Melanerus Wrasse not doing well in QT

[Dodgersfan]

I think just transfer him from LFS to home and into QT without feeding, ammonia is not the problem., does not matter what the test said. I have never test for ammonia in nearly 30 years of reefing. I think your Melanurus died form stress/stress induced injury. I have lost wrasses, but never other fish, due to transfer induced stress.

My QT protocol is to put them in a QT reef, 40 gal with sump, with sand bed, fully lighted and with coral and clams in it. I also use this tank as a frag tank when not use as QT. This tank can be diverted to isolation with it's own sump or diverted and move the return pump to the main sump to put it in the same circulation with the main system. I don't treat new fish for disease unless I see it while in QT. IMHO, TTM for me kill more fish than the number of fish save by doing this method trying to control Ich.

Regardless of what you do for QT, it is reasonable to get the fish settle and stress free before initiate your protocol.

Stress induced injury could be a possibility also, he was thrashing around in the bag a good bit.

 

[Dodgersfan]

The LFS said it could've also been a PH issue even though it was their water. they said its possible the PH could've been higher in the new water, the fish were in their frag system. same water as the premix they sell (i have had good luck in the past doing this method buying their premix and putting the fish directly into a QT tank with just the LFS Water, then over the next two transfers doing 1/3rd my water 2/3rd LFS water, then 2/3 my water and 1/3rd LFS water) but they thought the corals might be lowering the PH some in the frag system as compared to the new water...

 

[Lasse]

I do not think it is a pH issue at all. I often get fishes that have pH below 7 in the bag and transfer them during a rather short period to water with pH 8 - 8.1. During long transports pH will go from around 8 to below 7 because of CO2 from the fishes. IMO - pH itself is not any problem - the problem is different compounds toxicity in different pH.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Lasse]

In an earlier post you say that you have had this problems for a while. Has it been in the same way every time you lose fishes in the QT?

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Dodgersfan]

In an earlier post you say that you have had this problems for a while. Has it been in the same way every time you lose fishes in the QT?

Sincerely Lasse

no its been a little different each time here's a quick run down:

Lawnmower blenny #1 - died in DT 1 day after going through 3 week quarantine - i think he starved, the only other thing in the tank at the time was a few 1" Chalk Bass babies
Lawnmower Blenny #2 - disappeared a few after introducing into DT - i think they both starved during quarantine, neither would eat frozen or nori offered. i don't think I've got a predatory worm in the tank, all rock was started from dry rock. though i guess its possible an egg made it in on a frag, all frags were dipped though...
McCoskers Flasher #1 - Died in QT a few days after receiving - got from LA and it never ate.
McCoskers Flasher #2 - (got from LFS) died in QT after dosing prazi
Carpenters Flasher & Blue Flasher - were in the same QT batch as the McCoskers, both of these made it through Prazi fine and were n the DT almost 2 months. both jumped through eggcrate after the Royal flasher below was introduced - eggcrate was switched out after that.
Royal Flasher Wrasse - disappeared about 1 week after making it to DT, definitely did not jump. the house was without AC for this whole time (it broke and we were waiting on a replacement part, tank had some temp fluctuations before i got it more or less under control (2 degree swing per day was "under control" at this time, for the first few days before i got the right combo of fans and portable ACs, at worst the tank was as high as 81 and as low as 74 in a 24 hour period. also might've been bullied by a Kole tang. he went through QT with the Kole tang and there were no aggression issues there, but that can change with the addition of "territory" in the DT, the Kole tang has proven to be a chaser so far.


so actually a good bit of them made it through QT and then had issues of some sort once in the DT, possibly the result of stress from the QT process....

 

[Lasse]

Is mostly fishes that is difficult to have to eat dry and frozen food that you have problems with. On trick for lawnmower blenny´s that have work for me every time is to use this type of algae tabs that´s is common for freshwater algae eating catfishes. Hikari algae wafers is one type - I normally use Tropical green algae wafers.

The wrasses are sensitive for stress.

I do not just put in my newcomers - I use to have them in my fuge for a couple of weeks of different reasons. They are alone - much of hiding places (try to chase through a solid wall of Chaeto ) and there is a lot of pods in there. The construction is that they will get surplus food from the DT too. They will smell as the others when I introduce them to the DT. I think this is very important in order to avoid bulling. If you have fish in a normal QT - IMO - it is a very good idea to do a lot of WC from the DT tank the last week. This for the smell and also like a type of vaccination against common bacteria and parasites in the DT

Sincerely Lasse

 

[eatbreakfast]

I don't think ph is an issue.

If fish never eat, which lawnmower blennies are notorious for, or for jumping, which wrasses are famous for, can't really be blamed for qt protocol.

 

[Lasse]

which lawnmower blennies are notorious for,

Try the algae wafers - I have not have any lawnmower blennie that did not eat this. They got nuts when I started with it. One I had always play with the wafer as a cat with a mouse

Sincerely Lasse

 

[eatbreakfast]

Try the algae wafers - I have not have any lawnmower blennie that did not eat this. They got nuts when I started with it. One I had always play with the wafer as a cat with a mouse

Sincerely Lasse

Some accept them, some don't.

 

[Dodgersfan]

I don't think ph is an issue.

If fish never eat, which lawnmower blennies are notorious for, or for jumping, which wrasses are famous for, can't really be blamed for qt protocol.

actually writing out what happened with each loss helped with some of the frustration... when you're flushing a lot of fish you feel like you want to shake things up and things aren't working, however after i wrote it all down it helped me see that a lot of them aren't really QT issues (although i do feel like if i put the 2 blennys straight in the DT they probably would've made it. there is much less 'natural' food in TTM tanks. but that's not worth the risk of introducing disease. the second blenny took frozen mysis in the LFS, i made sure i picked one that ate frozen foods, but it started ignoring the mysis in TTM so i do think that stress from TTM was related to that death... i was also dosing vibrant at the time to control GHA and the GHA was sickly looking, I've never heard of a fish getting sick from eating 'sick' GHA but the thought did cross my mind since both blennies died within a few days of going in the DT (i never actually found the 2nd body, but he disappeared about 2-3 days in)

 

[Dodgersfan]

Try the algae wafers - I have not have any lawnmower blennie that did not eat this. They got nuts when I started with it. One I had always play with the wafer as a cat with a mouse

Sincerely Lasse

thanks, but I'm not going to get another algae blenny, at least not for now. i added a Kole tang to fill that Role, and I've heard they can pick on other algae eaters. my particular Kole seems to be a bit aggressive so far, so i think its probably not a good idea to try another blenny. if i ever have to move the Kole out (if it gets too aggressive) i will try the algae wafers. i actually have some on hand for the FW tank in my daughter's room, wish i had thought to try them when i had the blennies in QT.

 

[Lasse]

Some accept them, some don't.

With the Tropical Algae Wafers - never have had any problems to have them to eat. Probably I was lucky - but it I have had more than 5 during the years.

Sincerely Lasse