Male Flame Wrasse tough going

[CT Reefer]

Hello all. I just received a beautiful male flame wrasse from PIA. There was quite a difference in SG so I had to do a slow drip acclimation (added a bit of Prime to bag water). He seemed ok during the acclimation, but once I put him in the QT he moved to the bottom of the tank, is now on his side, breathing rather rapidly. I adore this fish, and am looking for any advice from others who have had success with this sensitive fish.

Thanks.

 

[gobolts23]

i would just throw a towel over the qt system so its completely dark. he is probably stressed from transit. they are generally pretty tough fish. any how good luck with him and keep us posted.

 

[CeeGee]

male flame wrasses do not ship well. Not trying to discourage you but it is true. Better to buy females and let them change over if possible.

I just got a McCosker from divers den and I believe him to be dead. He arrived in really bad shape and the water smelled horrible that he arrived in.

 

[Reefing Newbie]

Male flame wrasses do not ship well for starters. One thing for future reference is that if possible bring the SG level to that of the bag. Makes acclimation quicker. For now make sure there is plenty of surface agitation and darken the tank.

 

[flameangel88]

When I ordered last Tuesday March 27th there was 2 and I think the next day they didn't have anymore. I received mine on March 29th and the one I received is a big male I would say just shy of 4". Usually I haven't had much luck when it comes to male wrasse but I was surprised this one ate the same night. After the light came on it kinda of lying down so I knew after feeding to shut the light off for the night and the next couple of days I kept the light low and it still prefer to wedge between the rocks.

As others have said keep the tank dim and preferably with no aggressive fish together. I had to take out my hawkfish which I usually keep it in the qt year round. Good luck with your wrasse.

I posted pic and a video on PIA forum"
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2153037

 

[CT Reefer]

@ Flameangle - Beautiful wrasse! Hope mine does as well.

 

[CT Reefer]

Next steps

Next steps

Thanks everyone for your responses. This morning the wrasse is still alive (YAY), but on his side under some PVC I have in the QT. He is also in there with a Lamarks Angel that I got at the same time. So in terms of next steps I am thinking:

1)Separate the angel and the wrasse (different QT tanks). I have not observed any aggression, but then again, the poor wrasse is just lying on his side.....

2)Potentially change my QT process for the wrasse. Normally, I would do a tank transfer over a period of two weeks. Then deworm with Prazi, observe for another 2 weeks and into the DT. I am worried that the wrasse might not do well with this regime. I thought I might just leave it be, get it eating and then deworm, and do the tank transfer process once it seems a bit more robust.

Any thoughts on a QT process for a sensitive specimen such as this???

Thanks.

 

[CeeGee]

I have good news and maybe some good advice for you to consider with Fairy wrasses.

The good news is my McCosker is alive! he was out when I got home last night and he ate! I thought he swam into a rock and died because he was on deaths door out of that bag.

Advice on fairy wrasses and quarantine in general.

1. Once again I want to stress that male flames do not ship well. Females quickly turn to male without the presence of a male so it is best to go that route.

2. Fairy wrasses do best when put into a display as quickly as possible. I am firm believer in QT however when I get fairy wrasses they come from Divers Den so I know they are tip top and I can safely introduce into my main display without QT. Look around at others with large amounts of success with these fish and most do the same. Check out Bradley's Feb 2012 TOTM.

3. If you do have to quarantine the setup needs to be very very high water quality standards. We are trying to provide fish with a place to settle in and start eating/ get healthy. QT needs to be on par with your display. Provide plenty of hiding places and make sure the bottom of the tank is painted. Fish do not like a clear bottom it freaks them out (What I am saying is those stands where under the tank is open and then a clear bottom tank freaks them out hope that makes sense). I have seen fish swim into the bottom of the tank over and over damaging their mouth and they were obviously stressed because of not having a "boundry".

4.When treating with copper it is imperative to get a reliable brand (I use copper power) and after adding the correct amount make sure the water level does not fluctuate. just like salt when water evaporates the ratio of copper to water increases and poisons the fish. Keep everything as stable as possible in QT just like your main display.

So in a nutshell set up a proper QT with a painted bottom and plenty of hiding spots and keep that water quality high and the parameters stable.

Lastly do not attempt to keep any fairy or flashers without a proper cover. In general these fish are not cheap and the WILL end up on your floor if you don't cover the tank.

Hope this helps.

 

[reefjunkie42]

males ship bad. as stated from people above. sometimes you just need to feed a lot. and siphon the excess food out, also don't use prime and copper...they have adverse reactions and intensify the copper. also id use cuprimine, its the easiest copper treatment for the fish. copper is generally very hard on fish. I have a bunch of wrasses and that is all I keep. my advice to you would be to get into a seperate qt with plenty of pvc and clay flower pots. this will give the feel of a reef to the fish. lastly what are you feeding and the size of QT. id feed pe mysis, nutramar ova, and cycopleeze-all frozen. also you need to keep presitine water conditions.

