help with wrasse

[Reef_Me]

Hi guys and gals.

I was feeding my fish today and shortly after I noticed a weird color on my wrasse. Well after further inspection it seems as though his gut busted open.. he annoys fish to the point where they bite him(he's a wrassehole) but I can't believe any of my fish could bite that deep. He's currently swimming with some labored breathing. I can see what looks like algae coming out of his stomach area. Is he doomed? What can I do to make sure he's not a goner...? Has anyone even seen this before??

Thank you so much
David

 

[Reef_Me]

It might not be algae coming out now that I look at it again.. but it's a deep gash. Just wait it out I guess?

 

[RJT]

A pic would help. Are you able to post one?

 

[ReeFreak1]

Hi guys and gals.

I was feeding my fish today and shortly after I noticed a weird color on my wrasse. Well after further inspection it seems as though his gut busted open.. he annoys fish to the point where they bite him(he's a wrassehole) but I can't believe any of my fish could bite that deep. He's currently swimming with some labored breathing. I can see what looks like algae coming out of his stomach area. Is he doomed? What can I do to make sure he's not a goner...? Has anyone even seen this before??

Thank you so much
David

A closeup picture would help. Deep cuts usually cause hemorrhage or internal bacterial infection both of which are lethal. Hope That's not the case.

 

[Reef_Me]

This is the best I could do.. I can try to get a better one if this doesn't help.. camera phone :/

 

[Newsmyrna80]

You could either put him into a hospital tank and treat with antibiotics. Or you could leave him in there and observe. Either way he needs to be vitamin enriched food.

 

[Reef_Me]

Would vitamin c and garlic be considered enriched? I could go get other vitamins but I feed my fish very high quality food. I could set up a qt tank but I would hate to stress him out more by catching him and putting him in a much smaller tank. He's in a 72 tank and the only available qt would be 20.

 

[Newsmyrna80]

Use Selcon or Kent Zoe. They are basically a multi vitamin.

 

[Nina51]

vita-chem is another good one.

hope he recovers!

 

[Reef_Me]

Thanks for all the advice everyone. He made it through the night and I will be picking up some vitamins(depending on what the les has) tonight after work.

It does look like one of his organs is exposed, there is a grey bulb slightly protruding out of the wound.. is there such a thing as fish grade medical super glue? Or should I let him try to heal on his own?

 

[Reef_Me]

I'm now feeding the whole tank selcon and garlic soaked food. The wrasse is swimming around and acting completely normal even though he has a piece of his insides sticking out.. going to be keeping a very close watch on all of them

 

[dma1976]

Selcon works wonders! You migh alternate and give vita-chem on the off days. It brought out the colors in my fish and made them much happier and healthier. Keep an eye on it too..... See if you see any signs of infection and get him on antibiotics ASAP if you do. Have you thought about Melafix? I think I works well and isn't as harsh as antibiotics. Good luck!

 

[triggreef]

I had similar wound on a tang, it was really deep but no organs coming out. I took this pic a couple days after so it was already healing. But he did fine and youd never know now. I did nothing. I never would have been able to catch him.

 

[Reef_Me]

@dma1976 i couldnt find any vita chem at the lfs but i did find an ora mushroom will probably be buying vita chem online just because it cant hurt in the long term haha. If worse comes to worse would I be looking at quarantining the wrasse in order to use melafix? not sure if it is reef safe or not

@triggreef the gash on your tang looks very similar to the injury my wrasse has. its already starting to heal which is incredible. If i were to try catching the wrasse i would either have to set up a master trap or take out all of my rock hahaha so clean water and lots of vitamins are the key!

I said this already but I appreciate the support and continued help. Hope for the best and prepare for the worst!