Wrasse Concerns

[Forty-Two]

Hi there,

Im looking for some suggestions about what might be going on with my Wrasse.

I believe it is a leopard wrasse. I bought this fish about 3-4 months ago, and its been very healthy thus far.
Initially it took a week or so to come out, and then since then its been largely hunting 90% of its time, day in and day out.

This all changed about 3-4 days ago. The wrasse has started 'pacing' back and forth for hours, most of the day, swimming back and forth in front of the glass looking distressed.
I also see a lot of 'yawning' or mouth opening - which I didnt see before. The wrasse is eating in the mornings when I feed, but its not at the level it once was. She/he just pics at a few pieces and then seems to get distresssed again and swims back and forth in front of the glass. There is little to no hunting going on now.

No new fish has been added for months. I currently have a Purple Tang, 2 clowns, 1 Diamond Gobi and the Wrasse in the tank, along with a couple of shrimp and some pom-pom crabs.

I did add new Coral about 2 months ago - but I cant imagine that would be having an impact.

The only thing I can think of - is that the salinity was low due to all of the automated testing. I raised the salinity from 1.023 to 1.024 over the course of a couple of hours. Since then - its raised from 1.024 to 1.025 over the course of a couple of days. In addition, I changed the carbon on my reactor, and also turned on my skimmer - which has been off for the last few months due to a Dino problem which is mostly resolved now.

Any thoughts? So far Ive been just 'waiting' to see if it improves. I thought it might be related to the salinity changes. None of the other fish in my tank have been showing signs of distress.

Parameters:

Temp: 26.5 C
Salinity: ~1.025
Nitrates: ~4.0 ppm
Phosphates: .05 - 0.1 ppm
Ph: ~ 7.8 - 8.2
dKH: 7.9 - 8.5
Calcium: 474 mg/l
Magnesium: 1394 mg/l
OLI (water clarity): 0

 

[Chortanator]

I had a leopard wrasse once, and I think it ran into the glass or rock at some point, as its jaw became crooked and it couldn't close its mouth. Did you check to see if it looks crooked at all? The same could have happened to yours and it might not be able to close its mouth anymore.

 

[Forty-Two]

I had a leopard wrasse once, and I think it ran into the glass or rock at some point, as its jaw became crooked and it couldn't close its mouth. Did you check to see if it looks crooked at all? The same could have happened to yours and it might not be able to close its mouth anymore.

Yes Ive taken a look at the mount and it appears ok to me. Nothing looks crooked or broken, and its opening its mouth and closing frequently. It looks like she/he is panicking to me.

 

[homer1475]

Pacing is usually a sign of stress.

Do you have a sandbed for it to sleep in?

Pics of wrasse for a positive ID?

 

[Forty-Two]

Pacing is usually a sign of stress.

Do you have a sandbed for it to sleep in?

Pics of wrasse for a positive ID?

Yes it’s a fairly deep sand bed in most places but the Gobi had made several spots that no longer have sand - and I don’t know where it sleeps.

 

[homer1475]

Melanarus wrasse, or Halichoeres Melanarus, or often times called a hoevens, or tailspot wrasse.

Pacing could be a sign of stress, or the tank is too small for the fish and it feel cramped.

How large of a tank is the Mel in?

A mel would not be threatened by your other stock list. They are a quite boisterous fish, and not easily scared, or threatened. Often times they become the Alpha in a group of wrasses.

 

[Forty-Two]

Melanarus wrasse, or Halichoeres Melanarus, or often times called a hoevens, or tailspot wrasse.

Pacing could be a sign of stress, or the tank is too small for the fish and it feel cramped.

How large of a tank is the Mel in?

A mel would not be threatened by your other stock list. They are a quite boisterous fish, and not easily scared, or threatened. Often times they become the Alpha in a group of wrasses.

Thanks for the information - that's helpful. Its a 70G display and 30G sump. 100G total water volume. I wondered if it was a size issue on the tank as well. Perhaps it is.

I have a 230G coming - but it wont be here for months yet.

 

[homer1475]

70 cube, or is it a long tank?

I have found over the years, even with an 80G, my last MEL was stressed because of tank size. But this was a cube and not a long tank so there wasn't a lot of perpendicular swimming space. She would often pace up and down the glass, or most times would do laps around my MP10.

I eventually gave it to a friend with a 150. Mel is fine 5 years later, and immediately stopped pacing when added to the new tank.

As long as the fish is eating, and your other fish act fine, I would ignore the pacing for now. If it starts to look thin, or stops eating, then it might be time to worry. Seeing as you have a larger tank in th eworks, I wouldn't sweat it for now.

 

[Forty-Two]

70 cube, or is it a long tank?

I have found over the years, even with an 80G, my last MEL was stressed because of tank size. But this was a cube and not a long tank so there wasn't a lot of perpendicular swimming space. She would often pace up and down the glass, or most times would do laps around my MP10.

I eventually gave it to a friend with a 150. Mel is fine 5 years later, and immediately stopped pacing when added to the new tank.

As long as the fish is eating, and your other fish act fine, I would ignore the pacing for now. If it starts to look thin, or stops eating, then it might be time to worry. Seeing as you have a larger tank in th eworks, I wouldn't sweat it for now.

