Fish not surviving tank transfer method

[andy01748]

So far no change except one happy chromis with a full belly and a devastated brine shrimp population! Lets see if the additional fish will get it to move its needle of life towards the healthy side.

Update. Even though the wrasse wasn't actively eating, I did see his mouth occasionally move as food (brine shrimp, Mysis) floated by it this past week. This went on for six days, then this past Friday afternoon it actively started swimming and eating at feeding time! Appetite not great, but it was definitely seeking out food. Color is not great, but seems it now has a chance at recovery, giving that it is now swimming around a couple of minutes at a time!

Update: Against my expectations, the wrasse is still alive. Still not moving or eating, but breathing seems less labored. Not sure if this is from weakness or actual slight improvement. Anyone one had a fish recover from what seems to be systematic shock (as opposed to a disease) after 7 days of seemingly being at death's door? Change of a recovery are 1%, 0.1%, 0%?

Since no one replied and based on my past experience (unfortunately I seem to have a lot), I assumed recovery chances were very slim and am shocked at its improvement after four weeks of looking like I would find it dead next time I checked. Can I assume its 'illness' is confirmed as physical shock/trauma (as opposed to a pathogen), because the pathogen should surely have killed it considering the weakened condition it was in?

i still think it is eating while you aren't around. if you have a webcam, set it up and watch him from the streaming footage.

other than garlic, i am not sure of what else can be added to stimulate hunger. additional fish might help (spark competitiveness), but might be too stressful for the wrasse.

I don't have a webcam, but I was able to set up time-lapse video using my iPhone. I recorded several multi-hour sessions, and although it mostly didn't move, a few times I did catch it where it moved out of range in a couple of the frames.

 

[Spar]

great it is swimming and must be getting some food intake!

agreed, it is likely trauma related, not disease/parasite... the latter would have either run its course or killed the fish by now. at least for the broadly known issues we deal with in the hobby.

fingers crossed he continues to improve.

the only fish I have had that made it through some form of trauma was a cross hatch trigger. he laid on his side for a month before finally getting up and swimming around again. i had to feed him by syringe for the whole month. no clue what caused it. unfortunately, he ended up being blind after he got active again. he still had great personality and ate like a champ, but couldn't find the food himself. i ended up giving him away to someone with a FOWLR tank as I was sure he would impale himself on my staghorns.

 

[andy01748]

Update. After 5 weeks in observation tank the wrasse passed, two months from when I first acquired it.

Since I put it in the OT, it spent all its time on the bottom against a rock in a cave structure in the rock work that it shared with a recalcitrant fire shrimp. The interesting thing the only time I ever saw come out to swim was when I fed the tank. It would come out, basically take a lap around the tank, then go back to its resting spot. I never observed it eat during this lap. It stopped doing these laps several days ago. It had status surviving but not thriving, as its never did regain a healthy look, with very pale colors. Because it shared its spot with a fire shrimp (that does come out to eat, but rapidly retreats when it gets its food) I doubt much food was available to it, as I'm sure the shrimp would grab anything going by in the cave.

My wife suggested it may be blind, as food literally would be in front of its face, as it took its twice daily lap at feeding time, but I would never see it eat. However, I would think that if its nose was sensitive enough to detect when food was added to the aquarium, it should be able to smell (and eat) something literally in front of its face (I would shut of the pumps at feeding time, so there was not any rapid circulation of the food). In addition, when it took its lap, it not appear to be bumping into rock work. On the other hand, if you shined a bright light in its eyes, it wouldn't move away, simply just moved its eyes a little back and forth. Could it have been blind? Are they sensitive enough to flow nuances that a blind fish can avoid bumping into rocks? Obviously, just a point of curiosity, as it no longer matters if it was blind or not.