Potter's Leopard Wrasse experience please?

[ShrimpChipGal]

Macropharyngodon geoffroyi is the wrasse I am having trouble with. I have been able to keep Macropharyngodon meleagris for 6 months+ now and have read through the leopard wrasse primer. The Macropharyngodon meleagris I have eat all meaty foods + spectrum pellets and flakes.

A little over a week ago, I got 4 Potter's wrasses (1 male + 3 female) and they all fed aggressively on prawn eggs/daphna and even some spirulina brine for 6 days in QT. On the 6th day, I started prazipro to rid internal parasite on them. It wasn't until after I started the treatment that they don't seem to want to be out of the sand. Then I lost 1 female yesterday and 1 female today. After checking the first female, it seems to be missing a lot of her gill on one side. Second one has loss of color on one side of body.

I do understand that it is suggested to not have them in a QT tank as they require copepods to live. However, it is too big of a risk to possibly expose all my fish in display to fluke and other parasites and they were very obviously and aggressively eating prawn eggs which I fed more than 5 times a day.

I am really hoping someone has kept Potter's wrasse and would be willing to share some experience with me. Also, has anyone ever seen these wrasses or even regular leopard wrasses go through prazipro?

 

[Mentat]

Since problem started with Prazi treatment would knock out a possibility first. Do you shake bottle well before each use? Also, what is date on bottle's bottom.

 

[ShrimpChipGal]

Thanks for the quick reply. I have the 4fl oz bottle and stamp says 07210804. My husband administered the dose and he said he did shake it very well.

So far, I am considering trying praziquantel next time I try as I heard that it's less harmful to the fish. Losing this fish is quite heart-breaking so I really want to gather as much information as I can before trying again.

 

[itachi]

Yeah , the bottle was shaken well ... Not sure what's the deal with these...I've never seen, heard or read anything about fish having issues with prazi before.

Unfortunatly, it's not even a debate if i should or not QT because we simply can not risk it.

 

[SDguy]

Yeah , the bottle was shaken well ... Not sure what's the deal with these...I've never seen, heard or read anything about fish having issues with prazi before.

I have heard of fish losing their appetite, hiding, acting generally "abnormal" during treatment. Not sure about it killing them though. Sorry to hear it, D

 

[ShrimpChipGal]

I have heard of fish losing their appetite, hiding, acting generally "abnormal" during treatment. Not sure about it killing them though. Sorry to hear it, D

Thanks, P. They make me a sad puppy.... :sad2:

On the other hand everyone else in the same treatment tank eat pretty well. Seriously confusing this is. :twitch:

 

[ShrimpChipGal]

3rd female gone.
No one has any information to share??? Please?:wave:

 

[bradleyj]

All I know is that they are very poor shippers and its very hard to find a healthy one.
I've had mine for well over a year now but she came from another reefer.
I've had success with 2 of them and lost 2. So I'm at 50%.

 

[ShrimpChipGal]

All I know is that they are very poor shippers and its very hard to find a healthy one.
I've had mine for well over a year now but she came from another reefer.
I've had success with 2 of them and lost 2. So I'm at 50%.

Thank you for sharing! They do seem to stress out very easily.

I am at 0 of 4 now since male died as well. They came out of Prazi yesterday and we tried to get them to the display but died very next day. Both were nice and fat but male had little to no gills left. :hmm1::sad2:

 

[AquaKnight]

I had mine for about 2 months total, including 3 weeks in QT with a Prazi treatment. QT was a 12gal, sand, caulerpa, lots of pods. Never really too much of a problem eating, took to mysis, grated scallops right away.

Interestingly enough, I couldn't keep him out of my sump. I don't even have a Reef Ready, but an U-tube overflow box. Wound up 3 times down there. Unfortunately the last time was final, over a 3 day vacation.

Pic with the 5 1/2 year old M. meleagris as well, whose still doing awesome....

 

[ShrimpChipGal]

I had mine for about 2 months total, including 3 weeks in QT with a Prazi treatment. QT was a 12gal, sand, caulerpa, lots of pods. Never really too much of a problem eating, took to mysis, grated scallops right away.

Interestingly enough, I couldn't keep him out of my sump. I don't even have a Reef Ready, but an U-tube overflow box. Wound up 3 times down there. Unfortunately the last time was final, over a 3 day vacation.

Pic with the 5 1/2 year old M. meleagris as well, whose still doing awesome....

Thank you for sharing your experience. Interesting enough one of my M. Meleagris also went down the overflow as I bought them as juveniles. It was about 1-1.5". 3-4 weeks after I got them, it went missing. I thought I lost it for sure. Hubby went to change filter sock a week later and found it swimming in there in about 1 inch deep water and pale as can be. It's now 3+ inches and chubby.

From the missing gills of these potter's, I am leaning toward that they might have fluke to begin with and prazi just exhausted them.

 

[lobsterotomy]

I've read a few accounts of prazi killing a fish when they had suspected large fluke infestations - the sudden death and detachment of large number of flukes due to the medication seems to be very detrimental. Perhaps the prazipro is lethal if there are too many open sores?

Maybe a FW dip, then recovery time, then a prazi bath?

