New Lepord Wrasse goes under rocks

[eatbreakfast]

I will reiterate the concern about the sixline. They have a strong intolerance for other wrasses.

Whatever you do, never go rooting around looking for a sand dwelling wrasse. That will only make them hide longer.

Another concern is the acclimation. When a fish is shipped the CO2 they respirate can't escape. This drops the ph in the bag water. This is good because below a certain ph ammonia is rendered harmless. However, once the bag is opened the CO2 can escape, raising the ph, rendering the ammonia toxic again. Ammonia has a damaging effect on fish's gills. This can add stress and harm during acclimation.

 

[TonyTPA]

Thank you,

I have not gone looking for her last night it just happened that she was in the sand in a spot that I could see just a glimpse of one side of her head. Another fish went by the area and she went deeper. As far as the acclimation I did leave the bag closed when I did the 40 Min bag temp acclimation, I did not open the bag until I put her into the hanging holder and I did add water from my system slowly over a hour. After the hour is when I released her and she went right for the rocks and went under cover. If she appears I will need to make a decision as to which one I want to keep in the tank. My fear is that she dies under the sand and the deterioration from the death crashes my whole tank.

 

[eatbreakfast]

Thank you,

I have not gone looking for her last night it just happened that she was in the sand in a spot that I could see just a glimpse of one side of her head. Another fish went by the area and she went deeper. As far as the acclimation I did leave the bag closed when I did the 40 Min bag temp acclimation, I did not open the bag until I put her into the hanging holder and I did add water from my system slowly over a hour. After the hour is when I released her and she went right for the rocks and went under cover. If she appears I will need to make a decision as to which one I want to keep in the tank. My fear is that she dies under the sand and the deterioration from the death crashes my whole tank.

Microorganisms in the tank will break down the body without any significant effects on the rest of the tank.

 

[TonyTPA]

A question for all out there, if I were to take the six line out of the tank now would that change anything? Would the Leopard be more likely to come out?

 

[eatbreakfast]

IF you can catch the sixline without disrupting the tank the leopard may come out more. However, going roughshod trying to catch the sixline will make the leopard hide more. Also, the damsel may still be a problem for the leopard.

 

[TonyTPA]

so the real answer would be to wait till she comes out and then remove her from the tank or take the damsels and six line out if possible.

 

[Nokiaec11]

3 months old tank is pretty new for a wrasse...careful with the beautiful exotic looking fish, they are usually the most difficult to acclimate and maintain.

 

[HawaiianReef]

Its not uncommon for a wrasse to stay in the sand bed for days or even weeks. They cocoon themselves in a mucus sac. They're stressed so they hide out until they decide to feel things out. Just leave them alone. They know when the best time is for them to come out. Then once they're out, they are everywhere.

 

[Stigigemla]

I have noticed that sand dwelling wrasses can have a jetlag when they are just imported.
Here I have to feed them early because they go to bed early in the afternoon. And they are awake before the light goes on.
In about 2 weeks they have adapted to my light schedule.

 

[TonyTPA]

Unfortunately I just got up and the Wrasse was out of the sand it darted around the tank then went nose first into the bottom of the tank and died. I am no longer using the source I for her from. This is the second fish that died from them in less then a week from arrival. All my other fish from other sources are doing great.
Thanks for all the advise. I will continue to enjoy the size line going in and out if my rocks

 

[mattzang]

sorry for your loss, losing a fish sucks

that said, idk if i'd blame the source you got it from. adding a leopard to a sixline and those mean damsels, even healthy, is probably going end up not going well. what was the other fish you added? i'd venture a guess that adding any fish is going to be an issue now, you might want to consider fixing your current stocking before adding new things

 

[Daniel Waters]

Unfortunately I just got up and the Wrasse was out of the sand it darted around the tank then went nose first into the bottom of the tank and died. I am no longer using the source I for her from. This is the second fish that died from them in less then a week from arrival. All my other fish from other sources are doing great.
Thanks for all the advise. I will continue to enjoy the size line going in and out if my rocks

Sorry for your loss. Leopard wrasses are notoriously bad shippers. Introducing it to a tank with aggressive tank mates such as damsels and a six line wrasse made your chances of success even less so. I'd recommend QT in the future with a tank that has sand, live rock, and an established pod population. If you can keep the wrasse in that setup for a few weeks, fatten it up, and slowly get parameters of the QT tank to match the display tank, then you could look to introduce to the main display tank (assuming you don't have aggressive fish). Leopard wrasses should be introduced first or with other non-agressive fish. Even then, they are hard to get to live, so I'm not sure I'd be so quick to blame your supplier...the fact that the fish made it alive after shipping and was alive for a few days is better than most do.

 

[Brian1f1]

Unfortunately I just got up and the Wrasse was out of the sand it darted around the tank then went nose first into the bottom of the tank and died. I am no longer using the source I for her from. This is the second fish that died from them in less then a week from arrival. All my other fish from other sources are doing great.
Thanks for all the advise. I will continue to enjoy the size line going in and out if my rocks

Probably nothing to do with the source and everything to do with choices you made. They really need to be carefully conditioned in a tank alone. Dropping one into an established tank after shipping is a crapshoot and risky anyway. Dropping one in with your fish is salt in the wound. It’s okay, we all make mistakes, so long as we try not to and don’t repeat... In other words, you could repeat this from any other source and 9 out of 10 times (maybe higher) get the same results...

Edit: Didn’t mean to pile on, didn’t see the other posts saying the same thing before I posted.