Leopard Wrasse issues

ViciousDlishus · Apr 8, 2018

Purchased some new fish yesterday, placed in qt 2 fancy Wrasse and starry Blenny settling in after a night of hiding.

No treatment yet as I like to get them eating for a day or two before prazi starts and then cupramine. Will be going very slow given they are Wrasses.

Leopard is having a tough time swimming, hasn't found the sand I put in there and is lying on his side. Any diagnosis or is it just stress (as they are bad shippers).

Bad photos I'll try and get more. http://cloud.tapatalk.com/s/5aca4f7d8ce3f/QUIK_20180408_112027.mp4

deedubz · Apr 8, 2018

Is it being harassed by any of the other fish? My flame and rhomboid wrasses were doing just fine, even in a mix of copper and prazipro, until I moved them into another qt and released the two clowns. The clowns were in the first qt with them but were in an acclimation box for being jerks. The wrasses have been hiding in the corner for two days so the clowns will get their own qt this evening.

Flippers4pups · Apr 8, 2018

Leopards are notorious for having issues acclimating. They don't do well in transition due to stress. Yours is stressed out bad.

Lower lights or even just ambient room light. Plenty of hiding places with pvc pieces and QT in an area that isn't in a high traffic area. Even covering the QT for a while can help.

My experience with them has been hit or miss. My current blue star went into QT and had a real bad time and looked like yours, wouldn't eat and stayed at the bottom of the tank. I caved in and placed it into my DT with lights out and surprisingly it pulled through. It's a risky move, but it saved it. Eats like a pig now.

It's your call, but I wouldn't let it stay that way long.

deedubz · Apr 8, 2018

I haven't had a leopard(yet), but I hear they're notoriously bad shippers. What does the flow situation look like? High flow on a stressed fish could cause the fish to struggle swimming. What do you mean by trouble swimming? Whirling around, chasing it's reflection on the bottom, trouble staying afloat?

ViciousDlishus · Apr 8, 2018

Next to no flow only an airstone and a hob filter. No lights except for quick monitor. Limited traffic as qt is in basement. No harassment at all.

At this point I'll just be monitoring hoping it gets some rest and starts to eat in the next day or so.

Flippers4pups · Apr 8, 2018

ViciousDlishus said:
Next to no flow only an airstone and a hob filter. No lights except for quick monitor. Limited traffic as qt is in basement. No harassment at all.

At this point I'll just be monitoring hoping it gets Somme rest and starts to ear in the next day or so.

Watch your ammonia. Things don't improve soon, swimming and eating, choices will be needed quickly.

Good luck and keep us updated.

ViciousDlishus · Apr 8, 2018

Things seemed to have improved with its energy level. Swimming and exploring around the clay pots. Took a few bites of food.

Swimming still seems a bit odd almost like his belly wants to turn him upsidedown.

He didn't find his sand last night hopefully he makes his way there tonight.

I think I'll plan for prazi round 1 Tuesday or Wednesday night after a feeding if they're all eating well. Should the air stone and hob filter add enough aeration for them. Hasn't been an issue with clowns, chalk bass or midas blenny who went through qt previously.

ihavecrabs · Apr 8, 2018

Flippers4pups said:
Leopards are notorious for having issues acclimating. They don't do well in transition due to stress. Yours is stressed out bad.

Lower lights or even just ambient room light. Plenty of hiding places with pvc pieces and QT in an area that isn't in a high traffic area. Even covering the QT for a while can help.

My experience with them has been hit or miss. My current blue star went into QT and had a real bad time and looked like yours, wouldn't eat and stayed at the bottom of the tank. I caved in and placed it into my DT with lights out and surprisingly it pulled through. It's a risky move, but it saved it. Eats like a pig now.

It's your call, but I would let it stay that way long.

+1

My three took 24-36 hours before they started acting right. I had one that took a little longer; however, all three are eating frozen and I treat them to white worms every few days. 2 weeks in QT so far and started copper dosing a few days back.

Definitely likely stress due to them being poor shippers. Give it time. Brine shrimp help getting them to eat and then switching over to frozen. GL

ihavecrabs · Apr 8, 2018

ViciousDlishus said:
Things seemed to have improved with its energy level. Swimming and exploring around the clay pots. Took a few bites of food.

Swimming still seems a bit odd almost like his belly wants to turn him upsidedown.

He didn't find his sand last night hopefully he makes his way there tonight.

I think I'll plan for prazi round 1 Tuesday or Wednesday night after a feeding if they're all eating well. Should the air stone and hob filter add enough aeration for them. Hasn't been an issue with clowns, chalk bass or midas blenny who went through qt previously.

I have three in a 10g QT with HOB and an airstone plus a tupperware container with sand. They didn't get the concept of the tupperware with sand and kept laying down on the glass.. While they are stressed, they are very easy going (my experience anyway) and can be hand held and put over the container with sand. While holding them in your (half way open) hand, extend a finger and swirl the sand and mine dove right in. Since then they have been good to go.

Note: If they are skittish when you put your hand in the tank, better not to stress them. Mine were very low key when I got them.

Humblefish · Apr 8, 2018

@4FordFamily @HotRocks For more input on Leopard Wrasses... my experience with them is limited.

HotRocks · Apr 8, 2018

They are very sensitive fish. Major PITAs. They do not ship well at all. I'd say, you have about a 50% chance that one makes it through shipping. If she stayed lethargic, from the time you acclimated, unless it snaps back in the first 48hrs, it probably won't end well unfortunately.

Helpful tips for acclimation:
Keep lights off for at least the first 24hrs to help minimize stress, even longer may be necessary if acting lethargic, not active, laying on side etc.
Also acclimate in low light.
Make sure you have a secure place for them like pvc pipe, especially if you have them in with other more aggressive fish.

HotRocks · Apr 8, 2018

ViciousDlishus said:
Things seemed to have improved with its energy level. Swimming and exploring around the clay pots. Took a few bites of food.

Swimming still seems a bit odd almost like his belly wants to turn him upsidedown.

He didn't find his sand last night hopefully he makes his way there tonight.

I think I'll plan for prazi round 1 Tuesday or Wednesday night after a feeding if they're all eating well. Should the air stone and hob filter add enough aeration for them. Hasn't been an issue with clowns, chalk bass or midas blenny who went through qt previously.

Sorry reading backwards through this thread. If your leopard is tending to be belly up, it may in fact, have a swim bladder issue. They are also known to have this issue as well. @4FordFamily and I received a male Bluestar male that had the same issue. We vented his swim bladder and he swam much better, but unfortunately didn't make it past 72hrs.

4FordFamily · Apr 8, 2018

I agree with my buddy @HotRocks but I will say that I used to have a lot better luck with them two years ago — I feel like they’re 2x more likely to die now than they were then, unless mine were all luck. I had 75-80% success rates with most species aside from Kuiteri which I failed on all 3 attempts. My first choati lived for 6 months before dusting abruptly, which is not abnormal, unfortunately.

Edit: most of my recent troubles with leopards and other fish we have learned are due to poor quality control issues with coppersafe concentrations in quarantine.