Wrasse problems.

[daftbeni]

Hello everyone.

I purchased a beautiful ornate leopard wrasse mid December from a local vendor. Everything was fine till about 3 weeks ago when I noticed it really started to beef its own reflection. This went on for about 2 days and at the end of the 2nd day it went into the sand and never came back out. I have a secure lid but I still made sure to check all over and around the tank to rule out jumping. After not seeing it for about 2 weeks I assumed it died. Fast forward to two days ago there was a seller who had a 3" yellow corris wrasse and I picked it up. The seller was quick to rush me out without me being to check it out saying he was busy. I decided to trust this guy and brought this fish home and it had physical damage all over. Tattered tail fin, white damage spots and scales sticking out. The worst part is I didnt notice this till it was in my tank.

The last two nights it hasn't been able to bury properly in the sand and hasn't really been eating. I thought maybe my sand was a little rough for it so today I went in with a cleaner and cleaned it up for the yellow corris hoping it may help the burying. During the sand cleaning I came across my leopard wrasse. It burst out of the sand, attacked its reflection for a good 2-3 minutes.. swam around the tank really quickly and then proceeded to go and hide again. It happened so fast I wasn't even able to see where it hid.

I'm optimistic that the yellow corris will make it as it seems to be swimming fine and none of my other fish are bothering it. I think it needs a good night sleep and hopefully itll start eating soon( I am doing water changes every few days to make sure my water is as clean as possible to prevent bacterial infections).

My real concern is with my leopard wrasse. This is my favorite fish in my tank and it was the only fish that would eat out of my hands so I grew a bit more attached to it. What do I do in this situation now that I know it's alive? Do I just leave it alone and hope for the best? I just want to see it eat a little at least... before it went into hiding it was such a fatty. Ate everything including Nori.


I should also note that every fish other then this Yellow Corris wrasse was bought from a local vendor who QT's and treats all the fish he sells. I also buy all my crabs, snails etc from him as well. All coral gets dipped before it enters the tank so I'm not too worried about diseases to be honest.

Tank size: 48x24x17
-Tomini Tang
-One spot FoxFace
- Royal Gramma
- Yellow tail damsel
-Lightning Maroon clown
- Bicolour blenny
- Mandarin Dragonette
- Yellow Corris wrasse
- Ornate leopard wrasse
-Zebra Eel (26 inches)
- Snowflake eel (8 inches)

In case some people think my tank is overstocked rest assured everyone is moving into a much bigger home in 1-2 months. My new tank 180g 72x36x16 is currently under construction.

 

[MnFish1]

I apologize if I'm answering questions you're not asking, but I'm not sure what your exact question is - here are my suggestions;

1. The Coris wrasse 'might' be ok. If you could send a picture that would be great. It sounds like a lot of damage to me (unless your description is a of a couple localized areas - as compared to all of the fins being tattered, etc). I would watch for red areas, etc. I'm assuming you cant catch it - but if I put a 'damaged' possibly ill fish in my tank - I would be more concerned about that fish spreading something to the rest?
2. Changing your water will not help prevent bacterial infections. The question here would be 'what are your parameters'? I mean if your numbers are grossly off, yeah - that can predispose to infection. Otherwise, the water changes may be stressing things out more than needed?
3. As to your leopard wrasse, unless you see evidence of disease, I would leave it alone. It was unclear - if when he came back out if he was still a 'fatty' - if he now is totally thin or something thats a different story.
4. I'm curious - with regards to the leopard wrasse - did you add any other fish around the time that the wrasse started hiding. Because - sometimes they hide based on 'bullying'?

With regards to your tank - I know you don't want to hear about stocking - but you didnt mention the sizes of the other fish (except the Coris)- and snowflake eels can be aggressive and attacking other smaller fish

Good luck with your fish!! Hopefully you contacted the seller.

 

[daftbeni]

I apologize if I'm answering questions you're not asking, but I'm not sure what your exact question is - here are my suggestions;

1. The Coris wrasse 'might' be ok. If you could send a picture that would be great. It sounds like a lot of damage to me (unless your description is a of a couple localized areas - as compared to all of the fins being tattered, etc). I would watch for red areas, etc. I'm assuming you cant catch it - but if I put a 'damaged' possibly ill fish in my tank - I would be more concerned about that fish spreading something to the rest?
2. Changing your water will not help prevent bacterial infections. The question here would be 'what are your parameters'? I mean if your numbers are grossly off, yeah - that can predispose to infection. Otherwise, the water changes may be stressing things out more than needed?
3. As to your leopard wrasse, unless you see evidence of disease, I would leave it alone. It was unclear - if when he came back out if he was still a 'fatty' - if he now is totally thin or something thats a different story.
4. I'm curious - with regards to the leopard wrasse - did you add any other fish around the time that the wrasse started hiding. Because - sometimes they hide based on 'bullying'?

With regards to your tank - I know you don't want to hear about stocking - but you didnt mention the sizes of the other fish (except the Coris)- and snowflake eels can be aggressive and attacking other smaller fish

Good luck with your fish!! Hopefully you contacted the seller.

Sorry if my post was all over the place.

My main question I guess was what I should do regarding my leopard wrasse and it going MIA for 3+ weeks.

