apolloreef
New member
Hey everyone. I have had a McCosker Wrasse in quarantine for the last two and a half weeks. The tank is a ten gallon with a heater, powerhead, spongefilter, and two artificial decorations for cover for the fish. He has been in quarantine with a bicolor blenny (who looks perfectly healthy) and a yellow watchman goby (who goes under the hollow decoration and looks healthy aside from constant hiding and a minor torn fin). The tank is kept at ~80 degrees F and I do a water change every 4-6 days (5 gallons so about 50%).
All three fish were bought from a reputable LFS in LA, but it has a fairly high volume of costumers so I can't say how long the fish had been there or how they were treated prior to the purchase. They all looked in good health at the store and there was no evidence of disease or deaths in the store tanks.
I only observed and fed for the first week of quarantine. All three seemed to be eating well, including the wrasse, but he was slightly lethargic (would lay against the ornaments, but swam without any difficulty). It seems his tail always has dipped a little when swimming and he doesn't flair his fins much, but he does not have any issues with balance or buoyancy.
After the first week I dosed Prazipro after which the wrasse became more lethargic. After 3 days he began to perk up and ate before I changed the water on the 5th day and redosed the prazi. Again he became lethargic and seemed to perk up a bit after it began to dissipate. I have not been able to note any changes in his appearance during this time other than a general trend of less energy and less eating.
After dealing with ich previously, I decided I would treat with a low dose of cupramine and slowly dosed the cupramine over 5 days (where we are now). After initially looking fairly stable the wrasse has became extremely lethargic, but still swims fairly normally (no balance/buoyancy issues, except for the slight tail droop). The other fish have not changed and appear healthy with no external signs of disease.
Today I did another water changed, but have not brought the dose of cupramine back up yet. I can't provide a great picture so I did not take one. There are no specific lesions that would be telling or need a picture to diagnose. He looks like a fairly normal juvenile male mccosker that is slightly pale and resting on his stomach between short periods of swimming. His colors look healthy aside from the usual fading from stress/dim lighting. His fins are generally intact with no suspect lesions.
The only suggestion I received from another LFS guy who helps me out is possibly an internal parasite (wasting disease?) that the dose of prazi could not effect or general damage from collection/stress. I bought some Metronidazole but it needs to coat food and I don't think he will eat enough to deliver a dose right now. His stomach does not look pitted.
Thank you for any help!
(Edit: I have never seen the other fish pick on or attack the wrasse, I have checked the ammonia routinely and it has never read detectable #'s)
All three fish were bought from a reputable LFS in LA, but it has a fairly high volume of costumers so I can't say how long the fish had been there or how they were treated prior to the purchase. They all looked in good health at the store and there was no evidence of disease or deaths in the store tanks.
I only observed and fed for the first week of quarantine. All three seemed to be eating well, including the wrasse, but he was slightly lethargic (would lay against the ornaments, but swam without any difficulty). It seems his tail always has dipped a little when swimming and he doesn't flair his fins much, but he does not have any issues with balance or buoyancy.
After the first week I dosed Prazipro after which the wrasse became more lethargic. After 3 days he began to perk up and ate before I changed the water on the 5th day and redosed the prazi. Again he became lethargic and seemed to perk up a bit after it began to dissipate. I have not been able to note any changes in his appearance during this time other than a general trend of less energy and less eating.
After dealing with ich previously, I decided I would treat with a low dose of cupramine and slowly dosed the cupramine over 5 days (where we are now). After initially looking fairly stable the wrasse has became extremely lethargic, but still swims fairly normally (no balance/buoyancy issues, except for the slight tail droop). The other fish have not changed and appear healthy with no external signs of disease.
Today I did another water changed, but have not brought the dose of cupramine back up yet. I can't provide a great picture so I did not take one. There are no specific lesions that would be telling or need a picture to diagnose. He looks like a fairly normal juvenile male mccosker that is slightly pale and resting on his stomach between short periods of swimming. His colors look healthy aside from the usual fading from stress/dim lighting. His fins are generally intact with no suspect lesions.
The only suggestion I received from another LFS guy who helps me out is possibly an internal parasite (wasting disease?) that the dose of prazi could not effect or general damage from collection/stress. I bought some Metronidazole but it needs to coat food and I don't think he will eat enough to deliver a dose right now. His stomach does not look pitted.
Thank you for any help!
(Edit: I have never seen the other fish pick on or attack the wrasse, I have checked the ammonia routinely and it has never read detectable #'s)
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