Blue Star Leopard Wrasse buried for almost a month since adding.

[MasonK24]

Just as the title states, i added a female blue star leopard wrasse a little under a month ago (25 days) and she swam for 5-10 minutes and didnt seem to be scared of the other fish or her new environment. Next thing i know shes gone into the sand and hasnt been seen since. i dont see any evidence that she comes out at night or if shes even alive. i do have some sand digging things like fighting conchs and tiger pistol shrimp that i hope dont disturb her. is there any possibility in your experience that she will come out in the near future? i have read articles that people have had them disappear for a month or more after addition. thats crazy! im really trying to stay positive and hope for the best. fingers crossed

 

[jda]

It is possible, but I would not hold your breath. Although some will take a month, a week or 10 days is more common to adjust. I hope that you see it again.

 

[67chevellemalibu2]

I had the same issue. Turns out when mine did come out it was being harassed by my Christmas. Gently sift through the sand. You might be surprised it’s still alive. I will not get another one. I actually had to give mine away to a fellow R2R member.

 

[MasonK24]

I had the same issue. Turns out when mine did come out it was being harassed by my Christmas. Gently sift through the sand. You might be surprised it’s still alive. I will not get another one. I actually had to give mine away to a fellow R2R member.

thankfully i dont have any other wrasse species, and my fish community is pretty chill for the most part. how long exactly did yours bury initially?

 

[67chevellemalibu2]

For weeks. I would gently sift through your sand to see if it comes out. Maybe she comes out at night.

 

[Brian1f1]

Second the sand sifting. If she is you need to detriment what’s scarring her. Night theory is not a good one. They are diurnal. Highly doubtful she’s feeding at night.

 

[4FordFamily]

Honestly though I’ve had some emerge after a week, 90% of the time IME if it’s gone a week it’s gone

Pestering it while it’s in the sand will further stress the fish, I advise against that.

 

[jsvand5]

I agree. Most likely she’s already been disposed of by your clean up crew. All leopards are tough. I really don’t know what makes some do great from the get go and some just bury themselves never to be seen again. I’ve had some that have have came in looking amazing that go into the tank and disappear while I’ve also had some that came in looking severely stressed that went on to do great. Just seems to be the luck of the draw. I do find that worming them with panacur helps their longterm survival but that doesn’t help when they bury immediately and disappear.

 

[ReefQueen]

Sorry to hear she still isn’t coming out for you. Usually I would recommend to not sift the sand, but with it being so long I would just so you know for sure. Before you do that though can you see the bottom of your tank under your stand? I can see where my wrasse is buried at night because his fin presses up against the bottom glass.

 

[MasonK24]

Sorry to hear she still isn’t coming out for you. Usually I would recommend to not sift the sand, but with it being so long I would just so you know for sure. Before you do that though can you see the bottom of your tank under your stand? I can see where my wrasse is buried at night because his fin presses up against the bottom glass.

my stand is covered except for a small section. i will try and look

 

[bigpaul]

Could it have jumped into your overflow?

 

[MasonK24]

Im gonna start digging tomorrow. i’ll update the thread with the outcome. wish me luck lol

 

[darkseeker]

Don't lose hope yet, mine disappeared for over 2 months and now they all appeared and even eat pellets

 

[ReefQueen]

Im gonna start digging tomorrow. i’ll update the thread with the outcome. wish me luck lol

Good luck! Keep us updated!

 

[justmee]

I had mine disappeared for a week, and now it's out and about everyday. Although yours might be longer, but I've had friends that have disappeared for 6-8 weeks. These fishes comes from the Red Sea, not only does it needs time to acclimate to the conditions of your tank, but it also needs time to acclimate to the time difference. Goodluck!!

 

[Lateral72]

I really wouldn't recommend digging. It's either A) in there, and you're likely going to stress the hell out of it, or B) it's dead, and you're just going to stir up your sand bed, cause your tank to be cloudy and potentially release a bunch of nutrients or harmful buildup.

I've had a leopard go missing for 2 months after being introduced. Walked by the tank one evening and had to do a double-take.

 

[Jesterrace]

I agree that digging around for a sand burying wrasse isn't a good idea. It stresses them out. That is a really long time to go without it coming out, but there are cases of them doing this for over a month and then suddenly re-appearing one day and being fine. Mine was very atypical for a Leopard Wrasse. Spent less than 48 hours in hiding and then came right out and has been out like clockwork ever since. To be fair though mine had been at my LFS for 3 weeks before I brought it home.

