Wrasse arrived with injured mouth. Is it doomed?

[bat21]

Exquisite wrasse from blue zoo arrived today and his mouth is clearly injured. Is he doomed? Is there anything I can do? Antibiotics? What kind?

(posted this in the wrong forum initially)

Haven't even tried feeding him. I also ordered a small "up to 1.5 inches" and they sent me an over 4 inch fish. It's pretty cramped in my 5.5 gallon QT. That worries me also. They really screwed me. I may have to go buy a larger tank but can't until monday. First thing first, tell me what to do for his mouth wound. What meds should I try to find?

 

[ThRoewer]

Hard to say if this is serious or not. If the fish is otherwise healthy and this is just a mechanical wound it may heal quickly. If this was caused by disease or gets infected it may be more serious.

As for the size - call them or send them an e-mail to report that you didn't get what you ordered.

 

[bat21]

Already sent them an angry email. But what can I do? It's not like I can send it back to them.

 

[CoralsAddiction]

Already sent them an angry email. But what can I do? It's not like I can send it back to them.

That's a bummer. Sorry. Many fish with mouth injuries can recover with success. It may be helpful to start feeding the wrasse with coral foods like Cyclopeeze that would be easier for the wrasse to process through his mouth. You might also want to treat with antibiotics such as Furan 2 or Maracyn 2 to treat secondary infections. Best of luck.

 

[bat21]

Thanks CA. Going to try furan 2 to prevent infection. And I figure it can't hurt to try miraflex as well, even though no one knows if it does anything, I don't think it could make it worse.

Another problem is the fish is seriously stressed. If he's not in a pvc pipe and someone walks by the tank, he flips out. And watching an almost 5 inch wrasse flip out in a 5 gallon tank is painful to see. He very well couldve injured his mouth right after I put him in the tank, rather than during shipment. But this QT was waiting for a fish one third of his size.

What's going to happen is I'm going to buy a 20 gallon long tomorrow, a bigger airhead, a piece of plywood to put over the desk that was only big enough for a 5 gallon QT, invest a bunch more money just to watch this beautiful fish die. I can see it already.

This is so sad and frustrating and annoying. Such a gorgeous creature. Going to cover the tank for 24 hours. Let him relax. Then stress him out again tomorrow, but at least get him into a tank that will give him a bit of swimming room. BZ should refund my money AND credit me for all this extra money I have to spend to try to keep alive the mistake they sent me.

 

[bat21]

Ok, well, I went out and bought a 20 gallon long and set it up to give this fish some room to swim and not keep smacking his injured mouth on the glass. He seems much more relaxed already. Going to just try to feed him over the next couple days and observe the injury before adding the antibiotics. It's all brand new water in a brand new tank, so I'm guessing the odds of infection are much lower than if he were in my DT, or even a cycled QT.

So we'll see how it goes. Fingers crossed.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

I would consider giving it a sandbed. Not sure about this one but many/most wrasses love to be in the sand especially when they sleep.

 

[bat21]

I would consider giving it a sandbed. Not sure about this one but many/most wrasses love to be in the sand especially when they sleep.

This species doesn't. He seems to sleep happily in a pvc pipe. Just need to get him to stop freaking out whenever someone goes near the tank. He's had a rough couple weeks and clearly associates humans with extreme danger. Can't say I blame him.

 

[Sk8r]

QT and treatment are a good way to get a fish to calm down and accept humans mean food and good stuff. He's likely wild-caught.

On the good side, fish have amazing recuperative powers. Furan is good for that sort of thing. I have a koi (freshwater) who was too big for the bald eagle that tried to make off with her, but he dealt a terrible wound to her head, obliterating one nostril, showing bone. I got a trout net and took her to a 3x3 fountain base, where I treated her with Furan. Last year the wound was still a black spot. This year, the wound is nearly healed over, and if you didn't know what had happened, you wouldn't guess. The nostril has largely reshaped, and skin has grown over what used to be a real mess.

 

[bat21]

QT and treatment are a good way to get a fish to calm down and accept humans mean food and good stuff. He's likely wild-caught.

On the good side, fish have amazing recuperative powers. Furan is good for that sort of thing. I have a koi (freshwater) who was too big for the bald eagle that tried to make off with her, but he dealt a terrible wound to her head, obliterating one nostril, showing bone. I got a trout net and took her to a 3x3 fountain base, where I treated her with Furan. Last year the wound was still a black spot. This year, the wound is nearly healed over, and if you didn't know what had happened, you wouldn't guess. The nostril has largely reshaped, and skin has grown over what used to be a real mess.

He's definitely wild caught, and recently. I am trying miraflex right now and holding the furan in reserve. I think the chance of infection is low and really wanted to get him eating and relaxed before medicating. If there's no improvement after a week, I'll give him the furan.

