Leopard Wrasse...what's to lose?

[nkyreef]

Purchased a female leopard wrasse 30 days ago. She's been in QT since day one. No copper. The first two weeks I spent just trying to get her to eat trying several different foods. Live food is unavailable. She'd only pick never really eat. Reading up on internal parasites I went ahead with two doses of Prazipro. She still hasn't put on any weight despite everything I've tried to feed even soaked in garlic. Question is, is there anything to lose by placing her in my established DT so that she'd have a fighting chance with pods to forage for? Will she have a better chance of survival?

 

[AZReef13]

This will a nice debate for all the fine members on this board. how big is tank? you add pods, or have refug? What other fish are in your tank? been in QT for 30 days she must have been eating something? Most leapords will feed on pods, mine does plus everything else. It rook me three to get one to eat, so I know your struggles.. This will ultimately have to be your call, it your tank, and your fish.

 

[sixline]

So if you put pods in the quarantine tank they would instantly die because of the Prazipro?

Have you tried cyclopleeze?

 

[AZReef13]

So if you put pods in the quarantine tank they would instantly die because of the Prazipro?

Have you tried cyclopleeze?

Im not familar with these myself, cyclopleeze where do you get them?

 

[Fishurama]

Purchased a female leopard wrasse 30 days ago. She's been in QT since day one. No copper. The first two weeks I spent just trying to get her to eat trying several different foods. Live food is unavailable. She'd only pick never really eat. Reading up on internal parasites I went ahead with two doses of Prazipro. She still hasn't put on any weight despite everything I've tried to feed even soaked in garlic. Question is, is there anything to lose by placing her in my established DT so that she'd have a fighting chance with pods to forage for? Will she have a better chance of survival?

Most people do no quarantine leopards do to them being bad shippers already, their diet, and the need for sand. The stress from all that tends to not help in a QT.
Ive had mine for about a year now and had a real bad time when i first got her(thread below) but learned a lot. I would personally put it in the display. Mine almost dying when i got it, went into the DT and thrived because of it.

my ornate leopard wrasse thread

 

[sixline]

Im not familar with these myself, cyclopleeze where do you get them?

I get it at my LFS. If you have some nearby you can call and see if they have any. It may be hard to order online as it's frozen.

Some other ideas to try:

1) see if you can net some 'pods from your display and put them into the quarantine tank
2) If a local store has masago or tobiko, I've had finicky fish eat that - especially when they're moving in the mid water column. So turkey baste them in front of a power head. I think a combination of the scent and the movement attracts them.

 

[sfin52]

It's one of those fish that qt is very rough on them.

Try brine shrimp or fish eggs with pumps on

 

[nkyreef]

This will a nice debate for all the fine members on this board. how big is tank? you add pods, or have refug? What other fish are in your tank? been in QT for 30 days she must have been eating something? Most leapords will feed on pods, mine does plus everything else. It rook me three to get one to eat, so I know your struggles.. This will ultimately have to be your call, it your tank, and your fish.

108 gallon Red Sea 525XL display roughly 2.5 years established. Foxface, Purple Tang, Blue Jaw Trigger, couple clowns, Pintail Fairy Wrasse, Katherine's Wrasse, Tail Spot blenny. I've added pods three times in the last 3 months preparing for a leopard wrasse. The fuge is small. I did add a few pods to the QT for a couple of days but I stopped because I couldn't see her go for them and I didn't know whether they'd survive long in the QT without phyto. I hate to see her wasting away but wasn't sure what's worse the stress of going in the display or slowly starving. If I put her in the display she may have a fighting chance. That's how I'm leaning.

 

[PicassoClown04]

I say put her in the display, I’ve lost fish trying to qt and you know there’s pods and stuff in the big tank for her. If she isn’t showing signs of disease put her in the big tank. Just my opinion but if your other fish are fat and healthy then I doubt they would succumb to ich or something like that.

 

[nkyreef]

So if you put pods in the quarantine tank they would instantly die because of the Prazipro?

Have you tried cyclopleeze?

I wasn't sure if the pods would survive in QT because of meds or because there's no food. I didn't try cyclopeeze. My LFS steered me toward baby brine instead. But I've tried regular brine, mysis, reef frenzy, masstick, and hikari pellets just in the off chance it would work.

 

[PicassoClown04]

I’d say put it in the DT so at least it’s more comfortable in its environment with sand and rocks and places to hide in. If you’ve already ruled out flukes, velvet, internal parasites, and anything else obviously external and contagious then go ahead and put her in to give her a fighting chance

 

[Clownfish2]

I would remove medications from the QT, place some of your established rock from Display into your QT for the leopard to hunt on. Priority is to get the fish to eat without meds.

Yes I will confirm prazipro kills Copepods in my QT quickly.

I tried a leopard once in QT without meds. Even bought a bottle of pods to feed. Poor guy just wouldn’t eat anything. He lived 10 days. I hope you are successful.

 

[nkyreef]

Most people do no quarantine leopards do to them being bad shippers already, their diet, and the need for sand. The stress from all that tends to not help in a QT.
Ive had mine for about a year now and had a real bad time when i first got her(thread below) but learned a lot. I would personally put it in the display. Mine almost dying when i got it, went into the DT and thrived because of it.

my ornate leopard wrasse thread

Thanks for linking your thread. I read through it all and I'm glad your leopard pulled through.

 

[nkyreef]

I’d say put it in the DT so at least it’s more comfortable in its environment with sand and rocks and places to hide in. If you’ve already ruled out flukes, velvet, internal parasites, and anything else obviously external and contagious then go ahead and put her in to give her a fighting chance

I'm definitely leaning that way. She's survived a whole 30 days so she has to be picking at something but she is very skinny.

 

[Fishurama]

Thanks for linking your thread. I read through it all and I'm glad your leopard pulled through.

Thanks I am too. Hence why i recommend you letting it go in the DT. It's stress should come down enough to want to eat since it will have sand, live rock, pods, other fish(if they dont pick on it),etc. As someone recommended to me too, i usually used to spot feed, but something as simple as broadcast feeding really helped, if you haven't tried that if you put it in your DT, i really suggest it. Hope yours pulls through Beautiful fish but they are a pain in the butt to get them to adjust lol ;Drowning ;Dead;Punch

 

[sfin52]

I put my ornate wrasse straight into the dt. Has been alive and thriving. Even eats frozen. I vote move to dt. Leapords like mandrians in my open shouldn't be qt.

 

[PicassoClown04]

Throw him in the DT, especially since he already finished a 30 day qt. Absolutely no reason not to at this point

 

[AZReef13]

Like others said here it might be better for her, Since I have a small tank right now I'm ordering PODs from Algaebarn. The do have another product called dragon roe... Might be something else to explore designed for everything plus finicky fish

keep us posted on her

 

[sfin52]

Like others said here it might be better for her, Since I have a small tank right now I'm ordering PODs from Algaebarn. The do have another product called dragon roe... Might be something else to explore designed for everything plus finicky fish

keep us posted on her

Try feeding with pumps on. It really helps fish to become intrested in the food.

 

[9975]

I have an ornate wrasse that I put through QT with copper. I'm almost lost it once to a very small ammonia spike. The only thing it would eat was pellets. I also made sure to put sand on about 3/4 of the tank for it and the melanurus that was with it to help with the comfort level.

After the QT was over, the ornate was somewhat thin. I put them in the DT and within 2 weeks we really noticed it getting pretty thick.

Like most people will say, each fish is different but this is what I went through with mine. I would have sworn that it wasnt going to make it some days but it is a gorgeous fish