McCoskers wrasse intermittent sickness

[lee_d_m]

1. How old is this aquarium?
11 months


2. If less than six months old, what is ammonia level?

3. What is SG of this aquarium? How measured?
34 - refractometer

4. When was the last fish added to this aquarium?

2 weeks ago

5. Was it quarantined? If so, how? And how long? Was it prophylactically treated? How?

Yes, 4 weeks in QT under observation, no meds


9. Please describe the behavior of the fish as best you can. Is it acting reclusive? Is it always up towards the top of the aquarium? Is it avoiding light? How active is the fish?

For about 3 months now, my McCoskers wrasse, has what I can only describe as a 24 hour dance with death. He goes pale, swims and hides (sometimes upside down), he will lay on the sand bed panting, and on a couple of occasions (this time being the worst) when he has reappeared, he has some white slimey blotches on him and torn fins or even a fin with a hole in the middle.

The last time this happened was yesterday. He disappeared around 3pm, then he resurfaced for about an hour, then I saw him quickly nosedive into the rocks. This morning he was laying under an overhang on the sand bed, looking pale. Then when the lights came on, within an hour, he was out and about as normal, except he had a number of blotches and torn/holey fins.

But he's eating, and he always seems to recover from these episodes.

i took a few iphone pics to try to give an idea of what he looks like, he's not easy to take a photo of so I apologize for poor quality.

I would appreciate any thoughts on what he has and how I can treat him

Thanks

 

[Nina51]

he looks like he's getting poop beat out of him. what other fish do you have in the tank?

 

[lee_d_m]

He certainly does, but I'm almost certain he's not getting bullied. It's a very peaceful tank, with only my Bellus Angel who likes to exert her authority from time to time, but this is nothing more than chasing a fish away from her territory.

My tank list is as follows:

2 small clowns
1 baby Kole Tang
1 one-spot foxface
1 bellus angel
1 peacock wrasse
1 silver belly wrasse
1 midas blenny
1 purple firefish
1 royal gramma

 

[Nina51]

what's the tank size?

 

[lee_d_m]

Total volume (including sump) is 170 US gallons, dimensions are 4.5ft x 2.25ft x 2.5ft (lwh)

 

[jmowbray]

Mine just died from velvet last week. Took out all my fish in my QT.

 

[lee_d_m]

Mine just died from velvet last week. Took out all my fish in my QT.

Sorry to hear that. What were the symptoms like ?

I'm hoping it's not brook or velvet, thet fact that he has recovered every time this has happened makes me think it's something else, maybe flukes, I don't know. I read that split fins are symptoms of flukes, but he doesn't twitch or flash so I'm really not sure.

 

[saltyair]

Imo I would guess flukes - I had a gramma that had the same look and symptoms. I did qt and fresh water dip - it worked and lived for almost 6 years

 

[Nina51]

i'll defer to those who have been through the various diseases. i thought maybe he was in a smallish tank with bigger, more aggressive fish but that doesn't look to be a problem for you.

hope you can get some answers and take action, if need be.

 

[Newsmyrna80]

Based on the timeline, off and on for 3 months, it's not brook or velvet. I don't think it's anything parasitic. It could be bacterial, but I highly doubt it. Sounds more like he's stressed out. Wrasses can be, for lack of a better term, dramatic. The going pale, heavy breathing and throwing of mucus are signs of stress.

 

[lee_d_m]

ok, thanks guys for your thoughts and suggestions. I would like to catch him and dip him just to see if anything comes off of him, but he's a pretty fast fish so I'll have to try to coax him into my fish trap.

Will see how he goes over the next few days, as of right now, he's eating and acting normally, but won't be winning any beauty pageants !

 

[joshbbert]

ok, thanks guys for your thoughts and suggestions. I would like to catch him and dip him just to see if anything comes off of him, but he's a pretty fast fish so I'll have to try to coax him into my fish trap.

Will see how he goes over the next few days, as of right now, he's eating and acting normally, but won't be winning any beauty pageants !

Pardon my ignorance as im still learning but, I didnt know you could freshwater dip saltwater fish I thought that was more for corals. How does this work? And with what diseases might this be applicable? Thanks! Hope u got it figured out

 

[Newsmyrna80]

Inverts (corals, snails, crabs, etc) should never be FW dipped.
FW dips are used on fish to confirm flukes and to help alleviate symptoms (not cure) of some diseases such as velvet and brook.

 

[Shanet]

I have a Lineatus that looked exactly like that and all the other fish were flashing and showing signs of Ich. I treated the DT with CP and all fish survived. So it could be how wrasses show symptoms of Ich? To me it looks like Velvet.

 

[saltyair]

How did the fw dip work?

 

[snorvich]

Inverts (corals, snails, crabs, etc) should never be FW dipped.
FW dips are used on fish to confirm flukes and to help alleviate symptoms (not cure) of some diseases such as velvet and brook.

This. While a fresh water dip is the best way to confirm flukes, as a curative process, it only provides temporary relief for some, but not all, parasites.