Blue star Leopard wrasse swim bladder issue??

[coral reeftank]

Hey wrasse experts, I received some blue star leopards today in a shipment and they are currently in my qt.

I think they have some sort of swim bladder issue (see video). I’m not sure if they seem bloated or well fed, since they all pooped in their shipping bags, it didn’t seem white or stringy. They swim with their tail up and seem to be positively buoyant to various degrees. One of them tends to float to the surface as it idles. I’m going to get some epsom salt tomorrow and then treat them with General Cure.

Would this course of action be adequate for this situation? Hopefully, this issue is shipping related and will resolve itself, or should I try to lance the swim bladder now? If I do which antibiotic would be best used in this case?

New Blue star Leopard wrasses

youtube.com

 

[fishguy242]

#fishmedic

 

[coral reeftank]

New leopards pt. 2

youtube.com

Here is another video, breathing also seems to be on the slightly heavier side as well compared to other established leopards.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Not sure if it’s a buoyancy issue but possibly internal issue. Is fish/has fish been eating?
What is current ammonia and nitrate level?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

New leopards pt. 2

youtube.com

Here is another video, breathing also seems to be on the slightly heavier side as well compared to other established leopards.

They are definitely breathing too fast and deep.

How were they shipped (time frame)?
How did you acclimate them?
What was their starting and ending salinity for acclimation?
Do you know the ammonia level in the shipping bags?

The head down posture is from slight positive buoyancy. I see that sometimes in fish that were just shipped by air - the lower pressure during shipping over inflates their gas bladder. This issue can also happen if fish are moved from low to high salinity water.

Skip the Epsom salts, that is incorrect information that just gets passed around and around. These salts are the fourth most common salt in seawater, adding a bit more changes nothing but the salinity. It is a freshwater fish treatment that got misused in marine aquariums.

Jay

 

[coral reeftank]

Not sure if it’s a buoyancy issue but possibly internal issue. Is fish/has fish been eating?
What is current ammonia and nitrate level?

This is from a new ammonia badge, nitrates are at 0.

They are definitely breathing too fast and deep.

How were they shipped (time frame)?
How did you acclimate them?
What was their starting and ending salinity for acclimation?
Do you know the ammonia level in the shipping bags?

The head down posture is from slight positive buoyancy. I see that sometimes in fish that were just shipped by air - the lower pressure during shipping over inflates their gas bladder. This issue can also happen if fish are moved from low to high salinity water.

Skip the Epsom salts, that is incorrect information that just gets passed around and around. These salts are the fourth most common salt in seawater, adding a bit more changes nothing but the salinity. It is a freshwater fish treatment that got misused in marine aquariums.

Jay

These were shipped to me by ups air saver and I got them around 4 pm cst and they were scanned at the ups at 5pm pst. These wrasses came from quality marine.

I temp acclimated them, then matched the salinity of qt to the bag, they came in at 1.021 and I set the salinity of the qt to that. Once they hit temp I put them in. Currently the qt is at 74 degrees. I also don’t know the ammonia of their bags but they’re was no foul odor.

 

[vetteguy53081]

This is from a new ammonia badge, nitrates are at 0.




These were shipped to me by ups air saver and I got them around 4 pm cst and they were scanned at the ups at 5pm pst. These wrasses came from quality marine.

I temp acclimated them, then matched the salinity of qt to the bag, they came in at 1.021 and I set the salinity of the qt to that. Once they hit temp I put them in. Currently the qt is at 74 degrees. I also don’t know the ammonia of their bags but they’re was no foul odor.

Temperature is very low (77-78) and acclimation was too soon- these guys need good acclimation
Altering the ph in the bag likely s add letters the ammonia levels also

 

[littlebeard]

You'll need to remove the plastic protective film on the ammonia badge. Also it can take a couple of day for the badge to equilibrate to the water.

 

[vetteguy53081]

You'll need to remove the plastic protective film on the ammonia badge. Also it can take a couple of day for the badge to equilibrate to the water.

Goid catch- never saw the film

 

[coral reeftank]

Temperature is very low (77-78) and acclimation was too soon- these guys need good acclimation
Altering the ph in the bag likely s add letters the ammonia levels also

I thought it was best to get them in the tank after a salinity and temp match to avoid ammonia build up? Also the fish are eating some mysis and picking at pods. My main concern right now is the breathing and buoyancy issue

 

[vetteguy53081]

I thought it was best to get them in the tank after a salinity and temp match to avoid ammonia build up? Also the fish are eating some mysis and picking at pods. My main concern right now is the breathing and buoyancy issue

Assure again that ammonia is not elevated
What test kits are you using?

 

[coral reeftank]

Assure again that ammonia is not elevated
What test kits are you using?

I’m using salifert. The qt was seeded with rock and gravel from the dt as well so that should help in mitigating ammonia levels.

 

[jajasonson]

Keep me posted. I took home a blue star yesterday with the same problem. It had been at the store for 3 or 4 days already and the guy working there said it wasn't doing that until the day I picked it up. Besides swimming weird, it's looking fat and healthy. Sharing a hole with my yellow headed jawfish.

 

[coral reeftank]

The ones with the issue unfortunately did not make it through QT. Overall 2/7 made it through qt.

I’m not exactly sure as to why they were affected this way. It could’ve been the shipping but I had never experienced anything like this.

 

[Tamberav]

The ones with the issue unfortunately did not make it through QT. Overall 2/7 made it through qt.

I’m not exactly sure as to why they were affected this way. It could’ve been the shipping but I had never experienced anything like this.

Since they all arrived that way in the same batch/supplier. It sounds like it was not your fault and they either had these issues already when sent or developed it in shipping somehow. Personally I wouldn’t be surprised if they already had the issue depending where you ordered from. Could have been something with collection or transportation further up the line.

 

[coral reeftank]

Yea it was very unfortunate to lose them, but it is average in my experience for leopard wrasses. They’re notoriously poor shippers.
On a good note, the ones that did make it are super happy and fat. They eat everything and have doubled in size since I’ve gotten them.

 

[jajasonson]

Mine died yesterday, about 24 hours after bringing it home.