 

[iamwrasseman]

the fish will stand a better chance without the flukes or parasites on it . i have only had positive results with the prazi pro . you have one of the more delicate wrasses there and its gonna be quite a challange to get them aquainted to aquarium life .the potters is a very delicate wrasse and should be handled with the best care possiable .you will find they have a 10 % chance of living in an aquarium so yours that have died are quite normal percentage wise .most leopards are in the 25% to 50% range for living ,given the right conditions . if the fish seemed to perish when you added the prazi pro then they were probably gonna die then anyways . in extreem cases the flukes may be "plugging" the sores and it could be detrimental to remove them but i would suggest the possiability that the fish was doomed anymay . in the wild they get groomed and the parasites are constantly being removed by the cleaners . the fish if healthy enough should handle the treatment with no issues . i use it all the time for new fish in my display tanks . yes a fresh water dip certainly helps but many wrasses are so skiddish that it will simply shock them and they wont recover . if you dip ,temp and ph are so criticle so be sure to get them on key before the dip . i have been able to dip some hardier wrasses for 10 minutes with good results but you should usually stay under 3 minutes and be sure to watch closely . last but not least good luck ,they are worth the effort !

 

[ShrimpChipGal]

Thank you all so much for sharing. It does seem like they probably wouldn't have survived and good to have gone through Prazipro for sure. Perhaps next time, I will place one of the cleaner shrimps in there as well in QT.

 

[jda]

I hate to say this, but leopards are one of the few fish that I would not quarantine or treat. I have had about two dozen and none of them have ever had any parasites or flukes. I suppose that a day of copper would not hurt, but the LFS that I get mine at has them in copper overnight, so I don't do it.

They seem to do the best going straight into a reef type of setting with deep sand, lots of microfauna to eat and reef quality water. This is too risky for some people, so this fish should be avoided. I used to have a 75G isolation tank hooked up to my display with 40 gallons of chaeto, mysid shrimp, pods galore and sand - this was idea for leopards, were although they were not treated with meds, they were still alone.

IME, they are too delicate in the beginning to treat. They seem to be nearly bulletproof after they are established.

Has anybody ever heard of a documented case of a leopard wrasse coming in with flukes or parasites? I guess that it is possible, but I have never had flukes on any fish except for large angels - ever. I guess that this is a loaded question since they either die fairly quickly (inconclusive - maybe or maybe not) or live for a long time (probably never had them).

 

[Tylt33]

I treat my display tank with Prazipro- I don't suspect it has ever been the demise of my leopards. I have lost 4 of 8, which is average or a little bit better than average from what I've read. I've never seen them pass internal parasites, although when I first started treating with Prazipro my Clowns, Butterflyfish, and one other fish all passed parasites... so I guess it was worth it Prazipro is a safe precaution from what I can tell. I wouldn't QT them though!

 

[Tylt33]

Oh, and I've done three treatments in the last 3 or 4 weeks with only one water change, and everything looks fantastic... so Prazipro probably wasn't your culprit, mine would be at toxic levels if it were possible.

 

[itachi]

Well the fish was Quarantined with a pair of lineatus wrasses, purple queens and rhomboids. Honestly, it wasn't them not eating. I believe they either had flukes or internal parasites. I'm guessing flukes, one of the gills was pretty much eaten away upon inspection of the fish after death. We do have other leopard wrasses and i have dealt with many wrasses/fish in the past.
We do know there delicate, and infact these were eating fish that died, and aggresively eating. I know losing fish is a part of the hobby, but we will always QT new fish regardless of what it is .. While the fish is in quarantine, you have the most control of the situation, i would rather never have to deal with the fact of introducing a parasite into my system after the fact.

Btw, the purple queens are alive and eating prepared foods aggresively, they are currently being homed in my deep water species tank with my hawaiian longfins and aurulentus anthias.

 

[snorvich]

Thank you all so much for sharing. It does seem like they probably wouldn't have survived and good to have gone through Prazipro for sure. Perhaps next time, I will place one of the cleaner shrimps in there as well in QT.

Actually, cleaner shrimp will have no affect on this process.

 

[Tylt33]

Well the fish was Quarantined with a pair of lineatus wrasses, purple queens and rhomboids. Honestly, it wasn't them not eating. I believe they either had flukes or internal parasites. I'm guessing flukes, one of the gills was pretty much eaten away upon inspection of the fish after death. We do have other leopard wrasses and i have dealt with many wrasses/fish in the past.
We do know there delicate, and infact these were eating fish that died, and aggresively eating. I know losing fish is a part of the hobby, but we will always QT new fish regardless of what it is .. While the fish is in quarantine, you have the most control of the situation, i would rather never have to deal with the fact of introducing a parasite into my system after the fact.

Btw, the purple queens are alive and eating prepared foods aggresively, they are currently being homed in my deep water species tank with my hawaiian longfins and aurulentus anthias.

I think the reason most people don't quarantine them isn't an "eating" related issue- it's so they have a sandbed to hide/sleep in to keep their stress level down. Stress (I believe) is one of the major killers of these fish. I just lost my choati leopard today... he was eating fine a day or two ago.