exquisite wrasse info

[MrClam]

Looking for experience on keeping these fish. I order one from DD and, after acclimation, it was laying on the bottom of the QT breathing heavily for a few hours. It righted itself and is hiding in PVC as of now. Is this normal behavior?

As of now I have not fed it yet, as I am doing a lights out stress reduction period to help him calm down. I am planning on feeding a combination of live blackworms and frozen foods while in QT to fatten him up. He is in a 20g QT with a CBB.

Also any info on feeding, behavior to expect in QT and DT ect is appreciated. DT is 150g with about 2'' sand bottom and several large rockwork caves for hiding.

Thanks.

 

[RayL]

His behavior right now is normal, don't worry

 

[evolved]

His behavior right now is normal, don't worry

Agreed, just signs of shipping/acclimation stress. He'll be an active fish once settled.

Your DT and QT MUST be covered with 1/4" clear mesh. ALL wrasses are jumpers. You'll have fish jerky without a cover sooner or later.

 

[MrClam]

Thanks for the input. Hoping he looks better today after I get home from work. Very colorful fish.

Yes both of the tanks have screen tops with no gaps. The exquisite was trying to jump out while he was still in the shipping bag. Impressive how much speed he could build with so little space to move.

 

[triggreef]

I was going to post a thread on them. I love these guys, but I am on my third attempt, this one should be a winner.

First one almost a year ago, not quarantined, straight to tank. Great for about 2 days eating everything. Then he got a wierd fuzzy patch on him that I had never seen anything like it before. Next day patch doubled and not eating. Next day he perished.

2nd try, DOA from reefs2go. Got credit and tried again.

This guy quarantined (as I do everything now). Same results as my first one. Got the white patchy looking fuzz on his back overnight out of now where after several days of eating great. Learned some things about a lot of diseases and parsites and I believe he had either uronema marinum or brook, which are very similar and thankfully treated the same for both.

This was bad though and it was so fast his dorsal fin was eating away, skin eating away, and scales in the affected area all raised up. I gave him a fresh dip in temp and ph matched water for 5 minutes. In the bath I could see it was so bad some of his upper jaw skin tore away. After bath back to tank. Next day looked better and was eating. same treatment next day followed by a bath in tank water treated with double dose of maracyn two just to ward off any secondary bacterial infection. This was about an hour bath checking frequently to make sure he wasn't having trouble. (better to treat the whole tank, but didn't want to kill my bio).

I also treated the system this day with a heavy dose of metrodinazole. Next day I did nothing but feed him. Next day I dosed the tank with metro again.

That fiasco ended about 2 weeks ago. Since he has been eating great, skin and fin almost all repaired. Color is good and even after all that he still comes to the front of the tank to greet me. I have faith I will have this guy a long time once he is out of qt. Very cool fish. So I consider myself 1 out of 3 for this easy to keep (not so much IMO) fish.

I would also treat with prazi asap. I started using it prior to cupramine because I think a lot of wrasses in general are lost from internal parasites.

 

[triggreef]

Just figured I'd add some pics. This is how bad he was on the first dip. Check out the way the scales were curling up. This was about May 4th or so.

And this is just a couple days ago. In his qt almost completely healed.

 

[Cubbies]

I don't know what it is but from my experiences Exquisites are a little sensitive. They stress a little faster than most and seem to get sick quite easily. Once they settle though and are healthy they rock solid. You look like you are doing a great job. Congrats on your new buddy.