Sick orange back wrasse in QT

[Loggerhead]

Bought an orange back wrasse, Kole tang and Mccosker’s wrasse on Sunday last weekend. Placed them in QT after matching salinity of tank to Lfs water. No lfs water added to my tank due to them using copper in the tang tank, not the wrasse tank. Everyone has been fine and eating well so I did my first dose of PraziPro last night. The return pump is blasting full power at the top of the tank to combat O2 loss from the praziquantel and I have an mp10 for circulation. The mccosker’s and the tang are still doing well and eating but today the orange back wrasse is breathing heavy, acting stiff even though it isn’t because it will move if disturbed and staying at the bottom of the tank. In general it doesn’t act well even though eyes are clear and there is no discoloration or external damage to the fish. I have done a 50% water change tonight. Ammonia test registers 0 even before the water change and my ammo alert badge was also registering 0 so I’m confident there is no ammonia. Also tank is at 1.025 salinity measured with refractometer and a Milwaukee digital refractometer. Temp is 79 with two glass thermometers and one digital.

Any ideas of what I can do? For meds I have furan-2, metroplex, Kanaplex, focus for binding to food but it isn’t eating and chloroquine phosphate. QT tank is a bio cube 29 so approximately 25 gallons system volume.

 

[Big G]

Wrasses can be fluke magnets. Could be its gills were infested with flukes and when the flukes are exposed to the Prazi their reaction is interfering with the wrasse's breathing.

 

[Loggerhead]

Is it best to just wait it out then?

 

[Big G]

Sometimes the flukes are embedded deeply into a fish's gills and is somewhat protected from meds by the mucous coating of the gill membrane. It's risky, but a freshwater dip might dislodge any flukes that the prazi didn't take care of completely after the first dose. Very risky though the fish may be too weak for the FW dip.

 

[Loggerhead]

Ok. Thanks. I think I may wait until morning for the dip and hope the fish looks better. They way it is still acting now I would be afraid the dip would kill it. I added a couple of small pieces of live rock that has been curing for about 10-12 months that I can get rid of if necessary after the QT process. I’m hoping it may make the fish feel more secure and the lower stress level will help it.

 

[Loggerhead]

Is a better option to hope the fish pulls through and wait and do the freshwater dip before the next dose of PraziPro in 6 days? Just thinking it may dislodge the flukes and the prazi will take care of any remainders. If this is a better route would you recommend three weeks of prazi instead of two?

 

[Tamberav]

I always remove prazi after 24 hours and repeat a week later (or whatever the prazi calendar recommends) to limit exposure to this med as some wrasse randomly don't seem to handle it so well.

Just throwing that out there since this seemed to happen after it was treated.

 

[Loggerhead]

Still no change. No external damage and eyes clear but still very heavy breathing. Any suggestions if I should do a freshwater dip or some other treatment. My lfs has methylene blue though I’m not sure if it would be better or treat what is needed.