monkeysee1
Member
Hi again everyone!
Two weeks ago I ordered an Exquisite Fairy Wrasse (along with a cleaner shrimp and a couple of emeralds) from an online fish store that I've hadn't had any issues with. I'm surmising it was a female because of the lighter intensity of her coloring.
She came shipped as expected and was packed well in the styrofoam container. I acclimated her for three hours slow drip then I put her in quarantine. She did well for the first few days but about three days into quarantining I noticed she was lying belly up inside the PVC piping I have in the QT tank (to give my QT fish a place to hide and feel secure). I thought she was dead. I prodded the pipe a bit and she darted out. But at night she would lie in the corner of the tank motionless. A few days after THAT I noticed she was eating less and less. And she was breathing VERY heavily on her side. I freaked! To make a LONG story short, early this week (shortly after I got up) she was dead; the shrimp and emeralds pretty much had her picked clean.
I'm still trying to figure out what could have went wrong. The lighting for my QT isn't that strong, nor is the flow. I don't believe Scarlet Skunk Cleaner shrimps or Emerald Crabs are overly aggressive, so I DON'T think THAT was the issue. NO ammonia, Nitrites or Phosphates in my QT. pH was 8.1. Alk was 10 dkh. Nitrates were 10 ppm.
I'm STILL shell-shocked from this; she was a beautiful fish and I feel would have done will in my DT ( it is NOT an overly aggressive tank). Needless to say, it was not pleasant to see $120.00 go up in smoke. MORE than ONE online fish store I looked at stated that these wrasses were fairly easy to keep. My tank met the requirements of size, rock work and sand bed.
Any insight would be appreciated. Maybe wrasses are just too delicate of a fish??
Two weeks ago I ordered an Exquisite Fairy Wrasse (along with a cleaner shrimp and a couple of emeralds) from an online fish store that I've hadn't had any issues with. I'm surmising it was a female because of the lighter intensity of her coloring.
She came shipped as expected and was packed well in the styrofoam container. I acclimated her for three hours slow drip then I put her in quarantine. She did well for the first few days but about three days into quarantining I noticed she was lying belly up inside the PVC piping I have in the QT tank (to give my QT fish a place to hide and feel secure). I thought she was dead. I prodded the pipe a bit and she darted out. But at night she would lie in the corner of the tank motionless. A few days after THAT I noticed she was eating less and less. And she was breathing VERY heavily on her side. I freaked! To make a LONG story short, early this week (shortly after I got up) she was dead; the shrimp and emeralds pretty much had her picked clean.
I'm still trying to figure out what could have went wrong. The lighting for my QT isn't that strong, nor is the flow. I don't believe Scarlet Skunk Cleaner shrimps or Emerald Crabs are overly aggressive, so I DON'T think THAT was the issue. NO ammonia, Nitrites or Phosphates in my QT. pH was 8.1. Alk was 10 dkh. Nitrates were 10 ppm.
I'm STILL shell-shocked from this; she was a beautiful fish and I feel would have done will in my DT ( it is NOT an overly aggressive tank). Needless to say, it was not pleasant to see $120.00 go up in smoke. MORE than ONE online fish store I looked at stated that these wrasses were fairly easy to keep. My tank met the requirements of size, rock work and sand bed.
Any insight would be appreciated. Maybe wrasses are just too delicate of a fish??
