Another fairy wrasse struggling to swim - Help!

[rps3287]

Saltwater newb here.. kept FW tanks for years and finally decided to make the leap. Tank has been up a month now.

With some coaching from a veteran reefer, I quick cycled with biodigest and vodka, and added a pair of clowns when the ammonia was gone. A week later I added a pintail fairy wrasse.

The wrasse and all other inhabitants have been doing great(I added a Tomini tang and some CUC during this time as well). Everyone has been eating great and getting along very well. Water Params are good, nothing really changed in the tank recently, but my wrasse just started swimming funny and doesn’t appear to be eating even though he seems interested in the food.

From my research, it sounds like these fish are quite prone to swim bladder issues and spinal injuries. And as far as I can tell, it looks like my guy is suffering from the latter. No bulging near swim bladder and doesn’t seem to have trouble regulating buoyancy and is not swimming nose down all the time. Swimming with almost zero tail fin, he can wave his back end side to side at times but doesn’t seem to have much control over the movement. He isn’t strong enough to fight the current with just his pectorals/dorsals and gets flipped around every once in a while. Videos attached.

In your opinion, am I correctly diagnosing the issue and is there anything I can do to help if it is a spinal injury?

 

[jd371]

Video is not coming through. From what you described it does sound like a spinal injury, I've heard it called the corkscrew dance when they swim vertically and have trouble with the current. Wrasses get spooked easily and smash into the glass or rocks injuring themselves.
I had the same happen to mine. I put it in an acclimation box so it wouldn't get tossed around by the current, hoping it would recover. Unfortunately it didn't get better and had trouble eating so I opted to euthanize than watch it starve to death.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Sorry, I'm not able to view your videos (may be my computer, I'll try again tonight from home).

I've seen this issue firsthand and I keep getting reports of this issue from people here. I do not have a cause of this, or a possible solution. I hear "swimbladder" but the fish I've seen don't show buoyancy issues, either positive or negative, just the weird swimming. Now, a moribund fish will swim like that, but many of these fish are still feeding, or at least look at food, and a truly moribund fish won't do that.

Jay

 

[rps3287]

Sorry, I'm not able to view your videos (may be my computer, I'll try again tonight from home).

I've seen this issue firsthand and I keep getting reports of this issue from people here. I do not have a cause of this, or a possible solution. I hear "swimbladder" but the fish I've seen don't show buoyancy issues, either positive or negative, just the weird swimming. Now, a moribund fish will swim like that, but many of these fish are still feeding, or at least look at food, and a truly moribund fish won't do that.

Jay

Wrasse swimming issues

Wrasse swimming trouble

youtube.com

Let me know if you all can view the YouTube video.. I can upload a few more.

Good news is he doesn’t appear to be swimming any worse than yesterday, if anything he has improved a bit.

 

[rps3287]

Update: got him in an acclimation box a couple days ago where he is occasionally eating and pooping. Seems to be getting better, but his first test run back in the tank showed he was still too weak. I noticed this morning his poop was stuck. It’s whiteish, not stringy but there is a “string” holding it in him. Start parasite treatment?

 

[rps3287]

Update: got him in an acclimation box a couple days ago where he is occasionally eating and pooping. Seems to be getting better, but his first test run back in the tank showed he was still too weak. I noticed this morning his poop was stuck. It’s whiteish, not stringy but there is a “string” holding it in him. Start parasite treatment?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Here is a link to an article I posted on mucus, it talks a bit about feces:

Mucus - The Slime That Binds

Mucus: The Slime that Binds Jay Hemdal C. 2020 This article examines the various causes of excess mucus coatings on fish, as well as fecal mucus issues. ------------------- The mucus produced by the fish’s epidermal cells gives them their...

www.reef2reef.com

Is it in a tank that you can dose with General Cure?

Jay

 

[KGV]

Update: got him in an acclimation box a couple days ago where he is occasionally eating and pooping. Seems to be getting better, but his first test run back in the tank showed he was still too weak. I noticed this morning his poop was stuck. It’s whiteish, not stringy but there is a “string” holding it in him. Start parasite treatment?

I have a Lubbock wrasse with similar symptoms. How did it go with your fish?

 

[jplace003]

Saltwater newb here.. kept FW tanks for years and finally decided to make the leap. Tank has been up a month now.

With some coaching from a veteran reefer, I quick cycled with biodigest and vodka, and added a pair of clowns when the ammonia was gone. A week later I added a pintail fairy wrasse.

The wrasse and all other inhabitants have been doing great(I added a Tomini tang and some CUC during this time as well). Everyone has been eating great and getting along very well. Water Params are good, nothing really changed in the tank recently, but my wrasse just started swimming funny and doesn’t appear to be eating even though he seems interested in the food.

From my research, it sounds like these fish are quite prone to swim bladder issues and spinal injuries. And as far as I can tell, it looks like my guy is suffering from the latter. No bulging near swim bladder and doesn’t seem to have trouble regulating buoyancy and is not swimming nose down all the time. Swimming with almost zero tail fin, he can wave his back end side to side at times but doesn’t seem to have much control over the movement. He isn’t strong enough to fight the current with just his pectorals/dorsals and gets flipped around every once in a while. Videos attached.

In your opinion, am I correctly diagnosing the issue and is there anything I can do to help if it is a spinal injury?

How did your pintail wrasse end up?? This is exactly how my pintail's issues started, and then one day he couldn't swim like he had a spinal injury. See my post with an attached video of how he ended up after a couple of days worth of similar symptoms. How long have you had your pintail?

Sick Pintail Wrasse - Need Help

My pintail wrasse that I’ve had for about 2 months started swimming erratically last night, then this morning he couldn’t swim straight or upright, at first I thought it could be a swim-bladder issue; however, tonight he is doing much worse and his skin is not looking good. I think he may have...

www.reef2reef.com