Skinny wrasse throwing up- help

DracoKat · Sep 17, 2017

Hi all,

I have a pair of flame wrasses in a divided QT. They had parasites, so for a week now they've been on metro and focus.

One of them is doing great.. fat, bright and energetic.

The other still worries me. She's skinny, her skin looks a little on the rough side. She eats, then spits out food. I am not sure if she's actually getting anything inside her.

I fed about an hour ago. Just now I sat to observe and watched her repeatedly 'yawn' and noticed that she "Threw up".. looks like poop came out of her mouth with flecks of food (Think how a foxface poops, messy). I know she didn't just eat anything since I was watching. She's hanging out in a corner. the "thrown up poop" Is thick, almost looks like frozen krill, except it was thicker and darker. I've posted a pic.. please excuse the algae on the bottom of the tank.

I was trying to observe her poop, but haven't seen her poop to see if it's still white and stringy.

what can I do? I am planning on doing another week of metro/focus in mixed frozen food.

Flippers4pups · Sep 17, 2017

Could be some of the dead internal parasites being expelled. Depending on how long it had them and what damage may have been done, will determine survival.

What are you feeding them?

DracoKat · Sep 17, 2017

I am feeding mix of frozen food. Frozen mysis, brine, bloodworm. also some reef frenzy. They seem to prefer the reef frenzy and frozen bloodworms. I used metro and focus. They had no interest in pellets. food is soaked in vitachem and vitamin c

What do you think her odds of survival is? Should I remove the other? I was waiting until both are ready to go to the DT at the same time.

Flippers4pups · Sep 17, 2017

No, I would continue treating both as long as there isn't any fighting. If the other is stressing the weak one, separate them. Smaller pieces for the weak one would help in digesting the food.

Good luck with them.

DracoKat · Sep 17, 2017

They are already separated. Here's a video and you can see one is healthier than the other

Flippers4pups · Sep 17, 2017

I'd keep both in Qt till the weaker one is fattening up. Breathing a little hard. See if we can get some other eyes on these guys:

@Humblefish, @melypr1985

billw · Sep 17, 2017

Are you sure the fish didn't just eat what it spit out. My tangs and clowns routinely eat fish poop and spit it back out.

DracoKat · Sep 17, 2017

I did not see her eat anything before this spitup. I was watching her for a few minutes while she yawned repeatedly and chucked it out

Humblefish · Sep 18, 2017

Have you treated these wrasses with Prazipro yet? The yawning has me wondering if they have flukes inside their gills, which can also cause a fish to puke.