Laboutei Wrasse Troubles

[alco1]

hey all,

ive got a problem with my laboutei fairy wrasse. I have him for a few months and from the moment I put him in the tank he's always been mr confident and not afraid of anything and eating really well.

The last couple of days ive noticed hes been sleeping in a bit and going to bed early before the lights turn out but still always confidently eating.

Tried to do my routine brine shrimp feed and normally the wrasse sky rockets out of his cave for some food but this morning he didn't even come out.

He looks fine and not breathing heavily, all his color is still looking good and no other fish are giving him a hard time.

I've tested the water and all parameters are perfect and it's a 265g tank and he's the only wrasse.

Should I be worried?? has anyone experienced this before??

Any help would be great.

[MarinaClown]

Has he eaten yet?

[alco1]

had a look this morning, he's definitely still alive and well but just sits in his cave and doesn't come out, tried to feed him by squirting a turkey baster full of brine but still no luck.

he looks healthy, no lose of color, not breathing heavily..... just looks depressed and not eating.

It's very odd, never had this before.

[MarinaClown]

I just lost a Naoko's fairy wrasse during an upgrade. I put him into a holding tank, albeit a small one, but he stopped eating there. 5 days later he died. I wish you luck with yours. I just saw a Labouti wrasse on live aquaria weekly special section for $79.99 and almost pulled a trigger.

[alco1]

yea really hope it works out, got lucky with him.... went to my LFS and the guy didn't even know what sort of wrasse it was and bought it for $65... BARGAIN!!!!

[alco1]

found him in a cave where a sleeper goby lives..... he still alive and not looking too good, the goby gave him a nudge but he didn't even fight back or swim away. probably give it a couple more days before hes dead unless I can find out whats going on

[MarinaClown]

If the only symptom is lethargy then removing your fish from your main tank will be futile at best. It may actually aggravate an already fragile condition of the wrasse. However, if white spots are visible then QTing would be a good option. As I mentioned before, my Naoko's fairy wrasse did not handle the transfer very well and died. Fingers crossed.

[alco1]

have considered moving him to QT... but would agree.... moving him wouldn't really do much I wouldn't think, it would probably just kill him. plus he doesn't look diseased. no spots, no marks and no discoloration. its just an anomaly lol

[MarinaClown]

I thought this article about wrasses was pretty good when I was researching them. Hope it helps in the future.
http://www.3reef.com/forums/tropical...es-122261.html

[alco1]

thanks a lot great article you found there..... ill save that under my favourites. pity it doesn't have a miracle cure for my problem though

[MarinaClown]

My LFS has a lineatus female and rhomboid for sale. Gorgeous fish. $179 and $199 respectively.

[carey]

Good luck with your wrasse though at this stage it might just be wishful thinking. :-(

Hoping we are all wrong and he makes a comeback but dont get discouraged if he passes, sometimes no matter what we do we cant fix some things that go wrong.

Mr x just had a clownfish pass that was really depressed and stopped eating, X did nothing to get teh clown depressed and he still died.

[alco1]

this morning I looked and hes still alive YAY!!! but doubtful itll live for much longer. did a big 25% water change last night... all the parameters are perfect but that's the only thing I could think of that may be wrong.... if he doesn't survive atleast I tried everything.

was it just this wrasse or are all fairy wrasses really fragile?

[MarinaClown]

Originally Posted by alco1

was it just this wrasse or are all fairy wrasses really fragile?

I had the same thought when I lost my Naoko's fairy wrasse. Fairy wrasses that were somewhat hardy were also mean to my clowns which is big no no for me. Tono's and Lubbock's is what I had but took them both back for store credit due to aggression. My favorite was a Solar wrasse that I donated to my LFS after I realized that he would not be ok in a 3ft tank. That's when I really stepped up my due diligence and found that article I posted earlier. Would I buy an expensive wrasse such as Lineatus or Rhomboid? Yes but only after I keep one not so expensive fairy wrasse alive for at least 6 months.

[alco1]

good call..... might be doing the same... thanks for your help btw

[MarinaClown]

Wish there was more to do to help other than hope that tomorrow your wrasse wakes up really hungry and decides to eat. Otherwise keep your head up. You have done all you could.

[alco1]

hes on his last legs.... he came out and could barely swim and has one cloudy eye..... so took him out into QT

the cloudy eye part scares me. could this be some sort of disease spreading in my tank? i always thought cloudy eye was caused by bad quality water but all parameters are fine and using rodi water.

[TheTodd]

It is usually water quality, but it can come in tandem with other diseases. It can also be from damage/ injury to the eye. I would try throwing an antibiotic in there. At this point, it sounds too late, but I'm a big fan of trying everything possible. Good luck!

[alco1]

dead..... thanks todd hopefully he just injured his eye, seems all the other fish are doing fine so hopefully there no crazy disease lurking in my fishtank. ive just fed all the fish brine lacing in bioviv daily to up their immune system just incase. if anything else pops up i will have to throw some antibiotics in there.

thanks for all the help guys

[MarinaClown]

Sorry to hear