Leopard wrasse question

CoralClasher · Aug 2, 2019

This last Tuesday was my birthday my wife surprised me with three new fish!! I'm not sure if they are a good addition to my tank? I have a 120 gallon reef with a 55 gallon refugium. No sand in the DT is what I'm wondering about? Do leopard wrasses need sand? And will they get along with the other fishes? Fox face, purple tang, yellow tang, powder brown tang, three clown fish, two red stoplight Cardinal, splendid dotty back, blenny and a six line wrasse.

Scurvy · Aug 2, 2019

Yes, Leopards do need sand and I would expect the 6 Line to take exception to them. Great looking Leopards tho, I would love them but am also bare bottom.

siggy · Aug 2, 2019

Jon Malkerson said:
This last Tuesday was my birthday my wife surprised me with three new fish!!

Another lucky dog!

I had a puka shell base (3-years is now v-coarse sand) and my leopard didn't last long. I seen ppl put sand in a plastic tub, hey @Scurvy does that realy work?

vetteguy53081 · Aug 2, 2019

They need sand and hiding places and are good community fish

CoralClasher · Aug 2, 2019

Maybe it's time to add the deep sand bed? I pulled the shallow sand bed two years ago and added a deep sand bed in the refugium 8 months ago.

Scurvy · Aug 2, 2019

siggy said:
Another lucky dog!
I had a puka shell base (3-years is now v-coarse sand) and my leopard didn't last long. I seen ppl put sand in a plastic tub, hey @Scurvy does that realy work?

It can but I found the sand usually winds up all over the tank anyway. I kept a Radiant in a tub for a while. I have a couple of wrasse dens I plan to try it with again eventually. They provide a little more protection from flow than an open top container does.

Scurvy · Aug 2, 2019

Jon Malkerson said:
Maybe it's time to add the deep sand bed? I pulled the shallow sand bed two years ago and added a deep sand bed in the refugium 8 months ago.

If I had three leopards show up at my house I’d probably figure a way to section off an entire back corner of my tank and add an inch a half to two inches of sand and see what happened. I wouldn’t be able to pass on them if they just appeared on me

CoralClasher · Aug 2, 2019

I had a heck of a time getting the six line through copper I'm sure the new leopards will be the same? Maybe I should run them through GC and try the tank transfer method?

CoralClasher · Aug 9, 2019

Is crushed coral fine for wrasses?

Cment · Aug 9, 2019

Jon Malkerson said:
Is crushed coral fine for wrasses?

No they need fine sand to dive into when stressed or sleeping. Crush coral can possibly cut their skin leading to a bacterial infection. I would also feed general cure and focus for 10-14days bc leopards are prone to internal parasites and waste away after time. These guys can become very hardy fish if taken care of properly. Multiple feeds a day, I feed at least 3x day, and a good fuge with lots of pods will keep them well fed.

Cment · Aug 9, 2019

Leopards can handle copper but are more sensitive. Ramp it up slower over the course of 7 days or so and they should be fine.

CoralClasher · Aug 9, 2019

Cment said:
No they need fine sand to dive into when stressed or sleeping. Crush coral can possibly cut their skin leading to a bacterial infection. I would also feed general cure and focus for 10-14days bc leopards are prone to internal parasites and waste away after time. These guys can become very hardy fish if taken care of properly. Multiple feeds a day, I feed at least 3x day, and a good fuge with lots of pods will keep them well fed.

Yeah that's what I was thinking too. Maybe I could use this crushed coral to keep the fine sand in one spot? They are in QT with GC and soaked food. They seem very happy and eating good for me. I don't think I'll run them through copper I've transferred three times now into new QT.

bwomac44 · Aug 9, 2019

+1 on the treating with metroplex/general cure + focus. My leopards poop used to be pretty white so I went ahead and treated everyone in the tank

White, Solid Poop from my 2 Leopard Wrasses

I have read that both white and stringy poop clearly indicates internal parasites. I watched my 2 Leopard Wrasses yesterday morning take a morning poo and it was white, but solid. Same thing again today, but I managed to suck the the turds out and snap a pic. They eat PE mysis, 2 Little Fishies...

www.reef2reef.com

Imo crushed coral may be fine. I have the medium size aragonite and they’re healthy.
They’re relatively tough, adaptable creatures in my opinion. Maybe crushed and medium or even fine, but it doesn’t need to be totally “fine”. Medium works well for mine and it’s what I’d recommend
They only need an inch or so of sand (the sand will be deeper in some places from the current and that is where they will go to sleep/hide. I have 1&1/2” of sand I’d say and they sleep in an area that’s about 3”
I would almost be worried going too deep as maybe they’d eventually disturb a toxic area of the DSB

They’re the coolest fish. Nice to see you accommodating your tank to their needs!
Here’s a couple pics of mine
2 Blue Stars (I’m sure one will turn male in time)

Cment · Aug 9, 2019

Sand up to 2mm will work, larger than that they sometimes can’t bury properly. I would look into a wrasse den or a large tubberware filled with sand

bwomac44 · Aug 9, 2019

-1 on Tupperware. They will blow that all around the aquarium.
Mine dive in my sand looking for food (stirs up microfauna). They do this dozens of times a day. That would be a terrible mess
I did do that in my observational qt though (before they would dive for food) and it was okay for that purpose

If you’ve done tank transfer I’m sure you’re fine. I did no med observational and they were good to go after 6 weeks. Other than the fact I should have treated for internal parasites as a precaution.

CoralClasher · Aug 9, 2019

Poop isn't white or stringy. I've had fish with velvet and ich so I kinda know what to look for.

CoralClasher · Aug 9, 2019

Well I just noticed the left eye of this guy doesn't look normal. Kinda puffy and milky looking?

Pbh-reef · Aug 9, 2019

pop eye can come from flukes or injury leading to a possible bacterial infection. Pop eye from injury or bacterial infection can be treated with epsom salt, which is a pretty mild medication. Here’s the info from a Humblefish post-

Epsom Salt: Treats eye and other injuries. Popeye in one eye usually means injury, but popeye in both eyes usually denotes a bacterial infection requiring antibiotic treatment. Cloudy eye can be a bacterial infection or flukes.

How To Treat - 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons of aquarium water. Repeat only once, if necessary. Use only “USP” grade Epsom salt.

If it is flukes you’ll need to do Prazi or general cure. A fw dip can confirm flukes, my limited experience is that wrasse can be sensitive to fw dips so I advise making sure the water is heavily oxygenated.

CoralClasher · Aug 9, 2019

Pbh-reef said:
pop eye can come from flukes or injury leading to a possible bacterial infection. Pop eye from injury or bacterial infection can be treated with epsom salt, which is a pretty mild medication. Here’s the info from a Humblefish post-

Epsom Salt: Treats eye and other injuries. Popeye in one eye usually means injury, but popeye in both eyes usually denotes a bacterial infection requiring antibiotic treatment. Cloudy eye can be a bacterial infection or flukes.

How To Treat - 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons of aquarium water. Repeat only once, if necessary. Use only “USP” grade Epsom salt.

If it is flukes you’ll need to do Prazi or general cure. A fw dip can confirm flukes, my limited experience is that wrasse can be sensitive to fw dips so I advise making sure the water is heavily

Looks like some fin rot and tail is split