Harlequin Tusk

R

rinconmike

Member
Late yesterday I got a new aus harlequin tusk. Around 4" to 5" long. He seemed fine at the fish store. Store said they had it for around 3 weeks. When I got home around 15 minutes from the store, I acclimated for around 55 minutes. First floated the bag for 10 to 15 minutes and then slowly added water to the bag every three to five minutes. The entire time he was lying flat in the bag.

I then released into the tank and he swam right to the bottom laying on his side. He has moved around a little in the tank but is just laying on side. Eyes move around and I think his breathing is rapid but maybe that is normal.

The tank is a 55 gallon QT that has been cycled. This tank had been set up for years but was fallow for the last 3 to 4 months and I added shrimp about a month ago to cycle again. Saw the ammonia spike and then down to zero for the last 5 days. The Salinity in the tank is now around 1.020. It was at 1.0225 but when I sa how low it was in the bag from the store, I lowered it a bit. Maybe I should have lowered it more?? Salinity in the bag from the LFS was around 1.017.

I am keeping the lights out for now. Anyone know if this is normal behavior for this fish?

thanks.
 
Thanks. I will get that back up over the next few days topping off with salt water.

Hopefully he will start swimming soon and get off the bottom.
 
Fish still lying on side not moving much. I assume it is not the salinity causing this since at the store he was in 1.017. I just turned the lights on to see if the fish will become active and nothing. So i guess all i do is wait?

Should i leave the lights off or on?
 
I'd leave the lights off and double check parameters (PH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) of the QT.
 
when i got mine, he just got tossed around a lot in the water current and swam like he was dieing. he even got sucked down the over flow and I found him in the refugium the next morning. I fixed my overflows so he wouldnt get sucked down a pipe anymore. but it took little while for the tusk to get use to the tank and start acting normal. I would just let him be i would bring the salt back up to 1.023-1.024 and just try and feed him 2-3 times a day.
 
well fish seems to want to swim. Gets up and drops back down to his side.

I am out of town so had my wife run ammonia and nitrite tests. One test kit (instant Ocean) said zero on Ammonia and nitrite, but another (Hach) is zero on ammonia but nitrite was around .3ppm. Maybe it did not finish cycling all the way. When the ammonia was zero for several days i did not bother checking nitrite.

I had her add some amquel plus just in case. Three teaspoons which is around half a dose (full dose is around 5.5 teaspoons for a 55).

I get home tomorrow and can do a water change. Not sure if the nitrite is actually high or not and figured adding some amquel has no negative effects. I have no meds or anything in there.

Also, dropped some prawns in there, but the fish is not interested.

thanks for the help.

Mike
 
In the future, have your QT salinity match the LFS water and after temp. acclimating the bag the fish can go right into QT...no dripping necessary.
IME tusks don't seem to like tank moves and it will often take a few days for them to adjust and start swimming around. Of course if your params are 'off', that is a separate problem.
 
I asked my wife to rerun the Hach test and she did. This time it read zero. It has been 30 min since we added amquel so either something was wrong with the first test or the amquel works really fast. My guess there was an issue with the first test and nitrites have been zero. So I do not think that is the issue and it is something else. I am letting the salinity go up slowly, but I do not think that is the issue since the fish was at the LFS for three weeks and their tanks are around 1.017 and fish seemed fine.

thanks,

Mike
 
husk

husk

hey there I recently purchased a harlequin husk around the same size looked great in store , got him home acclimated him and same thing
he would just lie on the sand and hide . its been a few weeks now and he is just as active as anyone else and goes for food like crazy give him some time at least that is what I did I was worried I must admit but hes a champ now .
 
thanks. how long did yours hide. mine is still laying on side most the time. once or twice nose pointed in the bottom corner. not interested in any food yet.
 
Well the tusk is a little more active. He swam a bit last night, but all day today just laying on his side. However, he is now staying inside a 4" pvc 45 degree elbow opposed to just somewhere on bottom of tank. If I knock the elbow (I know I probably should not), he comes out and swims a bit. I have not seen him eat, but he is fat still. I do have some prawns sitting in the bottom of the tank from last night but he has not interest in them.

Last night it did look like there was some stringy poop stuck coming out. I have read that can be a parasite or just stressed induced. I do plan on treating with prazipro, but was waiting until he started eating first.

