Sick Exquisite Wrasse

JayKim · Apr 25, 2019

What can I do to save this guy? exquisite wrasse from live aquaria. got 2 but 1 was doa and this one looked ok but as you can see it's not. relocated it into smaller tank with only corals, did 2 minute fresh water dip. The video was last night and I thought for sure it'd be dead this morning but it's still alive. I'll be putting it into 5 gallon empty tank tonight and look for possible treatment. Is it just me or has live aquaria fish quality gone down? I've been out of hobby for about 7 years and I remember I never had this kind of issue with live aquaria before. Out of 25 fish I bought recently 9 died and this one in bad shape.

JayKim · Apr 25, 2019

I know someone will ask, the water parameters are fine. the large tank (fish only) it was first introduced into has 20ppm nitrate and this smaller tank currently it's in has 0 nitrate. ph 8.0, dkh 9, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, calcium ~430.

Frtdrmrose7 · Apr 25, 2019

JayKim said:
What can I do to save this guy? exquisite wrasse from live aquaria. got 2 but 1 was doa and this one looked ok but as you can see it's not. relocated it into smaller tank with only corals, did 2 minute fresh water dip. The video was last night and I thought for sure it'd be dead this morning but it's still alive. I'll be putting it into 5 gallon empty tank tonight and look for possible treatment. Is it just me or has live aquaria fish quality gone down? I've been out of hobby for about 7 years and I remember I never had this kind of issue with live aquaria before. Out of 25 fish I bought recently 9 died and this one in bad shape.

That appears to be the “typical” spinal injury common to wrasses. You can see the decreased ability to use its tail. It could be from injury in shipping, etc but some evidence suggests internal flagellates also cause this. I would get him in a small tank with low flow, feed him metro or GC laced food for 14-21 days. TBH though only a small percentage recover from this. Typically the wrasse will stop eating, lay on the bottom and just wither away.

ngoodermuth · Apr 25, 2019

Frtdrmrose7 said:
That appears to be the “typical” spinal injury common to wrasses. You can see the decreased ability to use its tail. It could be from injury in shipping, etc but some evidence suggests internal flagellates also cause this. I would get him in a small tank with low flow, feed him metro or GC laced food for 14-21 days. TBH though only a small percentage recover from this. Typically the wrasse will stop eating, lay on the bottom and just wither away.

+1, He doesn't look "as bad" as some others I've seen... so I would definitely try the medicated food! Use metroplex or general cure, with focus as a binder to make it reef-safe. Feed small amounts at a time, only as much as the fish will eat, twice daily. Treat for at least 14 days in this case, if he makes it that long.

JayKim · Apr 25, 2019

Last night it was on it's back on the sand bed breathing heavily, so I thought it wouldn't survive the night. I think you are right, it probably got injured during shipping. Ordered 13 fish, about 10 were in same box. Two exquisite wrasses one was doa and this one and other doa was Gold Assessor Basslet. I don't think ups takes great care of the box even if it says fragile, live animal. Also, I don't think live aquaria should have put that many fish in 1 box but probably did it to save money.

Frtdrmrose7 · Apr 25, 2019

JayKim said:
Last night it was on it's back on the sand bed breathing heavily, so I thought it wouldn't survive the night. I think you are right, it probably got injured during shipping. Ordered 13 fish, about 10 were in same box. Two exquisite wrasses one was doa and this one and other doa was Gold Assessor Basslet. I don't think ups takes great care of the box even if it says fragile, live animal. Also, I don't think live aquaria should have put that many fish in 1 box but probably did it to save money.

Definitely get him in a low flow area, feed the med laced food, and you can dose pure USP Epsom Salts at 1 Tablespoon per 5G to possibly help with swelling. After these steps it’s just a waiting game unfortunately.

JayKim · Apr 25, 2019

Thanks for your responses. I hope LFS has these otherwise I'll have to get on amazon.

JayKim · Apr 26, 2019

Moved it into a 5 gallon tank last night and put in half pack of api general cure. it's not eating but it's still alive as of this morning.

ngoodermuth · Apr 26, 2019

JayKim said:
Moved it into a 5 gallon tank last night and put in half pack of api general cure. it's not eating but it's still alive as of this morning.

Good move, there’s not much else to do but just wait it out and hope he perks up enough to start taking medicated food

The Epsom salt is a good idea, if you haven’t tried that yet.

JayKim · Apr 26, 2019

ngoodermuth said:
Good move, there’s not much else to do but just wait it out and hope he perks up enough to start taking medicated food

The Epsom salt is a good idea, if you haven’t tried that yet.

Not yet, but I will stop by wal mart and pick up some tonight.

JayKim · Apr 26, 2019

this should work? guess i'm going to target.

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Frtdrmrose7 · Apr 26, 2019

JayKim said:
this should work? guess i'm going to target.

.

Yes, as long as it doesn’t have perfumes or dyes

JayKim · Apr 26, 2019

Frtdrmrose7 said:
Yes, as long as it doesn’t have perfumes or dyes

Highlights

Pure Magnesium Sulfate
Relieves sore muscles
Natural laxative
Unscented
Value size, 8 lbs.

no mentions of perfumes or dyes, but i'll read the package before buying

Bleigh · Apr 26, 2019

Poor guy! Hope he recovers!

GoldeneyeRet · Apr 26, 2019

Just a ray of hope for you...

My exquisite came in swimming exactly like the video you showed. It is happy as a peach in my display right now. I dont think he uses his tail as much as he is supposed to when swimming, but he is the pushiest of all my wrasse! Hes doing great! I hope yours pulls through.

JayKim · May 1, 2019

It didn't make it. Wouldn't eat and most of the time it was on it's side breathing hard. It was hard to watch, wanted to put it out of it's misery but it died last night when I returned home from work. What I didn't know was that Live Aquaria drop ships direct from importer/wholesaler. I don't think this was true 7 years ago when I was in the hobby and always got healthy fish from them. Only few died back than but now 10 of 25 died. When I emailed them they blamed my water parameters and overstocking.