cleaner wrasse

[melissfish]

does a cleaner wrasse help control whitespot and will this cause him to catch it too?

Originally Posted by melissfish

does a cleaner wrasse help control whitespot

No, in fact their natural diet is isopods, scales and fish slime. There is no evidence these fish are of any benefit with C. irritans at all.

and will this cause him to catch it too?

Most definately.

Cheers
Steve

[melissfish]

my LFS is useless, this was their suggestion for controlling whitespot without meds or QT

Originally Posted by melissfish

this was their suggestion for controlling whitespot without meds or QT

Unfortunately there is no such thing.

Cheers
Steve

[xxmoorishmanxx]

don't they eat some types of fungal growths that can devolp on fish?

I am not 100% sure of that but I do not believe so.

Cheers
Steve

[austinsdad]

Consider the neon blue gobies. A mated pair or single is interesting and colorful. They won't control whitespot either, but IMO would do fish cleaning chores (dead skin, maybe fungal growth, and stuff) like cleaner wrasses. Seems that the cleaner wrasses are abundant, but I remember Robert Fenner suggesting that hobbyists don't buy'm, to convince those that harvest to keep'm in the ocean where they serve fish in natural reef communities well. Haven't heard that much since the book, so don't know if it's a huge concern. I still like the neon blue gobies better anyway.

[xxmoorishmanxx]

Depending on the size of your fish, cleaner shrimp are fun to watch, mine dosnt do much caus ei have small fish, but they are fun towatch clean larger fish

Originally Posted by austinsdad

Seems that the cleaner wrasses are abundant, but I remember Robert Fenner suggesting that hobbyists don't buy'm, to convince those that harvest to keep'm in the ocean where they serve fish in natural reef communities well. Haven't heard that much since the book, so don't know if it's a huge concern.

The main concern is the wrasses ability to adapt to captive care. While some do take to aquarium foods, most do not and typically die within months of collection.

Cheers
Steve