The salinity is slowly rising. Almost to 1.021. Just topping off with salt water at 1.024.

I have left the lights on all day too thinking that may get him out more.

Anything I should do or just leave him be and wait?

thanks,

Mike
 
Just wait he will get more and more active. mine is now the boss of the tank during the day and is completely passes out at night. it sleep on the sand bed for 2 months before it found a sleeping spot somewhere in the rocks. That with a full grown cortez ray cruising around at night. mine loves mysis shrimp the most. but the more you mess with him the longer it will take.
 
Well it has been one week. Tusk is still staying inside his PVC fitting most of the time. He does not come out if I am by the tank; however, I have a IP cam watching the tank and I do see him come out and swim around for a minute or two and then back into the PVC on his side. I think he has eaten some. I had some mysis in there last night and it looked pretty much gone this morning. I put some in this afternoon, but he did not touch it yet. I am leaving the light out most the time, but am turning them on for a few hours in the evening. I am using a spare T5 that has both white and blue so I was using the white and tonight decided to go with the blue thinking maybe that will be less stressful.

I cannot tell if there are any signs of parasites or frayed fins since he is staying in his cave. The PVC is around 10 inches from the side of the tank so I can see right into it. I see nothing on him (i.e. signs of ich) but would like a better view if he would come out more.

On my previous fish I know they were eating within a day or two so by day 7, I would treat with Prazipro at the start of week two. But I think I may hold off another week.

thanks.
 
Tusk is more active. He is swimming more. Last night I fed and he was out of his PVC much more, but consistently goes back in. He swims for a few minutes, hides for a few, and back out. If I go in front of the tank he hides. So I have been watching him on a cam.

I fed mainly myisis and a small piece of silverside. He picked up the silverside and then seemed to struggle with with it. Struggle i mean his mouth moving funny and then he did spit it out. I guess this is normal. My red breasted wrasse does something similar but does not seem like a struggle chewing.

He is missing one upper tooth. I noticed this earlier in the week. I think he came like this and I just did not notice. I read they grow back. I know on my red breasted wrasse he loses a tooth from time to time and it has come back.

I do not see as much blue in him as I see on pictures. Could be he is now out much so i do not get good views. He does have the red on the end of the tail like the photo on liveaquaria so I am pretty sure he is the Australian tusk and not he Indo.

I will try and get a picture this weekend.

I see no signs of parasites but plan on starting prazipro this weekend. Will do tow treatments and then after i clean that out of the water do some Quinine Sulfate.

thanks,

Mike
 
I think he is fine just a really shy fish. I have a blue tang that doesnt go far from its cave and with the slightest movement in the same room as the tank it goes right into the rocks. also i dropped a live glass shrimp into the main tank a couple of days ago. the tusk went crazy chased it until he ate it. im glad to here it is eating.
 
Well today I put the tusk in my display and the the Red Breasted Wrasse took two bits at the tusk. One on each side of the the top of the back. so the tusk is laying on his side now, similar when first in QT. The wrasse is staying away. Question is should I take out the Tusk and put back in QT (he is laying in front so I probablly can) or leave him be and hope for the best.

FYI, during QT I did two treatments of Prazi and one of Quinine Sulfate. no signs of ich or any parasites. There is some lympho on the tail (one spot) that prerry much came off when the wrasse was chasing him.

thanks,

Mike
 
the Harlequin tusk is suppose to be the only wrasse in a tank. some people have had luck mixing them, but most dont. The problem with most harlequin tusk is he will let fish bully them. Mine is the smallest fish in the tank but he kinda runs the tank. As shy as yours is i wouldnt want to push my luck with aggressive tank mates until it is fully adjusted to the display tank. I would pull the other wrasse and put it in qt for now. it is also common for the tusk to act the same as it did when you first put it in qt. tank transfers are ruff on these fish.
 
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thanks. I do not want to pull the Red Breasted Wrasse so if I pull one, it would be the tusk, let him heal and then see if I can sell him or go back to the LFS.

Just not sure if I should pull him or wait it out.

Here are some photos

https://www.dropbox.com/s/h852ck03nyenlsv/2014-10-05 16.08.35.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1r1aoumqo8zwx59/2014-10-05 16.08.44.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/n1zwgrlnrjnhxon/2014-10-05 16.51.43.jpg?dl=0

After the first five to ten minutes, the Wrasse has left the tusk alone.

thanks
 
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