He's dead and stuck in the rock work

[fishbox]

Today has been rough for a noob lile me. I chipped the glass on my 20L tank a few days ago right at the corner where the back panel is siliconed to the side wall. It wasn't leaking so I thought, no biggie, roll with it. Well I get home today and I'm doing maintenance and notice some white stuff around the chip. Yup!! Salt creep. It had developed into a 6" crack along the back panel. It ran all the way to the top of the tank and was dripping at about a drip per second in the middle of the wall. I honestly think the only thing holding the back wall from blowing out was the paint lol!! Anyway I rushed to this crappy (am I allowed to say that?) LFS nearby by me and picked up a 29 gallon. Spent the whole evening transferring everything (not much) to a Rubbermaid container. Then transferred it to the 29 gallon tank. I don't have much only one Coral two clownfish an engineer goby and a six-line line wrasse. It doesn't sound like much but for a new guy it was a lot and it was messy. I'm sure glad I don't have carpet in this room. Anyway I thought I had all the livestock out of the Rubbermaid container. All that was left was a handful of rubble. So I picked up the rubble in my fist and moved it to to the 29 gallon but I felt something wiggle. Turns out it was the six line wrasse. I was pretty sure I squeeze them too hard. But I let him go into the tank anyways and he ran into the Rock work. Now that the move is over I could see him stuck in the rocks not moving at all but I would have to tear apart the whole tank to get to him and I'm really tired man. How bad would it be to leave him there?

 

[ahiggins]

Is he dead or just really mad at you?

 

[cmcoker]

Is he dead or just really mad at you?

Agreed, or injured.. Can you see his gills or eyes?

 

[Fish Werx]

Sorry that happened! That really sucks. I probably would let it chill for a day at least. He might just be really upset about all the moving.
I have had a fire fish stay head down in a hole in the rocks for a couple days to where I thought it was dead. Then all of a sudden he appeared out of nowhere to eat! Good luck!

 

[Scubabeth]

+1 on waiting until tomorrow; 6 lines like to sneak into rock work. If he's still alive tomorrow, you might have to try to free him. Years ago, we had a 6-line wrasse who jammed itself into a hole in a rock so tightly that it couldn't back out of it, and was thrashing about as it tried to free itself. My clever husband used an electric dremel tool tool to free the wrasse as carefully as possible, but the fish was still really cut up from trying to free itself unsuccessfully from the rock. We placed it into a hospital tank with Methyl blue (not having knowledge about other antibiotic treatments at the time), though we had little hope for its recovery. He did recover and made it back into our DT later on. Good luck to you, and your 6 line!

 

[Jofiel]

Watch to see if your clean up crew shows any interest. If you have hermits, vibex snails, or other detrivores they should move in on him.

Can't hurt to add a capful of prime. There will likely be some ammonia just from the move.

 

[fishbox]

I can't see his gills. All I can see at the very tip of his tail and there's no movement at all. In fact as of this morning it looks like there's of mucus type bubble surrounding the hole in the rock that he's in and I need a flashlight just to see that. The only clean up crew I have are herbivores

 

[fishbox]

As far as ammonia goes keep in mind that this was a tank upgrade with an additional 9 gallons of new water Plus I'll be doing a five gallon water change today

 

[Griff]

I thought they slept in a mucus cacoon or do I have the species wrong?

 

[fishbox]

That's a good question but right now I'm super happy because he is out swimming like a true champion!! He deserves a new name after this crap!!

 

[Scubabeth]

That's a good question but right now I'm super happy because he is out swimming like a true champion!! He deserves a new name after this crap!!

@fishbox, that is GREAT news!!! After we extracted our 6 line from the rock we named him Mel, since it was his watermelon-like roundness that got him stuck in the first place!

 

[fishbox]

Ha ha.. Mel!!!
I'd still like to know about the mucous cocoon.

 

[Scubabeth]

Ha ha.. Mel!!!
I'd still like to know about the mucous cocoon.

@fishbox, some fish (such as parrotfish and wrasses) excrete a protective mucous cocoon at night when they sleep. It's been years since we had Mel (we sold him when we moved), and I don't remember if I ever noticed such a thing with him. Sounds like your 6 line did that last night!

 

[MamaLovesHerReefTank]

@fishbox, some fish (such as parrotfish and wrasses) excrete a protective mucous cocoon at night when they sleep. It's been years since we had Mel (we sold him when we moved), and I don't remember if I ever noticed such a thing with him. Sounds like your 6 line did that last night!

Our cleaner wrasse does this. He has a mucous cocoon around him when he sleeps. We sometimes see it floating around once he wakes up.

 

[jason_mazzy]

the mucus is correct. he will hide in a rock and surround himself in mucus. mine loves a very specific spot in my pukani, and every morning he comes out and his little mucus home goes splashing around in the current

 

[fishbox]

How does the mucous protect them? Mask their scent?

 

[Maritimer]

It masks their scent from predators, but also makes it difficult for parasites like ich or velvet to penetrate during the night (when ich, at least, is most active). Fishkeepers have often observed that some wrasses are less susceptible to ich than many other fish . . .

~Bruce

 

[fishbox]

This hobby is so cool!!