Ich? Brooklynella? Please help...

[padair]

The naso tang died yesterday morning.

I've learned Formalin or the full 37% formaldehyde is controlled in Canada and you can't but it retail. I was able to find Ich-X that a different LFS had yesterday afternoon. It has some version of formaldehyde in it, 3%? I followed the bottle exactly to the letter for a 30 min bath first in 1 gallon of water. The 3 fish (sailfin, wrase and hippo tang) all seemed to handle it ok. I then did a 20% water change as recommended and with the 20% new water in (same salinity and temp) I added the appropriate amount of Ich-X for the aquarium. After the bath and going back in the newly treated tank they seemed to do be doing ok. I tried feeding them and the wrasse ate a bit and the hippo but the sailfin didn't touch any. I put them to bed with hopes they would be ok.

This morning the hippo tang was dead, which surprised me, I thought it was doing better than the sailfin. The sailfin is getting worse now too. It is not swimming normal, lays on its side, heavy breathing. Not sure what else I can do. The wrasse seems normal. I just put in tad of food this am and the wrasse picked at a few pieces. At this point I assume the sailfin is going to die leaving just the bluestreak cleaner wrasse.

When I was showing the new LFS pics of the fish yesterday he mentioned the wrasse typically won't get parasites, ich, velvet, brook etc. Is this true? Assuming nature is going to take its course and the sailfin will die I now have a cleaner wrasse in a infected QT. What would be the best plan to try and save it? Dump all water, disinfect the QT? Give wrasse a Ich-X or FW dip? QT water is still hypo at 1.009 - 77degC.

thanks again for any advice.

 

[Deinonych]

Wrasses can get parasites just like any other fish. Even if it isn't showing symptoms, it can be a carrier. You can try using Ich-X or possibly SeaChem Paraguard to treat since you can't get 37% formalin in your area. I would go with Paraguard over Ich-X, as the latter is only 5% formalin.

 

[padair]

the sailfin died like expected last night. in talking to 2 different LFS they both said cleaner wrasse have extra thick mucus on body and rarely catch parasites? with just the wrasse now I did a large water change, about 40% and am slowly raising SG out of hypo. it is about 1.011 from 1.009 24 hours ago. I'm not re-dosing with the cupramine but I did add appropriate ich-x for the % of water changed. The wrasse seems to be doing well. I noticed his head/tip of his now was going brown where it was normally white silver about 24 hrs ago. Today its looking better. I've fed it some frozen brine shrimp and it takes it in his mouth and spits it out. then chases down another and does same thing. tried a bit if mysis with same results later today also. Any tips for getting a wrasse in QT that is hungry to actually keepfood in?

 

[Deinonych]

Some wrasses (e.g. Cirrhilabrus & Paracheilinus spp.) sleep in a mucous cocoon at night, so they are less susceptible to parasites that attack at night. I believe Labroides spp. wrasses do the same. But, they can still get parasites nonetheless.

As far as feeding, I don't have any experience with cleaner wrasses. They have a highly specialized diet in the wild, so that, along with the meds might be contributing to its lack of appetite.