Leopard wrasse deaths

[spartanman22]

I added 3 leopard wrasses to my observation QT Tuesday of last week and this morning I found 2 dead and on nearly dead. There were two potters and one ornate. The two potters have what look like lock jaw and swollen gills. The one that's still alive is breathing very rapidly and laying on its side. I'm quite certain he's a goner, but wondering if anyone had any ideas of what the issue may have been.

Salinity a at 1.023, and ammonia and nitrate are non detect.

 

[eatbreakfast]

Sounds like low oxygen. Were you dosing meds? If so, many meds deplete O2. Adding extra aeration can help overcome the drop in O2.

 

[spartanman22]

No, meds were dosed. I have very good surface agitation so I have a hard time believing that to be the case.

 

[Humblefish]

Drop the bodies of the dead wrasses into tap water to check for flukes. You should see tiny white specks come out of their gills if they had flukes.

 

[Humblefish]

Flukes will look like this:

 

[spartanman22]

I've seen stuff come off but it looks like his scales that are just falling off

 

[Humblefish]

I've seen stuff come off but it looks like his scales that are just falling off

Have you tested for ammonia recently? The swollen gills could be a result of ammonia burn.

The two diseases I am familiar with which can cause heavy breathing and take down a wrasse quick are gill flukes or velvet in the gills.

 

[spartanman22]

It may have been velvet but Ive not noticed any other symptoms. These were in the same tank as the copper banded that I was questioning you about. So velvet may have been possible. I have an ammonia alert badge which I periodically cross reference with a spectrophotometer and ammonia is non detect currently.

 

[spartanman22]

I freshwater dipped the one potters that was struggling. Unfortunately he didn't make it through the dip but the cup had a bunch of tiny white specs on the bottom afterwards. Hard to see all that well in the picture though.

 

[Humblefish]

@spartanman22 Those white specks could very well be flukes. Wrasses & angels are notorious for coming in with flukes, and are very susceptible to them.

 

[kevindo123]

Where did you get your wrasses?

 

[spartanman22]

They came from a local LFS. I'm quite frustrated because I was going to bring them home Friday and place them in my QT. The current batch of fish finished QT on Friday, but I decided to wait until Monday to bring them home.

 

[melypr1985]

Those could be flukes in that bowl. They are just a smaller version than that in the picture supplied. Sorry for your losses. I always assume wrasses have flukes and treat them for it no matter what.

 

[spartanman22]

I was going to treat with prazi I just wanted to try and give them a few days to get eating first. Lessened learned maybe it's better off to treat first and worry about feeding later withthese

 

[melypr1985]

I was going to treat with prazi I just wanted to try and give them a few days to get eating first. Lessened learned maybe it's better off to treat first and worry about feeding later withthese

When it comes to prazi - it's only active in the water for 48 hours. So assuming the LFS is willing to feed them for you before you buy, they will be fine for two days while the prazi does it's thing. Then you can focus on getting them eating really well for the next couple days until the next dose of prazi. That's another 48 hours but by then they've eaten for you and should be eating the whole time during the next dose. It's just a matter of timing really and you and you can do both.

 

[spartanman22]

When it comes to prazi - it's only active in the water for 48 hours. So assuming the LFS is willing to feed them for you before you buy, they will be fine for two days while the prazi does it's thing. Then you can focus on getting them eating really well for the next couple days until the next dose of prazi. That's another 48 hours but by then they've eaten for you and should be eating the whole time during the next dose. It's just a matter of timing really and you and you can do both.

Thanks for the help. I'm going to try another small group (3-4) when I get back from vacation and this time I'll be proactive with the prazi.