Acclimation Advice

[BranchingHammer]

Fish (IMO) were packaged fairly poorly as well, which makes me a bit annoyed to say the least. No injected oxygen, limp bags...

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hi Jay,
Unfortunately, one fish came DOA, and the others looking pretty stressed. I think most of them will make it, but lights are still off and they are hanging out at the bottom. My biggest worry is that when I was netting the mccosckers wrasse, his teeth got stuck on the net. I put the net in the aquarium with the fish to see if he would release on his own, but he didn't after 30 min. I ended up cutting the net so that he only has a small piece (less than an inch) stuck to his teeth, but it scares me. I don't know if he'll be able to get it off since its caught on the upper and lower jaw. He is upright, but on the bottom and breathing a little heavy. Any advice? My current plan is just to wait it out and see if he can release.

The christmas wrasse looks good but and hiding. Can't find the longnose hawkfish but I'm sure he's in there somewhere. The Lubbock's fairy wrasse looks the best out of everyone and is swimming/hiding.

Weird that a wrasse got its teeth stuck in a net - angelfish often do that. Was it a regular green mesh net? Hopefully it will fall off on its own overnight.

Jay

 

[BranchingHammer]

Weird that a wrasse got its teeth stuck in a net - angelfish often do that. Was it a regular green mesh net? Hopefully it will fall off on its own overnight.

Jay

Hi, yeah it was very weird but I guess flashers have decent-sized teeth so I guess it can happen. I found a few other cases of this happening on google, most people had cut the net like me and the wrasse released itself within a few days. I'm hoping it will get it off overnight. The fish is breathing heavy (or at least when I'm looking at it). Is this worrisome or just stress from shipping/acclimation?

Also, I still have the lights off in the tank to reduce stress. Is this fine or should I turn on the lights in the room at all before the day is over? I turned the room lights on a couple times just to check on the net situation, but I always turned them off afterwards...

Thanks so much for your help. I really appreciate it!

 

[BranchingHammer]

I just counted 98 breaths per minute, which seems very high. His breathing rate might have elevated when I turned the room lights on, however.