1 to #3 in the pecking order in my wrasse dominated tank.

 

[fragit]

Sorry I didn’t see all the replies. Thanks for the input, I will have to read all that you wrote. This is just an update. Exquisite still did not show so I looked through the tank Saturday afternoon. I could not find a body. Did a 10gal water change. Flasher wrasse was out swimming and eating, found dead this morning. Still no sign of the exquisite wrasse. Not sure if there was an ammonia spike when I looked through the tank maybe that killed the flasher.

I’m totally bummed . Whenever I loose a fish it makes me scared to get another.