I'm thinking I will probably give this fish away to someone with a larger tank. I thought, and still think, adding a juvenile to my 66gal would allow him to grow into the tank and get used to it. But I can't imagine throwing this full grown beast into my DT.

But first things first, gotta get him healthy. This hobby sure has a way of throwing you unexpected challenges.

 

[nuxx]

QT and treatment are a good way to get a fish to calm down and accept humans mean food and good stuff. He's likely wild-caught.

On the good side, fish have amazing recuperative powers. Furan is good for that sort of thing. I have a koi (freshwater) who was too big for the bald eagle that tried to make off with her, but he dealt a terrible wound to her head, obliterating one nostril, showing bone. I got a trout net and took her to a 3x3 fountain base, where I treated her with Furan. Last year the wound was still a black spot. This year, the wound is nearly healed over, and if you didn't know what had happened, you wouldn't guess. The nostril has largely reshaped, and skin has grown over what used to be a real mess.

I think he'll be OK if you put into QT and let time take it's course. Furan will def. help as well.

Could have been a lot worse!

 

[bat21]

He ate a decent amount of frozen tonight. So that's a good sign. Still seems very stressed, but he's eating.

 

[tylersarah]

He's definitely wild caught, and recently. I am trying miraflex right now and holding the furan in reserve. I think the chance of infection is low and really wanted to get him eating and relaxed before medicating. If there's no improvement after a week, I'll give him the furan.

I'm thinking I will probably give this fish away to someone with a larger tank. I thought, and still think, adding a juvenile to my 66gal would allow him to grow into the tank and get used to it. But I can't imagine throwing this full grown beast into my DT.

But first things first, gotta get him healthy. This hobby sure has a way of throwing you unexpected challenges.

I really applaud your attitude and approach towards this. And as a side note, sometimes I'll tape a piece of paper to the outside of a QT where the fish is to minimize glare and reflections until they're more comfortable.

 

[bat21]

I really applaud your attitude and approach towards this. And as a side note, sometimes I'll tape a piece of paper to the outside of a QT where the fish is to minimize glare and reflections until they're more comfortable.

Thanks. I feel bad that this beautiful fish has to go through all this crap. Especially knowing it is full grown and has been for a while probably. It's gotta be tougher for adults to be taken from the ocean and then put into tanks way too small for them.

And I have had the sides of the tank covered from the start, and also cover the front when I go to work, bc sometimes the cat will jump in front of the tank. It's going to take a while for this fish to get comfortable I think. He is still very confused by the boundaries of the tank, even with them covered. It's tough to watch really.

 

[bat21]

Happy to report that this guy is finally starting to calm down and relax a bit. No longer runs and hides when we walk by the tank. He has been eating better and better. And a week treatment of Melafix seems to have helped because his mouth definitely looks better. Or the Melafix did nothing and it's just healing on its own. Either way, I don't think I even need the furan. :beer:

Now I have about 6 weeks to decide if I want to put him in my DT.

 

[bat21]

Well, I spoke too soon. After it seemed he was out of the woods, his mouth the next day looked worse than before. So I decided to go with the furan. He didn't seem to react well to it. He just stayed inside a pvc pipe, and didn't even come out to eat, which he had been doing every day so far. I just chalked it up to a loss of appetite from medication. Last evening I gave the second dose of furan as per the instructions on the box. And this morning before work, he looked worse. Breathing very heavy and lying on his side.

Can a fish have a bad reaction to Furan? I didn't read anywhere about anyone having this happen, I thought it was very safe. Granted I'm not positive it was the furan that has made him much worse, but I couldn't do anything this morning, like a large water chance since I had to get to work. So I'm worried I'm going to walk in later to a dead fish. Hopefully not and I can do a massive water change. But this sucks. He was doing Awesome and then instantly terrible. If he's still alive when I get home, should I continue with the second half of the furan dose, or just do a massive water change and forget it?

:headwalls:

 

[bat21]

Didn't make it. :sad2:

He was doing so well. And then bam. Could he have had a bad reaction to the furan? I followed the directions exactly. But he basically went from fine to dead in 36 hours once the furan was added. I just want to try to learn something from this.

 

[Deinonych]

Really hard to say. Collection and transport are very stressful to TP male wrasses (esp. large adults), and the injury certainly didn't help. It simply may have been too much for the fish to cope with. Sorry for your loss.

 

[nuxx]

Didn't make it. :sad2:

He was doing so well. And then bam. Could he have had a bad reaction to the furan? I followed the directions exactly. But he basically went from fine to dead in 36 hours once the furan was added. I just want to try to learn something from this.

So sorry to hear

Might be the stress + medication that was too much for him to deal with...

 

[bat21]

Thanks guys. I should've followed through without the furan like I initially thought. But I was so worried about his mouth not healing and everything I read on furan was that its great. And I waited until he was displaying much less stress behavior before starting it. Damn damn damn. I really feel awful about this situation. What a terrible last month he had to endure.