Leopard Wrasse Broken Beak and Freaking Out

[ReeferReefer]

So my Blue Star Leopard Wrasse who I have had for around a year and a half isn't doing the best. I noticed she seems to have broken the upper part of her beak. She seems to still be eating fine though. I think it might because she has been acting super odd, like she is trying to fight her reflection in the glass. Over the last 6 months my tank has fallen into a state of neglect in that I was not cleaning the glass regularly. I picked up a Flipper cleaner recently and have been able to remove the vast majority of algae from the glass.

She seems to open her mouth, flare her dorsal fin and then spasm/freak out.

Do you guys have any advice on how to calm her down? Do you think she can come back from a broken beak (only about 1-2mm of broken material).

I will upload a video when I get to some wifi. Any advice or insight would be appreciated.

 

[HotRocks]

I keep several leopards. They are a very sensitive fish. If you can keep it eating you may be able to save the fish. Maybe move to an acclimation box during the process.

 

[ReeferReefer]

Thanks for the reply. She is still eating well so that is a good sign.

I guess I should give some info on my tank. Its a 90g AIO. I completed a 20g water change this week. My "neglect" state has had me doing 15g water changes every 3-4 weeks over the last year.

For a long time there were just two fish in the tank, the wrasse and my flame angel. Last week I added two adult clowns (black photon) and a royal gramma. None of them have shown any noticeable aggression towards the wrasse or other fish.

The wrasse is swimming up against the glass, opening its jaw wide and flaring its dorsal fin. It then occasionally will spaz out, jolting quickly.

I should note that my tank is a softy tank but none of the corals or other fish seem to be upset at all.

I will check my params tonight and update you.

 

[ReeferReefer]

Here is a video of her.

I keep several leopards. They are a very sensitive fish. If you can keep it eating you may be able to save the fish. Maybe move to an acclimation box during the process.

 

[reef lover]

Im sure in time shell recover. For now we need to find a way to.keep her from bashing into the wall. You could tape a piece of paper there to stop the reflection.

 

[azbigjohn]

B

Here is a video of her.

Beautiful fish! The Angel is stunning as well!

 

[cracker]

Something is bugging it's mouth. Any bristle worms? This was suggested to me when My wrasse had mouth issues. Beautiful fish ,I hope she recovers .

 

[ReeferReefer]

Salinity: 1.024 Temp: 77.1 pH: 8.19 Nitrate: 45 ppm Ammonia: 0.25 ppm

I was surprised to see ammonia there. Seems like that could easily be the problem. I better do a quick emergency water change as I am going out of town until Sat for Thanksgiving.


Running to the LFS now to get some premixed.

Not sure if this is a long term problem or my tank still adjusting to heavier feeding.

 

[ReeferReefer]

I picked up 15g of salt water from the LFS and I'm going to perform an emergency water change. I'm leaving for Thanksgiving tonight, until Saturday night so this is the last bit of care I can give for a few days.


Would it make sense to put in Seachem Prime with this water change to tie up some of the ammonia?

 

[ReeferReefer]

I do have bristle worms. It looks to me like her beak is actually broken or smaller than it was before (she looks like she has an underbite now)

Something is bugging it's mouth. Any bristle worms? This was suggested to me when My wrasse had mouth issues. Beautiful fish ,I hope she recovers .

 

[ReeferReefer]

Made it back from thanksgiving and everyone is alive. The wrasse is eating flake food but it seems like it is kind of tough for her to chew the food.

At least everyone is alive still!