Flame wrasse odd swimming behavior.

[Will25U]

Howdy,

We bought a flame wrasse a few months ago... everything was fine for a month or so, but then our midas blenny started picking on it. We were already thinking of rehoming the blenny, and one morning we woke up and the wrasses dorsal fin was completely gone as well as about 75% of his tail fin. So we rehomed the blenny. Wrasse started to look better, fins were regrowing and it seemed happy. Then about a week later, we saw another fish(clown goby) picking on him also. So we rehomed the goby.

Since her fins were missing, she has been swimming a bit oddly. She can swim normally most of the time, but sometimes she will swim like she has trouble staying upright. Sometimes flipping upsidedown for a few seconds then righting herself. I will attach a short video of her swimming.

Can anyone help with what might be wrong with her? Thanks.

https://youtu.be/FiX79z0KROg

P.s. i meant to also add she seems to be eating fine. No abnormal water parameters.

 

[Mishri]

clown goby and midas blenny picking on other fish to the point of ripping fins off? that is bizzare..


It looks thin to me, what are you feeding? hopefully live or frozen meaty foods a couple of times a day at least? (mysis shrimp at least)

it looks like both fish are struggling in the current there, you likely have way more flow than you need.

 

[Will25U]

It is not because of flow. The MP10 was at its lowest setting, and the return pump is not strong(476gph/2). The other fish, and the wrasse don't have any issues with the flow, even when the MP10 is turned up to about half way. We feed the tank Mysis, and flake 2 times a day atleast. Like I said, she seems to be eating normally.

Maybe the other fish didn't rip the fins off, but they were going after her, and since we have re homed them her fins have grown back.

Could this be some kind of swim bladder issue? Or something else? Thanks for any input!

 

[Mishri]

she still looks very thin.. perhaps it's parasites.. did you do any quarantine? dose prazipro before you introduced her? (generally i wouldn't associate a thin appearance to parasites, as frequently the parasites will make them look fat.. but it does depend)..

so.. by eatting fine do you mean she eats like 10 mysis, hungrly chasing them down.. or if one gets close to her she might eat a few? marine depot has a video on flame wrasses, and it shows them feeding them... and they go nuts on mysis... and generally they'll pick at rocks and things, looking for stray food..

Neither of your fish seem to be exhibiting robust healthy activities.. when was the last water change and which water parameters have you tested for?

 

[Will25U]

No, we did not QT this fish. We are still learning the hobby, but we have put serious thought into a QT/Hospital tank recently. I don't like losing fish/corals, so it is probably the next on the to do list. I will actually start actively looking into setting one up.

Back to the wrasse though, I honestly don't know what to do. I will set up our hospital tank tonight, and get her in it. And increase her feeding. Anything precautionary to add to the tank in the way of dosing anything you think?

 

[Mishri]

The only problem with wrasses is they don't respond well to medication generally.. prazipro is a general all purpose anti-parasitic medication... some people ease the fish into it by doing half the dose the first day, and the other half the 2nd day. then use carbon on the 6th day to remove it.

But.. there could be something else going on here as well.. i'd hate to move and treat something that could potentially harm her if you don't need to. Which water parameters have you tested for? are you using a calibrated refractometer for sg? How long has it been since your last water change (and how much do you change?)

 

[Will25U]

I checked my parameters last night, had 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 10 nitrate(unsure why the slight spike, and 8.0 PH. Salinity was a little low at 1.020. Needed to add some water, so I made some saltwater to add to try to raise it some. It is up to 1.021 today. Unfortunately I use the bad method of measuring the saltwater and use the swing arm hydrometer. Another oddity is she doesn't hid at night and use a mucus cocoon. It seemed like she was just floating all around the tank last night sleeping. She wasn't necessarily swimming, just floating with the flow. Also don't know if she scraped her head or what, but there seems to be a slight bump on the top of his head behind her eyes, halfway to her dorsal fin. Ate fine this morning, and this afternoon, going after the food, and not just eating some as it floated by.

 

[Will25U]

An update... the wrasse is still alive but seems as though she is not doing well. We have given her metro which didn't seem to help, and now have her fasting. She keeps trying to right herself but can't get past horizontal now. She has been fasting for 2 days. Anyone have any more ideas?