Leopard Wrasse Help

CJ Monty · Oct 30, 2018

I Qt a new leopard wrasse for about 3 weeks and we doing real well. Was doing laps in the qt tank and eating like a champ. Moved into the DT and he was out the next day. He was eating and picking at the rocks. 2 weeks later he went into hiding for a couple days. Then he came out for a day and has been hiding for the past 3 days.

2 days ago (I was traveling for a funeral) my wife thought she was dead and (laying on her side and shrimp was cleaning her) but when she went to remove from tank to she scurried away.

Right now she is hiding behind a rock upright but breathing heavy. Clearly she is stressed, I have no idea why all of a sudden. No one has been bothering her (no nipped fins or aggression I have seen). Water parameters seem fine and no other fish are showing any signs of stress or illness.

Anything I can do expect hope for the best? Do not want to stress her more...

Old Fritz · Oct 30, 2018

Can you post pictures and parameters?

GoldeneyeRet · Oct 31, 2018

Was the fish treated with anything while in qt?

CJ Monty · Oct 31, 2018

Old Fritz said:
Can you post pictures and parameters?

Lights are off so hard to get one. It is laying on its side in the corner. Still alive as I see some movement but not looking good.

All zeros, ammonia nitrite, nitrate.

CJ Monty · Oct 31, 2018

GoldeneyeRet said:
Was the fish treated with anything while in qt?

No, never showed signs of anything. Was swimming and eating from day one. Same thing in the DT for a couple weeks.

Old Fritz · Oct 31, 2018

Have you noticed anything else activity wise? its really hard to say without a picture. It could be that it has flukes; does its gills look normal? Have you tried a fw dip?

GoldeneyeRet · Oct 31, 2018

Are temp. and salinity normal?

Have you checked for flukes?

I am thinking velvet fits your description and timeline.

CJ Monty · Oct 31, 2018

Old Fritz said:
Have you noticed anything else activity wise? its really hard to say without a picture. It could be that it has flukes; does its gills look normal? Have you tried a fw dip?

No I just got back today. The gills look like they were sticking out a bit. No I have not done anything yet. She is clearly stressed and did not want to stress her more without researching what to do.

I am not sure what flukes are. Googled it a bit and seem likely. Would it not present itself for 5 weeks? Should I be worried about my other fish?

CJ Monty · Oct 31, 2018

GoldeneyeRet said:
Are temp. and salinity normal?

Have you checked for flukes?

I am thinking velvet fits your description and timeline.

Temp 79, salinity 1.026

Not sure what to look for with flukes? Should I be worried about my other fish?

Old Fritz · Oct 31, 2018

if the gills look unusual best bet is flukes. In which case a fw dip isn't as effective as if they were anywhere else on the body but its worth a shot if it can buy you time. Treatment is prazipro but be a little careful because wrasses have a hard time handling prazipro, but i think its better than being guaranteed death.

it could also be velvet but there would be other noticeable symptoms, you could try treating him with copper in a tank without inverts.

CJ Monty · Oct 31, 2018

Old Fritz said:
if the gills look unusual best bet is flukes. In which case a fw dip isn't as effective as if they were anywhere else on the body but its worth a shot if it can buy you time. Treatment is prazipro but be a little careful because wrasses have a hard time handling prazipro, but i think its better than being guaranteed death.

it could also be velvet but there would be other noticeable symptoms, you could try treating him with copper in a tank without inverts.

What are the noticeable symptoms of velvet? I havent real seen him yet so I guess it could be that.

I am assuming pull him out and treat in a QT tank? Anything I should do with my DT? Or just watch and monitor? If so what should I be looking for?

Old Fritz · Oct 31, 2018

CJ Monty said:
Temp 79, salinity 1.026

Not sure what to look for with flukes? Should I be worried about my other fish?

if the flukes are in the gills they would be next to impossible to see and freshwater dips aren't as effective on flukes in the gills. You should always assume that once one fish in your tank has a disease that all of them have it, its just a safe practice. You could remove all fish and treat them with copper if you have inverts in your dt. However copper is ineffective against flukes, and prazi isn't recommended to be used with other medications, and on top of that prazi tends to be pretty harsh on wrasses for some reason. You're going to have to decide whether or not to treat for velvet or flukes. Velvet is much more deadly than flukes, but I personally think its far less likely because you haven't noticed any other symptoms of velvet and the symptoms are pretty noticeable.

Old Fritz · Oct 31, 2018

here's a thread that goes deep into detail about symptoms https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/velvet-amyloodinium-ocellatum.217570/

i noticed one symptom on there I didn't think about which is the sensitivity to light which means the fish will hide a lot, that alone makes me start to think its velvet but again velvet has a lot of external symptoms

GoldeneyeRet · Oct 31, 2018

Fresh water dip will reveal if the fish has flukes and provide temporary relief if it does.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/freshwater-dip.248898/

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/flukes-–-general-guidelines.224423/

GoldeneyeRet · Oct 31, 2018

Velvet does not always present with obvious visible symptoms.

In either case, your other fish would be at risk.

Old Fritz · Oct 31, 2018

GoldeneyeRet said:
Fresh water dip will reveal if the fish has flukes and provide temporary relief if it does.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/freshwater-dip.248898/

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/flukes-–-general-guidelines.224423/

Use a dark bucket too to see if any flukes drop, however like I said flukes in the gills are more resilient to fw dips but it may buy him enough time for you to treat him with prazi

CJ Monty · Oct 31, 2018

GoldeneyeRet said:
Velvet does not always present with obvious visible symptoms.

In either case, your other fish would be at risk.

What should I do with my other fish? Treat them in DT tank? FYI I have corals and inverts Take them all out and put in different tanks? Wait and see if any other fish present anything?

Old Fritz · Oct 31, 2018

if you treat with prazi it's reef safe. if you want to treat for velvet then either remove all the inverts and treat the tank, or remove all the fish and keep them in quarantine for two months while you treat them with copper

Old Fritz · Oct 31, 2018

CJ Monty said:
What should I do with my other fish? Treat them in DT tank? FYI I have corals and inverts Take them all out and put in different tanks? Wait and see if any other fish present anything?

Try a fw dip first and see if anything drops to the bottom of the bucket you put him in, if there are flukes it should drop in 3-4 minutes and I wouldn't keep it in the dip for much longer than 5 minutes. However the stress of the dip might be too much for him in this weakened state.

CJ Monty · Oct 31, 2018

Old Fritz said:
Try a fw dip first and see if anything drops to the bottom of the bucket you put him in, if there are flukes it should drop in 3-4 minutes and I wouldn't keep it in the dip for much longer than 5 minutes. However the stress of the dip might be too much for him in this weakened state.

Where did I go wrong. I want to learn from my mistakes. Did I QT too short? Should I always treat in a QT tank (but it sounds like different meds for different illnesses)? Something else?