Wrasse burial period

Ben jammin · Oct 7, 2014

So 10 days and counting, and still no sign of the male pencil wrasse. The female and melanarus are out sporadically and appear to be eating. I added a small bottle tiggerpods to my tank on Sat night after most fish were asleep, but I don't see any of them on the rocks or sand when I look at night with a flashlight. I'm afraid they may have gotten filtered out before finding the rock. Anyway, I definitely feel like the male pencil may be gone, and I am tempted to rake my sand bed to find his remains so he doesn't decompose in my tank, but I guess that's still a bad idea?

evolved · Oct 8, 2014

It is a bad idea. If he's still alive (quite likely), you're going to severly hinder any chance of success.

Unless your tank is on the knife edge of being overstocked or is a very young tank, it can easily handle the decay of one medium sized fish.

Ben jammin · Oct 9, 2014

evolved said:
It is a bad idea. If he's still alive (quite likely), you're going to severly hinder any chance of success.

Unless your tank is on the knife edge of being overstocked or is a very young tank, it can easily handle the decay of one medium sized fish.

That's not an issue. It wouldn't cause ammonia or nitrite problems, and while it might bump my nitrates, that's not a big concern since my tank is a FOWLR. I will leave well enough alone, but it's killing me not knowing. If he is still alive under the sand, I wonder what the heck he is doing under there, and how long he can go without eating.

choff · Oct 13, 2014

Ben I'm at 13 days with 2 of 5 blues stars myself. Give it time, I have friends telling me they had one come out after 26 days. It's killing me too.

Ben jammin · Oct 13, 2014

I'm waiting patiently, though I'm not optimistic. The melanarus wrasse got flukes, which when I first noticed it on Wednesday I thought was an abrasion on his skin. Then I noticed the same thing on my emperor angel on Thursday night, so Friday I started a Prazipro treatment. Unfortunately I found the melanarus dead on Saturday. All my other fish are still eating, none are flashing, and the female pencil wrasse seems to be doing well. But I am concerned that the male pencil, which was in the same tank at the LFS as the melanarus, may have had flukes as well and succumbed to them deep in the rock or under the sand. I'll keep waiting though. Nothing else I can do.

I'm upset about losing the melanarus, and the fact he died inside a rock hole that I cannot get him out of while my skimmer has to be off for a week or two isn't going to help my water quality at all.

choff · Oct 13, 2014

I'm starting to lose faith to tbh. I think only 1 of 5 is going to make it. I was hoping for 2.

That sucks about the melanarus. Sorry to hear that. I started prazipro a few days after I introduced them.

choff · Oct 22, 2014

All 5 of mine made it out of the sand. 2 right away, 1 at 9 days and the other 2 at the 17 and 19 day mark. That's the good news. The bad news is 1 is nasty and killed the others. Literally caught her ramming them over and over. I didn't realize it until the 3rd one was all but dead.

Ben jammin · Oct 22, 2014

Amazing they stayed buried that long, and that totally sucks that they were then killed. Sorry to hear that.

As for me, well, despite starting prazipro right away when I spotted the flukes, they killed my melanarus, fairy basslet flame angel, and dwarf lion. And the female pencil wrasse disappeared so I'm pretty sure she's gone for good, while the male pencil never made an appearance and probably succumbed to the flukes while under the sand. Totally sucks. Only good news is that my emperor seems to have healed up and my other big fish all seem to have been unaffected. I am sort of shocked that my powder blue and hippo tangs didn't get flukes or ich as a result of this.

choff · Oct 23, 2014

Sorry to hear about the flukes. That's worse losing other tank mates than just the new ones I bought. At least mine were covered under the LA 14 day live fish policy. I called after 2 weeks and told then the fish were still in the sand and extended my guaranty for an additional 7 days. They are simply the best at CS.

Ben jammin · Oct 23, 2014

Yes, LA is great. They extended the warranty on my Aussie tusk for over 30 days until he started eating. I just wish they didn't have such a high minimum for free shipping.

