Help! Sick fish!!

[christyf5]

Picked up a melanurus wrasse last Friday (Mar 5) it arrived at the store on Wed (Mar 3). Ate right away and ate up until Monday night. Tuesday it was back to eating but by Wednesday it was doing this funky aim at the bottom glass and shimmy its mouth along the bottom glass thing. I thought it was odd but thought maybe there were some goodies in the detritus or it was wondering why there was no sandbed.

Wednesday night I could clearly see it was having swimming problems. It was mostly hiding under the rocks "resting" but was making an effort to swim but was losing its side to side motions. I turned off all the pumps except for the return pump (about 2200gph) and a tunze 6045 and left him. I'd previously had a female die within 48 hours of getting it home so I figured this one was going to do the same.

This morning I expected to find a body out front and center of the tank or at least under the rocks. Couldn't see one, lights weren't on yet. This afternoon I come home and there he is, still trying to swim but its almost like he's trying but his body isn't responding and he's tiring out.

Is it cyanide? Bacterial? Should I try treating him? For what? I have some maracyn two I think and I can race out to the fish store to hopefully find whatever is suggested. I just have this feeling that well, if he's not dead yet, there must be something I can do.

Any help appreciated!! :biggrin:

[tlo]

very odd, I have no suggestions other than quarantine and you could try lowering the salinaty for him. But this will give the thread a bump anyways.

[naesco]

Are you feeding it dry food?
How deep is your sand bed?

[christyf5]

Don't have a sandbed. I feed frozen mysis and frozen spirulina brine shrimp as well as nori.

[naesco]

Don't have a sandbed. I feed frozen mysis and frozen spirulina brine shrimp as well as nori.

If it is not a serious bladder problem which is difficult to cure it may be one of the following.

If you are feeding dry food, like nori without first wetting it, it may cause the fish to be bound. You can correct the problem by feeding her some peas and she will poop the dry stuff out.

Every night this wrasse and many others go to bed. It snuggles itself deep in the protective fine sand bed to sleep and protect itself if threatened during the day. By +doing this funky aim at the bottom glass and shimmy its mouth along the bottom glass thing+, he may be trying to tell you something.
I hope she recovers.

[Borderjumper]

It may have injured itself trying to bury into the sandbed that isnt there.

Both of my pencil wrasses killed themselves trying to bury .. when there was nothing to bury in.

[christyf5]

This fish has never eaten nori, the only fish that eats it is the regal tang. He chows it down before any of the other fish even know it is in the tank. I just like watching him eat it :razz:

Yeah I was wondering if maybe the shimmy was looking for a sandbed. I'm wondering if maybe I need to invest in some biopellets and add some sand in the back forty for him.

I've had two other melanurus wrasses over the years, one acclimated to no sandbed, the other came from a tank with a sandbed to my bare bottom one with no problems at all.

Well here's hoping its not his swim bladder. That would certainly suck :neutral:

[christyf5]

It may have injured itself trying to bury into the sandbed that isnt there.

Both of my pencil wrasses killed themselves trying to bury .. when there was nothing to bury in.


If he did its on the inside, theres no damage on the outside for the most part. He did come with a small abrasion on his side but it looks to be healing to me.

[naesco]

Unless it is too late you can slowly pour two inches of fine sand in a say one square foot area near where she is hiding. If she is healthy enough she will dive in. Good Luck

[christyf5]

Too late tonight but I can get some tomorrow. Hopefully he's still ok tomorrow. He seems sort of "peppy" this evening. Its as if nothing was wrong except for the crappy steering and occasional "rest" periods :neutral:

[naesco]

BTW, Christy, the regal tang is the only tang that is primarily a meat eater. Although they will eat algae their diet is meaty foods so feed the meaty foods first than add the nori.

[christyf5]

I usually feed twice a day. Two rounds of mysis with the nori in between. Yeah I know he doesn't really need the nori but he just gets so excited when he sees me putting it on the clip :razz: If I don't give him the two rounds of mysis he gets VERY cranky (aggressive to the other fish and likes to knock my frags over and just lately, nipping clam mantles . He is a bit of an arse.

[naesco]

Nipping on clam mantles, eh. You are not feeding him enough, ha ha.

[bvlester]

for the sick fish lower the sal to 1.018 and raise the temp to 82 in QT add formalin and also add a air stone to QT. I read on a site the other night this guy helps people that email him and this is what he recommends for most ailments. Do not use copper with angles and tangs unless you have no other choice as in MV. The copper kills a organism in their stomach and then they have a hard time digesting food.
I have been reading on many sites about sick fish right now I don't know why. Maybe wholesalers are not QTing before shipping to us up here right now supply and demand you know.

Bill

[christyf5]

I tried catching him but he's still strong enough to swim away and hide. I've decided thats just going to be too stressful..for both of us. However he's still kicking, swimming erratically still (I'd liken it to being drunk) and he is eating!! this morning.

[christyf5]

Nipping on clam mantles, eh. You are not feeding him enough, ha ha.


yes I've decided this tang is the "labrador retriever" of the fish world. there is no way you could ever feed him enough. He's always ready to eat. :razz:

[PoonTang]

I have a extra sand bed if you need one.

[christyf5]

Just thought I'd give an update. The wrasse continued eating and I fed the tank three times daily. Today he is "fine", out and swimming in the water column, no lethargy, no shimmying along the bottom of the tank. My theory is that without a sandbed some wrasses are like an insomniac. No sleep makes one a little odd :razz: So enter sandbed:

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b365/christyf5/March%2020%202010/IMG_8328.jpg

Took him a couple of days to find it and recognize what it was. Now every night around 9:30 he dives into it and its nighty night :biggrin:

Note: this is the backside of the tank. I wanted it perfectly visible for him to recognize it for what it was. Now that he has, I've moved it off to the right hand side so you can't see it from the "display side".

[PoonTang]

Well if you ever need to remove him from your tank for any reason then it should be super easy now.

[Delphinus]

That is AWESOME.

[Lance]

Well if you ever need to remove him from your tank for any reason then it should be super easy now.


Yeah, what a great fish trap!