Flame Wrasse Died

[KHogan]

Hi All,
Had a Flame Fairy Wrasse from LA in QT. It looked good when he came in on Nov 28th. It hid most of the time, but did eat well. I had the fish in a secluded area of the house to adjust. I usually give them a week or two in a basic QT tank with a seeded sponge filter (ammonia badge of course) and then move to TTM if all is good. I moved it to my TTM area two days ago (12/12 at noon). The fish didn't look good yesterday...on bottom, breathing heavy, wouldn't eat. I double checked ammonia and did a freshwater dip to check for flukes. I did not see any flukes in the container. I did dose prazipro just in case I missed something with the dip. Since it's a wrasse, I did 75% recommended dose. Woke up today and he was dead. It had some "slime" type stuff (almost like mucous cocoon) on his body and was very pale. I decided to break out the microscope. It's skin basically peeled off when I did the scrape (strange). Kind of seemed like brook, but I am definitely not a disease expert. Attached is pic from scope. Any ideas?
Thanks!

 

[Fishnut]

I just got a Flame from LA three days ago. When it was delivered the temperature of the fish bag was 65. Good news is it is still alive, bad news is it came in with 1/2 his tail missing and bacteria on what is left of it. It is being treated for the tail issue in QT. Fingers crossed he makes it. Prozipro treatment later.
Sorry I can’t help identify what killed your wrasse, but I have had them die in QT with no notice. One day eating and looking fine and the next day dead.

 

[HotRocks]

Fairy wrasse sleep in a mucus cocoon. So that's likely what you saw if it had been dead for some time the skin will come right off.

I don't see Brook on wrasse very often. I am not saying it's impossible.

Did you have an airstone or powerhead in the tank when you dosed prazi?

 

[KHogan]

Fishnut- I had a Lyretail Anthias get a chunk of his tail get bit off by a clownfish a month ago. It wasn't down to the "meat", though. Happy to report it is almost fully grown back now.

Hotrocks- Yeah, it looked like the normal mucus cocoon, but when I did the scrape (very gentle) it's actual skin peeled off, too...I've never had that happen with a dead fish before. Just seemed "weird" this time. Had an air stone in the original qt and in the TTM qt tank. I always use a new one in every QT tank.

 

[KHogan]

Fishnut- I had a Lyretail Anthias get a chunk of his tail get bit off by a clownfish a month ago. It wasn't down to the "meat", though. Happy to report it is almost fully grown back now.

Hotrocks- Yeah, it looked like the normal mucus cocoon, but when I did the scrape (very gentle) it's actual skin peeled off, too...I've never had that happen with a dead fish before. Just seemed "weird" this time. Had an air stone in the original qt and in the TTM qt tank. I always use a new one in every QT tank.

 

[HotRocks]

It appears it may have been velvet...

Look at this compared to your pic.

https://www.researchgate.net/figure...e-Argyrosomus-regius-gills-40x_fig1_233426727

 

[KHogan]

Nice find on the pic. Sure looks similar to me. I never saw rubbing, flashing or spots, but I know it can hit fast. Glad I QT everything. Now I will know what to look out for with velvet. Guessing it has caused other deaths in QT that I missed before. Maybe time to start prophylactically treating for it.

 

[HotRocks]

Wrasse are hard to see the spots on.

They are very good at carrying parasites and being asymptomatic.