McCosker's Wrasse Trouble

CordellWalker

New member
Hi All,
I purchased a small juvenile mccoskers wrasse about 2 months ago for my 60 gallon reef along with an adult yellow fin fairy. Already in the tank I had my pair of occelaris clowns- 7 years old never problematic with tank mates- and my 1 year old cherub angel, which occasionally gets on the losing side of a battle with the clowns but has never been particularly aggressive- All has been well in the interim; the yellow fin in quite shy, but eats normally and has been gradually more active in the tank over time. The mccoskers has been entirely free of issues- eating well, very active, growing and taking on deeper color. Last night approximately 3 hours after lights out, I noticed the mccoskers sleeping exposed on the live rock. I'd never seen him do this and was somewhat concerned, but his breathing was normal and his color looked normal so I thought little of it. This morning when I went to check on him, he was out and active as usual and ate normally at breakfast, but I noticed a large chunk of his tail missing- like 70 percent at least. I observed the tank for awhile and didn't see any abnormal aggression, the cherub is a bit boisterous by nature, but I specifically did not see him chase the wrasse. I came back an hour or two later, early afternoon, and the mccoskers wrasse was nowhere to be seen- I've never seen him hide except to sleep. I have since fed dinner, and he did not come out. My inclination is that he may have run afoul of the cherub, but it seems strange to me as I have never seen any serious aggression whatsoever toward either of the wrasses from the angel, but I suppose that could have abruptly changed? There are a couple of sizable brissle worms in the tank and the mccoskers is quite small still, maybe 1.5 inches, but this seems like a long shot... Now I wonder if I maybe should have thought more into the exposed sleeping incident... any thoughts would be greatly appreciated, I know there is a wealth of knowledge on this forum!
Thanks,
CW
 
Flasher wrasses are known to “play dead” when startled. Maybe that’s what you witnessed when he was on the rock, however I would imagine the tail would be caused by another fish nipping or maybe less likely fin rot. I would suggest you examine the fish more and see if you notice any aggression towards him.
 
Thanks- That would make sense, in retrospect I should probably have thought more into it at the time, but I just kind of brushed it off as a "wrasse idiosyncrasy". Is it possible he was bedded up for the night and was startled out by the other wrasse? They seem to completely ignore one another during the day, but I'm pretty sure they sleep in the same general area. My hope was that since the fairy is quite low key by nature and much larger, it wouldn't feel the need to go after the flasher.
 
I have a yellow wrasse in QT right now. She buried herself for three days. We thought she was dead and we were going to take the tank down. But then all of a sudden she was out and swimming around and eating. Now she is buried again. Strange little fish! I wouldn’t assume he is dead unless you find a body.
 
Thanks- he did not come out for breakfast again this morning, so hopefully is just recuperating and will re-emerge in the coming days.
 
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