 

[MasonK24]

okay, so i guess i will refrain from digging just in case she is hiding scared. i dont wanna disturb her, i’ll just let everything happen naturally. ive accepted the fact that she may never come out and was hermit and snail dinner. i just hope im wrong. im gonna leave this thread dormant until...

A) she comes out and i’ll be pleasantly surprised

B) its been so long there is no possible way shes alive

 

[Brian1f1]

I agree. Most likely she’s already been disposed of by your clean up crew. All leopards are tough. I really don’t know what makes some do great from the get go and some just bury themselves never to be seen again. I’ve had some that have have came in looking amazing that go into the tank and disappear while I’ve also had some that came in looking severely stressed that went on to do great. Just seems to be the luck of the draw. I do find that worming them with panacur helps their longterm survival but that doesn’t help when they bury immediately and disappear.

They really need to be placed in an “acclimation tank” alone, for a month or so. This tank will have a tray of sand, a live rock or two, a dim light on a timer, and lots of pods. This serves the dual role of effectively QTing them, while also limiting major stressors, like other boisterous fish, very bright light (when they need to adjust to a 12 hour time difference, food competition, untreated parasitic worms, and so forth. It’s really no mystery why some bury themselves and never come out. They are terrified and weak from collection and processing, and the environment they are too often plunged into (a bright, crowded (by ocean standards) DT) exacerbates that. The acclimation tank also lets you offer them frozen food to pick at at their leisure which they can then learn to eat. You should also carefully follow humblefishes protocol and dose them with Prazi while in the acclimation tank (no harm in doing this with sand/rock, just watch your 02 levels, I learned that the hard way with a tang once). By the time you introduce them to DT they are fat, dewormed, acclimated to your countries time, usually willing to eat frozen, and generally less stressed and fearful of the captive environment.

So I’ve said all the above many times, but I’ll say it again. It’s not a mystery why so many of these die when dumped in a DT. It’s also not a mystery why most live when following the above steps. Hell, I have a tiny sample size, but I’m 5 for 5 with this method, and that’s with all fish shipped from CA to PA. I’d guess with this method, given a reasonably healthy wrasse, you’d go from maybe a 35% survival rate to better than 90%, but people keep on doing what they do...

If you can’t follow these steps, you should get a friend or an LFS that can and really will, otherwise, it’s honestly a fairly irresponsible purchase tbh (unless they are first fish in, but still easier to do all of the above in a smaller tank).

B

 

[NFO]

I just had a small female leapord that hid for around 2.5 to 3 months when i moved her into a bigger tank and then finally came out durring the day..But I think it was my fault for a few reasons..

1. I acclimated her in my frag systems sump for around 2 months. It has a deep sand bed and the fuge light is on a reverse light cycle to my other tanks lights. I have read that sand dwelling wrasse get into a strict rythem of when they emerge to hunt then burry to sleep/hide and that brings me to..

2. I moved her over to my Biocube 29 (with a pair of naked clowns) because she was coming out everyday and fat and eating like a hog in the sump so i figured she was comfortable and ready for established tank life...

wrong (for what i can tell) she was used to eating and comfortable with coming out at midnight, 5 hours after the fuge light came on...(that right i stayed up till around midnight or later for months and waited for her to come out to feed every night) and when i put her into a tank on a regular daylight schedule she hid instantly and i didn't see her for almost 2 months.. I watched and checked every day and night but to no avail.. I thought surely she was a goner.

But then i was going out of town and i bought a few cheap recording wifi cameras to keep watch on the tanks while i was away but when watching recordings the tanks at night (because why not) at around 3am i noticed a third set of eyes swimming in my Biocube! Holy crap shes alive! She was just swimming slowly and picking at pods blindly it looked like..But im 600 miles away.. So when i got home i waited untill i saw her out at around 3am on the camera live and ran downstairs and turned the AI Prime HD in really low and fed her. Then I did that later and later for around a month untill she finally started coming out during the day.. And now is fat healthy and out everyday like clockwork..

Long story short check at night.. Alot of these fish come from the other side of the planet and have a certain feeding schedule naturally engrained in them that is hard to break or change.. But they are amazing fish and worth the effort if you have the time..