 

[CT Reefer]

I've moved him into a new 10G tank with new saltwater (aged 24 hrs and well mixed) There is plenty of pvc in there, I'll try some cleaned up clay pots as well. I have offered him PE mysis and hikari brine shrimp both last night and this morning. Since I just moved him, I am not going to try and feed him for a few hours. He is in a tank by himself with the lights out right now.

I was not planning to treat him with copper. I've had some bad luck with with prophylactic use of copper (many fish are sensitive to it) and now use the tank transfer method as an ICH preventative. In the case of this wrasse, however, I am going to hold off on that as he seems pretty fragile right now. I did notice some white poo yesterday afternoon, I couldn't get a real good look however as he lays on his side on the bottom of the tank. I suspect parasites...but not sure. I do have prazi on hand, but I am hesitant to treat him just now as he appears so stressed and unwell. I hope I can help this guy pull through..as I said, he is a gorgeous fish .

I appreciate everyone's advice on getting a female as they ship better...hopefully I won't have to go that route and this guy will make it!

 

[CT Reefer]

UPDATE: Wrasse out and eating YAY!!

UPDATE: Wrasse out and eating YAY!!

Just an update to yesterdays post. This morning I saw the wrasse inside a piece of PVC. I gently blew a few brine shrimp in his direction with a turkey baster. He came out and vigorously consumed the brine shrimp in the tank. I feel really good about this bit of progress. Here are a couple of pics I took of him...you just see him peeking out of the PVC.

 

[Dr Colliebreath]

2. Fairy wrasses do best when put into a display as quickly as possible. I am firm believer in QT however when I get fairy wrasses they come from Divers Den so I know they are tip top and I can safely introduce into my main display without QT. Look around at others with large amounts of success with these fish and most do the same. Check out Bradley's Feb 2012 TOTM.

Divers Den has selected the fish and made sure they are eating before shipping. While they may be in better condition than fish from other sources, they have not run a true quarantine. Thus, it is a risk to introduce them directly into your DT. They may be safer than fish from most other sources, but they are not truly safe - you are putting your DT at risk.

 

[Dr Colliebreath]

I know the OP isn't planning on using copper. If you are using copper, I wouldn't put clay pots in unless I knew they don't contain anything that can bind with copper and affect the concentration in the water. I don't know if copper is reactive with the chemicals in clay, but it is a porous material that may leech something into the water.

 

[reefjunkie42]

im not sure about this but i have used clay in copper before many times. maybe someone else can chime in?

 

[CeeGee]

Divers Den has selected the fish and made sure they are eating before shipping. While they may be in better condition than fish from other sources, they have not run a true quarantine. Thus, it is a risk to introduce them directly into your DT. They may be safer than fish from most other sources, but they are not truly safe - you are putting your DT at risk.

You are probably 100% correct so this is not an argument. But according to their website they do treat the fish with proper medications. All I know is that several people on this board only obtain their fairy wrasses from divers den and immediately put them into their tanks because of the delicate nature of these fish. I find them to be hardy/easy to keep once they are established but getting them to that point is tricky sometimes.

My only issue would be if DD does treat with copper it would be really hard on the fish to treat them with it again.

 

[CT Reefer]

Hi Frank - Thanks for your response. I am not planning on using copper on this fish. As he is showing no signs of CI (I know, not an absolute), I plan on using the tank transfer method. While it is not without stress...it is less stressful than copper, for this fish anyway. Every 3 days I will move him to a newly sterilized tank that has the exact same water parameters. I'll do this 4x. The clay pots are in there for now to help him through his shipping shock, I won't use them for the next transfer, as they are porous and can't be reliably sterilized. After the tank transfer, my plan is to observe for another week, then move to an acclimation box in the DT.

I had an outbreak of CI late last year due to not QT'ing a fish. I lost most of my fish. I just can't go through that again...so everything has to be QT'd.

I know the OP isn't planning on using copper. If you are using copper, I wouldn't put clay pots in unless I knew they don't contain anything that can bind with copper and affect the concentration in the water. I don't know if copper is reactive with the chemicals in clay, but it is a porous material that may leech something into the water.

 

[flameangel88]

CT, with the few extra days hopefully your male flame wrasse has acclimated like mine. Unless with sudden movement or bright like just coming on mine swims out in the open much more after the 3rd-4th day. My new carpenter wrasse pair also took a few days where the male took longer to come out. Looking forward to your update.

few pictures I just took

 

[CT Reefer]

Wrasse doing better

Wrasse doing better

Hello, thanks for the photos of your wrasse's....they look great. My new flame wrasse is doing better. He comes out now and again to check out his tank and to eat. He is doing really well with Brine Shrimp..that seems to be all he is interested in right now. He is about 4 inches. Sorry for the blurry picture...I'll try for a better one tomorrow.

 

[flameangel88]

Glad to hear your fish is coming around and looking good. Try mixing the brine with mysis and cut back with the brine on each feeding. Mysis will sustain it better. Good luck with your fish!

 

[CeeGee]

How is the flame doing?