Melanurus Wrasse Needs Help

[John Helm]

Hi everyone, on August 5th I added a male melanurus wrasse to my 40 gallon breeder quarantine tank. The tank has a Aquaclear 70 filter, large air stone, heater and ammonia badge. The water quality is excellent and I change about 50% every week or so. Besides the pvc pieces, there is no sand bed and I understand their need for the sand to hide in. This may have caused stress leading to the issues he's having. This fish is destined for my 90 gallon sps tank that's been running for 11 years. The QT tank already has a scribbled rabbitfish and firefish which were there a few days before adding the wrasse. These other two fish show no symptoms and are very robust. Today the wrasse started developing symptoms of strange behavior like lying upside down on the bottom and swimming erratically. He looks kind of arched over and his abdomen area is sunken in. Also he's refusing all foods after eating very well over the past two weeks. He was extremely active and would come to me for food. This QT tank hasn't been treated with anything as of yet. I've included 3 photos here to give you an idea of his condition. I do have Prazi Pro, antibiotics, copper, chloroquine phosphate, etc. but I hesitate to treat without getting some advice here. Possibly @Humblefish can check this out since I've received great advice from him in the past. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much.
John

 

[HotRocks]

Wrasse are nutorious for intestinal parasites/worms.

They also aren't as likely to show visible symptoms of external parasites due to thick mucus coat.

That first pic under the Gill cover on right side it looks like some redness.

Do you use an ammonia badge?. The fish looks very thin as well.

 

[Humblefish]

Wrasse are nutorious for intestinal parasites/worms.

They also aren't as likely to show visible symptoms of external parasites due to thick mucus coat.

That first pic under the Gill cover on right side it looks like some redness.

Do you use an ammonia badge?. The fish looks very thin as well.

+1

 

[4FordFamily]

Wrasse are nutorious for intestinal parasites/worms.

They also aren't as likely to show visible symptoms of external parasites due to thick mucus coat.

That first pic under the Gill cover on right side it looks like some redness.

Do you use an ammonia badge?. The fish looks very thin as well.

I have nothing to add other than I agree 100%

 

[John Helm]

Thank you. Yes, I have an ammonia badge that shows no ammonia. Also, a Salifert Ammonia test confirms it. So should I treat the tank with Prazi Pro?

 

[HotRocks]

Thank you. Yes, I have an ammonia badge that shows no ammonia. Also, a Salifert Ammonia test confirms it. So should I treat the tank with Prazi Pro?

I would recommend a 5min FW Dip, prior to treating with prazi to confirm if flukes are present or not.

The fish may be sick enough that it may not survive the dip.