Its a long - but your suggestion makes sense. I appreciate it!

If its starting to look rough I can talk to the LFS and see if they can take it back. It would be a shame as I really do enjoy having it in the tank.

I thought if anything the purple tang would start getting stressed about space, but it doesnt seem to have. The Wrasse however has grown quite a bit since I bought it.

 

[blaxsun]

Its a long - but your suggestion makes sense. I appreciate it!

If its starting to look rough I can talk to the LFS and see if they can take it back. It would be a shame as I really do enjoy having it in the tank.

I thought if anything the purple tang would start getting stressed about space, but it doesnt seem to have. The Wrasse however has grown quite a bit since I bought it.

I have one that's gotten quite large in my 160-gallon display, but he seems fairly mellow. I do have a lot of caves, tunnels and places to explore - which he and several other of the wrasses really seem to enjoy.

 

[homer1475]

Yeah my last Mel was great until it started to transition to an adult. Soon as it got to it's adult size, is when the pacing started.

Mine would act normal during the day, by night time or after the afternoon feeding is when it would start pacing.

I actually thought maybe it was just trying to burn off some extra energy before going to bed. But seeing as the pacing stopped when she was added to a larger tank, is what drew me to my conclusion.

 

[Tamberav]

May not be related to the pacing but yawning can be a sign of gill flukes which is common in wrasse.

 

[daftbeni]

i made a post similar to this one asking about my yellow corris wrasse. Was fine for months and then all of a sudden started hanging out at the top of the water and swimming back and fourth. My yellow also yawns sometimes.

is your wrasse possibly seeing its reflection? I think that’s the problem with mine. She sees her reflection and darts back and fourth with her mouth against the glass. Sometimes even goes a little crazy and splashes water. Ive read in another forum that wrasses yawn sometimes when they display.. now I’m not sure how true that is but it’s something to think about.

 

[i cant think]

i made a post similar to this one asking about my yellow corris wrasse. Was fine for months and then all of a sudden started hanging out at the top of the water and swimming back and fourth. My yellow also yawns sometimes.

is your wrasse possibly seeing its reflection? I think that’s the problem with mine. She sees her reflection and darts back and fourth with her mouth against the glass. Sometimes even goes a little crazy and splashes water. Ive read in another forum that wrasses yawn sometimes when they display.. now I’m not sure how true that is but it’s something to think about.

Sometimes they can yawn when displaying but not as often as the Melanurus mentioned above is. I have a Iridis and a Chloropterus where the Iridis displays to the chloropterus however very rarely will he yawn. Instead it’s fine up for a few minutes then swim in opposite directions.

As for the OP, even a 70 long is too small IMHO. I would rehome the wrasse as that is what sounds like high amounts of stress that you’re mentioning. Do a FW dip if you can first and see whether it’s flukes (If it’s flukes you’d see small white flecks in the FW).
Again, I highly recommend rehomjng the Halichoeres melanurus as they’re a more aggressive species but also get quite big and by the looks of it I’d say your guy is growing to that size already and it’s only a matter of time until it stresses out too much.
@SaltyT and @Crabby48 may be able to help more with this.

 

[Crabby48]

Hi there,

Im looking for some suggestions about what might be going on with my Wrasse.

I believe it is a leopard wrasse. I bought this fish about 3-4 months ago, and its been very healthy thus far.
Initially it took a week or so to come out, and then since then its been largely hunting 90% of its time, day in and day out.

This all changed about 3-4 days ago. The wrasse has started 'pacing' back and forth for hours, most of the day, swimming back and forth in front of the glass looking distressed.
I also see a lot of 'yawning' or mouth opening - which I didnt see before. The wrasse is eating in the mornings when I feed, but its not at the level it once was. She/he just pics at a few pieces and then seems to get distresssed again and swims back and forth in front of the glass. There is little to no hunting going on now.

No new fish has been added for months. I currently have a Purple Tang, 2 clowns, 1 Diamond Gobi and the Wrasse in the tank, along with a couple of shrimp and some pom-pom crabs.

I did add new Coral about 2 months ago - but I cant imagine that would be having an impact.

The only thing I can think of - is that the salinity was low due to all of the automated testing. I raised the salinity from 1.023 to 1.024 over the course of a couple of hours. Since then - its raised from 1.024 to 1.025 over the course of a couple of days. In addition, I changed the carbon on my reactor, and also turned on my skimmer - which has been off for the last few months due to a Dino problem which is mostly resolved now.

Any thoughts? So far Ive been just 'waiting' to see if it improves. I thought it might be related to the salinity changes. None of the other fish in my tank have been showing signs of distress.

Parameters:

Temp: 26.5 C
Salinity: ~1.025
Nitrates: ~4.0 ppm
Phosphates: .05 - 0.1 ppm
Ph: ~ 7.8 - 8.2
dKH: 7.9 - 8.5
Calcium: 474 mg/l
Magnesium: 1394 mg/l
OLI (water clarity): 0

Hard to say but I have wrasse that just pace back and forth. Not watering as much could be due to it was hungry from collection and hiding and now it doesn’t need as much. Also yawning could mean flukes and that could suppress it’s eaten. Some sand sleepers yawn more then others so not a guarantee