Sick Wrasse

kkgaskin90 · Jul 20, 2014

I have a Melanarus that's been in my 29g since Jun 2013...original member of the tank. He has always eaten great. This past week we noticed him not eating and appearing VERY thin. We have 2 clowns also in the tank that are eating and acting fine. All levels look appropriate. Internal parasites? He's VERY lethargic... We went to net him out tonight thinking he was dead (he was on his side under a very thin layer if sand) and he swam away. I thought about taking him out and trying PraziPro, but my 10g quarantine has a blue head wrasse in it (waiting to go in the big tank). I highly doubt he would survive the acclimation to that tank at this point. Any thoughts?

Zero Nitrates · Jul 21, 2014

Sorry man! Don't sound good.

eatbreakfast · Jul 21, 2014

It sounds as though it may be too late at this point, but signs point to internal parasites. And even if treatment were possible still, being put in qt with a Thalasomma is a recipe for certain doom as well for the melanurus.

Mike&Terry · Jul 21, 2014

I don't know if it is too late, but for what it's worth, Prazipro is reefsafe. We have used it in our 300g SPS reef without issues.

kkgaskin90 · Jul 21, 2014

Thank you everyone. I was fairly certain mixing the wrasses would have been a terrible idea, but wanted to make sure. He's still alive, but not doing well. I feel absolutely ridiculous for not realizing PraziPro was safe in reef tanks :/ I would have done it MONTHS ago when I first got it in! I do a course of it as part of the quarantine process...man I feel terrible!

Naiad · Jul 21, 2014

I would see about treatment for the tank even if the wrasse is beyond saving. If he has been in there that long there is a chance he infected other fish. Do you know anyone who can do some testing or a necropsy if necessary?

kkgaskin90 · Jul 21, 2014

Oh I did already go ahead and treat as soon as I read Mike&Terry's reply

I'm sure other fish are infected, it's just taking them longer to show symptoms because they are complete hogs (clowns). I don't know anyone that can do testing or necropsy, though I'm pretty confident it's internal parasites. All the fish in that tank are from a LFS known for Ich (they tell everyone that "Ich exists in every system...the strong will survive", and every fish I've gotten from them has also had internal parasites. I no longer use them for fish unless I'm in the mood for lengthy quarantine with copper and prazipro.

Side note: I called my husband to tell him about the PraziPro and vent about how dumb I'm feeling. He mentioned that when he gets water to thaw frozen food, he gets it out of the 29g (the tank with the problem)... if he feeds the other tank with the same food is there a possibility that he's introduced parasites into the tank? I *just* got done running that tank fallow and treating everyone with Cupramine/PraziPro...

Naiad · Jul 21, 2014

There is a small chance that the water could have been contaminated. It all depends on the type of parasite.

Mike&Terry · Jul 22, 2014

kkgaskin90 said:
Thank you everyone. I was fairly certain mixing the wrasses would have been a terrible idea, but wanted to make sure. He's still alive, but not doing well. I feel absolutely ridiculous for not realizing PraziPro was safe in reef tanks :/ I would have done it MONTHS ago when I first got it in! I do a course of it as part of the quarantine process...man I feel terrible!

There have been times that I have had to partition one of my QT tanks to keep a fish from picking on another one. here's an easy diy partition that works well for me.

Materials:
1/2" egg crate, 1/4" mesh screen, zip ties, vinyl tubing.
Tools:
Wire cutters, utility blade or scissors.

Cut the egg crate just a bit smaller than the depth (front to back) of your tank and just below the top brace.
Cut the 1/4" screening about 1" larger (all around) than the egg crate.
Cut 2 pieces of vinyl tubing the same height as the 1/2" egg crate.
Cover the back side of the egg crate with the mesh screening using zip ties to secure.
Make a longways cut through both pieces of vinyl tubing. The tubing is then placed over both ends of the egg crate/mesh screening and secured with zip ties.

The vinyl tubing will snug up the partition, keep it from moving, and won't scratch acrylic. It is easy to clean and will hold up well over time.

-Terry