The damage is a couple of localized areas around the body. Mainly on the back half of the fish. The only fin that is tattered is the tail fin. I will snap some pictures and post them as soon as I can.

Nitrate is 15, ammonia and nitrite 0. Haven't checked phosphate today. Good to know regarding the water changes. I'll stop them and leave it be.

The leopard wasn't as fatty as before it went MIA but I wouldn't consider it thin either. It still looked like a good size to me.

No new fish have been added after the leopard wrasse other then the yellow corris. If I knew it was still alive I wouldn't of picked up the Yellow corris if im being honest.

Tomini Tang and fox face are both around 4 and half inches.
Leopard wrasse is 3-4 inches.
Maroon is under 3 inches
Royal gramma is 3 inches
Bi colour blenny is 2-3 inches.
Mandarin 2 inches
Damsel is 1 and half inches.

I do understand the concern with the snowflake eel but as of right now I am not worried about it going after fish. The snowflake and my blenny both share the same cave and hangout side by side on a daily basis. I also do make sure to keep my eels well fed and I constantly watch their behavior throughout the day/night. I don't know if this matters at all but my tang also beats up both my eels and I like to think he keeps them in check. I haven't noticed any other aggression from tang other then the occasional spat with my foxface.

 

[MnFish1]

Sorry if my post was all over the place.

My main question I guess was what I should do regarding my leopard wrasse and it going MIA for 3+ weeks.

The damage is a couple of localized areas around the body. Mainly on the back half of the fish. The only fin that is tattered is the tail fin. I will snap some pictures and post them as soon as I can.

Nitrate is 15, ammonia and nitrite 0. Haven't checked phosphate today. Good to know regarding the water changes. I'll stop them and leave it be.

The leopard wasn't as fatty as before it went MIA but I wouldn't consider it thin either. It still looked like a good size to me.

No new fish have been added after the leopard wrasse other then the yellow corris. If I knew it was still alive I wouldn't of picked up the Yellow corris if im being honest.

Tomini Tang and fox face are both around 4 and half inches.
Leopard wrasse is 3-4 inches.
Maroon is under 3 inches
Royal gramma is 3 inches
Bi colour blenny is 2-3 inches.
Mandarin 2 inches
Damsel is 1 and half inches.

I do understand the concern with the snowflake eel but as of right now I am not worried about it going after fish. The snowflake and my blenny both share the same cave and hangout side by side on a daily basis. I also do make sure to keep my eels well fed and I constantly watch their behavior throughout the day/night. I don't know if this matters at all but my tang also beats up both my eels and I like to think he keeps them in check. I haven't noticed any other aggression from tang other then the occasional spat with my foxface.

Thanks - no your post wasn't all over the place - I didnt mean to sound critical - just wanted to make sure that everything you were wondering about was covered

As to the wrasse (leopard) - I will stick to my original comment - as long as he looks ok - I wouldn't change.

 

[4FordFamily]

I apologize if I'm answering questions you're not asking, but I'm not sure what your exact question is - here are my suggestions;

1. The Coris wrasse 'might' be ok. If you could send a picture that would be great. It sounds like a lot of damage to me (unless your description is a of a couple localized areas - as compared to all of the fins being tattered, etc). I would watch for red areas, etc. I'm assuming you cant catch it - but if I put a 'damaged' possibly ill fish in my tank - I would be more concerned about that fish spreading something to the rest?
2. Changing your water will not help prevent bacterial infections. The question here would be 'what are your parameters'? I mean if your numbers are grossly off, yeah - that can predispose to infection. Otherwise, the water changes may be stressing things out more than needed?
3. As to your leopard wrasse, unless you see evidence of disease, I would leave it alone. It was unclear - if when he came back out if he was still a 'fatty' - if he now is totally thin or something thats a different story.
4. I'm curious - with regards to the leopard wrasse - did you add any other fish around the time that the wrasse started hiding. Because - sometimes they hide based on 'bullying'?

With regards to your tank - I know you don't want to hear about stocking - but you didnt mention the sizes of the other fish (except the Coris)- and snowflake eels can be aggressive and attacking other smaller fish

Good luck with your fish!! Hopefully you contacted the seller.

I agree with everything stated here. I will only add that I've had leopard wrasse disappear for months (and also halichoeres wrasse such as your yellow coris) to suddenly return weeks later or even months later in fine health. It does not make me feel great that it was out for a while and now it's hiding -- this is of course how leopards disappear. However, they're quite nervous fish and as mentioned any new additions, boisterous households (noises, movement), or water parameters (such as a water change) can cause them to hide.

Yellow coris are pretty tough. Leopards look for reasons to die it seems, unfortunately.

 

[daftbeni]

These are the best pictures I could snap of the yellow corris as it keeps swimming around

 

[daftbeni]

I agree with everything stated here. I will only add that I've had leopard wrasse disappear for months (and also halichoeres wrasse such as your yellow coris) to suddenly return weeks later or even months later in fine health. It does not make me feel great that it was out for a while and now it's hiding -- this is of course how leopards disappear. However, they're quite nervous fish and as mentioned any new additions, boisterous households (noises, movement), or water parameters (such as a water change) can cause them to hide.

Yellow coris are pretty tough. Leopards look for reasons to die it seems, unfortunately.

After it swam around for the few mins it came out after I startled it it went right back into hiding. I should just leave it be and hope for the best?