Wrasse Refuse to Clean other Fish

[TheReeferer]

I've a flame angel with slight ich (I've got a well sized UV unit and so it seems ich isn't spreading as fast or has reached a equilibrium). With the exception of a lyretail anthias, all other fish show no symptoms but they scratch themselves on rocks.

The Angel fish will follow all 3 of my wrasses around the tank (covis, melanurus, 6-line) and pause and lay on the side asking for a cleaning. He really targets the covis which most of the time refuses and just ignores him. Occasionally I'll see the covis pick at the angel. This is all pretty funny to see but wondering why the wrasse choose mostly to ignore?

 

[stingeragent]

Um. No clue what your talking about but a wrasse cant rid a fish of ich. If one of your fish have ich they all do. Pull them to a qt and treat

 

[snorvich]

Um. No clue what your talking about but a wrasse cant rid a fish of ich. If one of your fish have ich they all do. Pull them to a qt and treat

this. Ich is under the skin and unavailable to cleaner wrasses. Some fish will not allow cleaning behavior in any case. Also, UV has little to no effect on Ich.

 

[billdogg]

What they said.

In addition, you state that none of your other fish are showing signs of Ich. Scratching IS a sign of Ich.

+1 on remove all fish to a Hospital tank (you are past the QT stage at this point), leave the DT fallow for a minimum of 72 days to allow the parasite to die off in the main system. Read and follow the stickies on how to treat in your Hospital Tank.

In the future, do yourself (and your fish) a huge favor and QT ALL newcomers.

 

[TheReeferer]

Yes, I know wrasse can't cure ich on another fish. My question is why aren't they interested in picking at the parasites?

 

[ca1ore]

I'm certainly not a wrasse expert, but maybe because the three species you note (coris not covis) are not cleaner wrasses? My dusky shows no proclivity towards cleaning (though he is occasionally the cleanee). I do have a blue streak in my tank that follows my larger tangs around like a dog. They, however, appear uninterested in being picked at fortunately my blue streak likes mysis.

 

[Sapelo]

I'm certainly not a wrasse expert, but maybe because the three species you note (coris not covis) are not cleaner wrasses

This

 

[TheReeferer]

The thing thats fascinating is the Angel knows which species will be available to clean (as noted above, willingness is another issue). For example it will only go up to the 3 wrasses in the tank to ask to be cleaned when there are other similar body shaped fish in the tank, however the Angel doesn't ask those other fish.

I bought a cleaner shrimp today and within 15 minutes the shrimp was riding the Angel. This was really cool to see! Again, I know it doesn't cure ich but I'm sure it's doing something.

 

[Aframomum]

By chance have you started treating your fish for the ick infection? Chemical or change in salinity?

Your cleaner shrimp 'riding' the angel may actually contribute to further stress an already stressed animal worse.

 

[snorvich]

Cleaner shrimp positively influence fish attitude being cleaned and do not stress the fish. If a fish does not want to be cleaned, it will not allow it. If a fish wishes to be cleaned it will adopt a swimming attitude that is tilted.

 

[TheReeferer]

Yes I have. It's not a bad and the flame is eating like crazy-- actually he has been more bold and voracious these couple days. So there was no way I was going to stress him and the rest of the fish out by catching him and putting him in a QT to treat. That I was sure would worsen the condition and lead to an outbreak.

Instead I'm lacing the food with Metroplex + Focus. I see improvements-- not cysts on body but there are still some on the tail. The plan is if the condition visibly worsens and he stops eating, I have the QT and cupremine ready to go.

With the cleaner shrimp, the flame is no longer following the wrasses all day, which was pretty funny.