Flukes on wrasse

[rob G]

I recently purchased a female flame fairy wrasse and a female rhomboid fairy wrasse from a very highly praised vendor. These fish were "pre quarantined"

They're in copper because I had a velvet outbreak a few days before they arrived(snails/hermits I didn't qt) and I didn't want to chance it. That said, they're also being treated with prazi and will get food soaked metro because of flukes and intestinal parasites! Those were free of charge though..
Nifty.

I figure I will just treat all newcomers with prazi/metro because getting the dose right is somewhat easy and its just two treatments (in most cases) I am hoping to avoid using copper but I do see one small white speck on the Lubboks tail earlier today when the room lights were on (there is no light on the tank). Too big to be velvet I think but who knows. I will maybe put a brighter light on the tank in the morning just to confirm. What a pain in the rear!

 

[spiraling]

I know it is a controversial topic. I choose to treat prophylactically. Wrasse unfortunately, are really good at harboring things such as ich, velvet, flukes, etc. without any visual symptoms/behaviors. I have 4 in QT right now from LA. Leopard Female, Black leopard, Exquisite fairy, and a McCoskers. 4th day of therapeutic copper and doing well. I did start with two bluestars that didn't make it past the first 48 hours in my tank, due to shipping stress. I am using copper power. (I waited 7 days after they were all eating well, to begin copper, and spent 6 days ramping up to my target level of 1.75ppm)

This is interesting.
Do you have any evidence of then harboring such things without eveidence? But it may explain some deaths.
How do you tell shipping stress from hidden parasites?

So what is the acclimation / QT people recommend for wrasses?

 

[4FordFamily]

This is interesting.
Do you have any evidence of then harboring such things without eveidence? But it may explain some deaths.
How do you tell shipping stress from hidden parasites?

So what is the acclimation / QT people recommend for wrasses?

They’re the most common “Typhoid Marys” due to their thick slime coats, habit of sleeping protected somewhat in mucous cocoons, under the sand, or all of the above depending on the species. These things make them quite resistant even to velvet infestations for some time, even months. I’ve personally kept wrasse in velvet unknowingly for months and most did fine without obvious symptoms other than scratching
on occasion. My wrasse tank was my last “ich management” tank and turned out to be a velvet management tank for some time before I figured it out. Almost all inhabitants were wrasse. Fairy and flasher died first, halichoeres and leopards seemed unaffected until they died during a power outage that killed almost all of my fish. Several fairy powered through fine! No flashers made it during the velvet era for more than a month and a half or so.

None of that is ethical and I couldn’t add other fish to the tank without issue— but most wrasse did well for some time.

 

[HotRocks]

This is interesting.
Do you have any evidence of then harboring such things without eveidence? But it may explain some deaths.
How do you tell shipping stress from hidden parasites?

So what is the acclimation / QT people recommend for wrasses?

Basically what @4FordFamily said ^^^. Shipping stress would be attributed to the fish never really perking up after acclimation. Stayed lethargic. Also for instance I have an Acanthurus tang in my current batch. Didn't start copper for almost 2 weeks due to delayed shipping. Guessing they didn't drop because of hidden parasites within the 48hrs, because I would have seen evidence on the tang. Anything is possible.

I acclimate the accelerated way. 1cup of tank water added to fish/bag water every ten minutes 3 times and net them into QT.

 

[deedubz]

My exquisite and lunate fairy wrasses were the last to show symptoms of velvet but were apparently so bad off that a freshwater dip ended up killing them the other day..

 

[HotRocks]

It happens, as well explained by 4ford above... Which is why I always treat them no matter what. Of course you can't use CP, and alot of them are copper sensitive. As you well know @dwwataz , we are on our way to a better way to monitor copper and ride just above the theraputic mark!

 

[deedubz]

I ask the vendor what salinity they ship in and set up my qt accordingly. I float them for 15-30 minutes, double check salinity and pH, and, if it all matches, I put them into qt. I've had zero losses this way

 

[rob G]

@HotRocks you mentioned not being able to use CP, is this because wrasse are overly sensitive or because it is difficult to obtain?

 

[HotRocks]

It is due to the sensitivity. CP is not terribly difficult to get, it just requires a vet RX. Some people use eBay to obtain it without a RX, which I would not recommend, just because the purity is unknown.

You may find this chart interesting/useful that was put together by many of our experienced disease forum mods/RS.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/fish-and-treatment-guidelines-with-chart.283450/

 

[rob G]

It is due to the sensitivity. CP is not terribly difficult to get, it just requires a vet RX. Some people use eBay to obtain it without a RX, which I would not recommend, just because the purity is unknown.

You may find this chart interesting/useful that was put together by many of our experienced disease forum mods/RS.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/fish-and-treatment-guidelines-with-chart.283450/

Very helpful, thank you. I was reading about CP, never used it my self but was pretty excited about just adding the full dose without even having to ramp up the level slowly. Until seeing this chart, I missed the fact that wrasse don't do well with it. I appreciate the help.

This morning the exquisite wrasse is still alive though still in hiding although moved from a few spots to new ones. The blue head seems to be a little more active, chased the lubbocks away when it went into his spot but not coming out too much. I guess time will tell. I am waiting until Sunday or Monday to do the second dose of GC and will then decide if I will go ahead with copper although I am leaning towards it.

 

[bigroost]

I will say I didn't read every post, I just wanted to say I've used Prazi on leopards, exquisites, pintail, and carpenter's wrasse with no discernable negative effects. I had read too where wrasses could be sensitive but, the species I have tried so far when searched specifically it always seemed to be fine.

 

[HotRocks]

I will say I didn't read every post, I just wanted to say I've used Prazi on leopards, exquisites, pintail, and carpenter's wrasse with no discernable negative effects. I had read too where wrasses could be sensitive but, the species I have tried so far when searched specifically it always seemed to be fine.

Yeah I have heard the same regarding prazi and wrasses. I have also never experienced any issues with them and Prazi. @rob G was asking about them and Chloroquine Phosphate "CP"