Sterny331 · Mar 22, 2018

Sorry to bring up an old thread from the dead. But sort of in relation to my question. I have a melanarus that I’ve had for about a month. He used to be out all the time and now he’s always under by 6pm.. he’s always out when I come home from work at lunch which is about noon when I feed. Light cycle is from 10am to 11pm ramping up and down with blues for a few hours on each end. Any ideas? He used to stay out till about 9pm

evolved · Mar 22, 2018

Sterny331 said:
Sorry to bring up an old thread from the dead. But sort of in relation to my question. I have a melanarus that I’ve had for about a month. He used to be out all the time and now he’s always under by 6pm.. he’s always out when I come home from work at lunch which is about noon when I feed. Light cycle is from 10am to 11pm ramping up and down with blues for a few hours on each end. Any ideas? He used to stay out till about 9pm

What's the latest time you typically feed? It might be a learned behavior in the sense that staying out and active past 6pm never leads to any additional food, therefore there's no need to expend the energy.
You can try feeding close to 6PM and slowly moving back that feeding time to better keep him out.

Tony Vargas · Mar 22, 2018

The fish is only one month old, he is still acclimating to a captive life style. It will take him about three to six months to become fully acclimated to your light schedule. Furthermore, think about the fact that that fish was living on the other side of the planet and was always sleeping when you were up. Give the fish time, as long as it is eating and not getting thinner you are fine.

Diwrigh · Aug 29, 2018

Old thread but similar situation. Had a wrasse in the tank for a little over a week now, havent seen him once. I know they can hide for sometimes a month, but when I put him in he didnt look to healthy (discoloring on his body that didnt look great but I dont have a QT tank). My question is, if the wrasse does indeed die under the sand how will I know? Im checking nitrates and phos daily, but I dont want to find out he's dead too late and crash my tank you know? Advice?

eatbreakfast · Aug 29, 2018

a) Wrasses rarely die buried, they usually come out in their death throes or lack strength to bury in the first place.

b) Unless your tank is tiny, a dead wrasse won't even be a blip on the tank's abilities to convert waste.

Diwrigh · Aug 29, 2018

eatbreakfast said:
a) Wrasses rarely die buried, they usually come out in their death throes or lack strength to bury in the first place.

b) Unless your tank is tiny, a dead wrasse won't even be a blip on the tank's abilities to convert waste.

Okay that's good to know, thank you. I'm not worried yet, just want to be aware ya know

Its a 57g with a 20g sump/skimmer and a big clean up crew too. Thanks for the help

Donnaj44 · Apr 14, 2019

I have a Twin Spot Wrasse for several weeks now. No additional adds or other Wrasse. He buried himself upon arrival for less than 24hrs. He has bonded with my yellow tang. However I’m noticing each morning he is staying buried later and later. It’s approaching 11:00 AM and he has missed feedings two days in a row. Should I worry and WHAT IS UP??!!

eatbreakfast · Apr 15, 2019

Donnaj44 said:
I have a Twin Spot Wrasse for several weeks now. No additional adds or other Wrasse. He buried himself upon arrival for less than 24hrs. He has bonded with my yellow tang. However I’m noticing each morning he is staying buried later and later. It’s approaching 11:00 AM and he has missed feedings two days in a row. Should I worry and WHAT IS UP??!!

What size is the twin spot? And what is it's current pattern? When about to go through a transition they will spend more time being buried. Even if there aren't other wrasses they can bury if they are bullied or intimidated by other fish.

#1Fellowreefer · Nov 3, 2019

I just wanted to share my experience and I hope I am not speaking to soon about it. I received my Divided Leopard Wrasse this past Friday and I acclimated it per the requirements and then added her to the QT for the first few hours she was just laying on her side like it was dead but I knew it was not the case. Later in the night about 2AM on my way to bed I wanted to see where it was and at that point it had picked the right front corner of the tank and was swimming like all was okay and when I cam downstairs today (Saturday) morning it had disappeared like buried itself in the sand bed and I was hoping that I won’t have to go to the trouble like some of you have and weren’t able to know or see their wrasse for weeks. In the evening after coming home from a family event I see my Divided Leopard Wrasse sticking its head out to see what’s going on around and few minutes later disappeared again. At least I know she is alive. The only question I have is she hasn’t eaten anything yet (at least as far as I know) should I be concerned. My QT has been setup for almost month and a half and I have added copepods from AlgaeBarn twice and seem like my Ammonia today is at 0.10ppm Nitrite is at 0.5ppm and Nitrate is at 5ppm when I added the Divided Leopard Wrasse and the royal gramma to the QT I had also added the TurboStart like they say to add before adding any live stock to either DT or QT. Should I be worried it hasn’t eaten anything yet (the Divided Leopard Wrasse)

In one of the pictures you can see the Royal Gramma was really really stressed out the shipping and I felt it might not make it but thank god it’s doing okay.