Established Yellow & Purple wrasses under sand for 1 month

zalick

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I have a 3 year old yellow and purple wrasse. It will occasionally hid under the sand for a few days. The longest it's ever done this was 2 weeks right when I got it.

3.5 weeks ago it went to sleep and it hasn't come out since.

No changes to my old and established 300g tank. No behavior changes. No new additions. Nothing in my house changed. Everything is as it's always been.

The wrasse was about 3-4" when I got it and now it's about 6".

No visible signs of disease.

No bullying. I only have a Magnificent Foxface, black & white clown, royal Gramma and sleeper dragon goby.

Literally nothing I can think of that would make it hide for this long or die.

The longest I've read about a wrasse hiding is 1 month.

My question is this: when should I go searching for the body?

It's terrible timing because I was planning a major aquascape change that's been put on hold.

@evolved any thoughts?

Very sad because this was my first and only wrasse. :(
 
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zalick

zalick

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have you tried disturbing the sandbed?

Nope. I've just let it be since he disappeared under the sand almost a month ago.

This morning I did use a turkey baster to gently blow on the top of the sand where he is. Just barely rustled the top layer of sand.
 

Reefing_addiction

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Nope. I've just let it be since he disappeared under the sand almost a month ago.

This morning I did use a turkey baster to gently blow on the top of the sand where he is. Just barely rustled the top layer of sand.
SOO did you find him?
 

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My new yellow and purple wrasse hid the moment he went into our tank for 2.5 weeks. I saw him swimming for the first time this morning while the lights were still out. I assume grazing a bit before hiding again when I walked over to the tank.
 
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zalick

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So here is an update:

The wrasse is alive! It's been about 2 months.

I saw about 2 inches of its tail sticking out of the sand just now. The tail looked healthy but I assumed it was dead since it's been so long. I attempted to grab the tail with my grabber thing and it wiggled a little. I then thought what the heck I'm going to nudge it out. I know disturbing a wrasse under the sand it bad but it's been 2 months. It can't survive like this much longer.

I nudge it out and it gave a quick swim and then went under the rocks. It looked remarkably healthy and not as skinny as I'd assume.

It was only out briefly but it seemed like maybe my Foxface was bullying it. In the 3 years they've lived together I've never seen aggression between the two.

I've checked the tank in the middle of the night and didn't see the wrasse out hunting.

I'm shocked it could live this long without really eating!
 
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zalick

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Someone is definitely being a bully and forcing it into hiding I'm afraid.
:(

In the 300g there is only my 10yr+ old clown, a royal grama, a sleeper banded goby and my Magnificent Foxface. This pretty much means the foxface is the culprit.

Do you think the wrasse has survived this long with no food?

I feed the tank a TON.

Any suggestions on a remedy?

I could put the foxface in my sump for a week...
 
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zalick

zalick

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I got the Foxface out and it only took an hour and only had to remove a few rocks! Not bad. For anyone reading in the future: I use semi-rigid plastic mesh stuff to divide the tank in quadrants and isolate the fish I'm removing. Works great.

So now that I have the bully banished to the sump, should I give the wrasse another week to come out? I'm guessing it must have been coming out at night.

The Foxface is already eating in the sump. Such a pig!

***I assume the Foxface was the bully and not the royal Gramma. The Gramma pretty much sticks to its own little tiny quadrant except when coming out for food.
 

evolved

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Do you think the wrasse has survived this long with no food?
Possibly - it doesn't take much energy to stay buried and just breath for weeks.
Any suggestions on a remedy?
Remove one.
I could put the foxface in my sump for a week...
You can try, but it's likely just to persist again up return.
So now that I have the bully banished to the sump, should I give the wrasse another week to come out? I'm guessing it must have been coming out at night.
It could take several weeks until it's comfortable again.
 
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zalick

zalick

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Possibly - it doesn't take much energy to stay buried and just breath for weeks.

Remove one.

You can try, but it's likely just to persist again up return.

It could take several weeks until it's comfortable again.
Thanks for the info.

The Foxface will stay in the sump until I can find him a new home.

I'm planning to add more wrasses using your wrasse guides, so don't want a trouble maker.

So interesting they coexisted just fine for the last 3 years. :(
 

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