Red Head wrasse looking bad.

[38bill]

Well my beautiful Red Head wrasse that I have had for 4+ years has started to look sickly. I recently noticed that he seemed to be loosing a little weight and today he just plain looks rough and his colors are off. I have not added any livestock in the past year and he is still active and feeding at this time. Anybody have any ideas on a possible treatment or is it just old age.

 

[evolved]

A photo would be helpful, if you can get one.

How large is he? Might well be age.

 

[Nina51]

if you don't already, i'd start soaking the food in selcon and/or vita-chem. i use both and alternate them.

 

[eatbreakfast]

I had a rubricephalus that did the same thing after the temp went up 2 degrees from 79 to 81. The rubricephalus deteriorated quickly, meanwhile the other Halichoeres wrasses were fine. At the time he was my largest wrasse and I had him for a yr and a half at that point. I attributed it to he being "older", he was pretty big when I got him.

 

[38bill]

A photo would be helpful, if you can get one.

How large is he? Might well be age.

Best I could do but you can see how his checks are discolored. That's him (from a few years ago) on my avatar. I lost my super male flame wrasse about a year ago and he kind of did the same thing. Got thin and rough looking and then disappeared.

[/URL][/IMG]

 

[evolved]

Yeah, that's just looking like an old fish to me I'm afraid. What you're describing and in that picture is what I've seen the old ones do too. It typically happens pretty quick over 2 months or so.

My only other thought could be flukes, considering the discoloration is at the gills and the eyes are cloudy. But the overall appearance to me is "old".

 

[38bill]

Yeah, that's just looking like an old fish to me I'm afraid. What you're describing and in that picture is what I've seen the old ones do too. It typically happens pretty quick over 2 months or so.

My only other thought could be flukes, considering the discoloration is at the gills and the eyes are cloudy. But the overall appearance to me is "old".

That's what I was thinking as he was an adult when I got him. I will move him to QT, treat for flukes and feed the heck out of him and see what happens. If I do nothing he's a goner for sure. Too bad as he has been a great fish and its sad to see him failing like this. Thanks.

 

[Chooch1]

Sorry to hear about your wrasse's health issues. Please update us on how the treatement goes. I have a nice Red Head as well and I would love to keep him as long as possible. It does seem that this particular species is more delicate than other Halichoeres spp.

 

[38bill]

Trapped him and he is in the QT. Used display tank water and live rock from the sump so it should be an easy relativity stress free transition to the QT. Fingers are crossed but I'm not taking any bets that he makes it. I'll post the outcome. This is him in his better days.

[/URL][/IMG]

 

[euod]

That's a one beautiful fish. All the best.

 

[d-man]

Good luck

 

[ColtonNelly]

Beautiful fish. I had the pleasure of owning one, and they even look better in person. I had a male Lineatus do the same thing and a friend suggested that it could be something internal. He told me to mix metronidazole with food every other day for three days. It actually rebounded fairly quickly and returned to it's previous state. Not sure if that's what's going on, but it probably couldn't hurt to try. I've given metronidazole to just about every one of my fish and have never had an issue. Good luck. Please keep us posted

 

[Chooch1]

ColtonNelly- Where do you obtain metronidazole? How much did you use? What kind of food did you mix it with?

 

[38bill]

Beautiful fish. I had the pleasure of owning one, and they even look better in person. I had a male Lineatus do the same thing and a friend suggested that it could be something internal. He told me to mix metronidazole with food every other day for three days. It actually rebounded fairly quickly and returned to it's previous state. Not sure if that's what's going on, but it probably couldn't hurt to try. I've given metronidazole to just about every one of my fish and have never had an issue. Good luck. Please keep us posted

ColtonNelly, I actually have metronidazole. What kind of dosing do you use?

PS: The wrasse looked like it was dying the first morning in QT. Turned out he was just pouting as today he is up and eating everything I throw in the tank. Glad I pulled him when I did, at least I have a chance of helping him now.

 

[ColtonNelly]

ColtonNelly- Where do you obtain metronidazole? How much did you use? What kind of food did you mix it with?

I buy it in a powder form made by seachem at my LFS. I mix it with my frozen food. I believe I use 1 spoonful (that comes with the metro) per two cubes of frozen. I just follow the directions on the tube. I'll usually let the food thaw and add a small amount of water to make mixing easier, and then I'll let it soak in for a little bit.

 

[ColtonNelly]

ColtonNelly, I actually have metronidazole. What kind of dosing do you use?

PS: The wrasse looked like it was dying the first morning in QT. Turned out he was just pouting as today he is up and eating everything I throw in the tank. Glad I pulled him when I did, at least I have a chance of helping him now.

Do you have seachem metronidazole? I just follow the directions on the tube for mixing it with food, not adding it to the QT tank itself. Hope that helps. Glad to hear he's doing better! Let me know if you have any more questions.

 

[38bill]

Do you have seachem metronidazole? I just follow the directions on the tube for mixing it with food, not adding it to the QT tank itself. Hope that helps. Glad to hear he's doing better! Let me know if you have any more questions.

Thanks. I did some Google searches and came up with plenty of info so I started a metronidazole treatment last night. I have 500mg tablets that I'm crushing and I'm just treating the water at this time. Marine fish drink water so apparently its not as important to get the medication into their food as it is with fresh water fish.

 

[38bill]

update!

update!

Thought I would post an update on my Read Head wrasse. I started treatment with 500MG metronidazole tablets that I crushed and added one tablet per day for a week to the 20g QT tank. The fish responded immediately to treatment and has been making a comeback ever since. He was so very, very thin I have held him in qt so I can feed him during the day. As he's a better beggar than my dog he gets fed a lot. Wont be long and he will be back in the display. Here's what he looks like today.

[/URL][/IMG]

 

[d-man]

Wow, glad u didnt give up on him

 

[Nina51]

great news, glad he's doing better!