Help! Golden Rhombiod Wrasse Swimming Upside Down in QT

[MTBake]

I hope he pulls through for sure! What size is the qt tank?

 

[Elgringodiablo]

I hope he pulls through for sure! What size is the qt tank?

She's by herself in a 10g petco special, filled up to 8 gallons. I have three of them setup for QT with little fluval HOB filters. Change the water once a week with tank water from one of my disease free systems. This time around I used live rock in my QTs, since I had a bunch leftover from tearing down and rescaping my Red Sea Reefer 450. Lots of aptasia and bristleworms, but I'm pretty confident that the rock is free of fish parasites. I've been quarantining this way for about a year now and haven't had any serious diseases in my DTs in a long time now. If this one croaks or (fingers crossed) survives quarantine, I will definitely be getting rid of that rock and bleaching that tank.

 

[MTBake]

Wrasse like to swim, and they swim fast. Might have been too small of a tank and she swam into the side of the tank?

 

[Elgringodiablo]

Wrasse like to swim, and they swim fast. Might have been too small of a tank and she swam into the side of the tank?

Never been a problem for the dozens of other fish I've QT'd in those 10 gallons. Heck, I quarantined a 10" crosshatch trigger in one of those and it did totally fine, and that thing probably could have broken the glass, just had to do 50% water changes every other day. Do a lot of your fish die from swimming into the sides of your tank?? I've never heard of that happening, but who knows... I'll have to talk to my wife about upgrading to a 40b for quarantine, she'll be pretty hyped on that idea.

 

[tdileo]

Same exact thing happened to my lineatus, 2 weeks after I bought him. Prior to that, got along great with everyone, ate like a pig. I bought a solorensis a month after his death hoping I would have better luck this time and it did great for a week and a half then boom. I have given up on fairy wrasses for now. I really do believe they jump and hurt themselves on hard lids.

 

[michael giordano]

It’s a joke my bad I am a fisherman as well and I use fish as bait for other fish, so I don’t see the value in fish my bad if I offended you.

 

[Elgringodiablo]

Home after a long day. Expected a dead high end Wrasse.

Not out of the woods by any means, but went to pull her out and she started twitching in my hand. There may yet be hope...

 

[Elgringodiablo]

Well, this morning she was mostly eaten by the worms, so next time I am going to use General Cure or a much lower dosage of Prazipro. Oh well...

 

[Big G]

Sorry for your loss.

 

[Elgringodiablo]

So I think I may be experiencing a trend here... The small female (2-2.5") golden rhomboid wrasse from this original post died a few days after my second prazipro treatment. Lesson learned, switched from using Prazipro to API General Cure going forward on all new wrasse quarantines.

As fate would have it, I have a second golden rhomboid appearing to have the same types of issues. As a sucker for punishment, I had my fish guy get me one a week or two after the first one died in QT. This one is more like 3-3.5" changling, figured a bigger fish would likely be a little better in quarantine process.

I am quarantining in 10 gallon petco tanks with a hang on back filter, powerhead, airstone, heater, a seeded bag of siporax and a couple chunks of live rock from one of my sumps. I cleaned out the tank between fish and used vinegar to kill any nasties. Tank was refilled with leftover water from one of my mature, disease free systems.

After observing for a couple of days and insuring the fish was eating and no visible signs of the major parasites, I noticed it had stringy white poop. I did a 25% water change and treated with 1.6g of API General Cure (8 gallons of water). First round seemed to go fine.

1 week later, I did a 25% water change and treated with another 1.6g of General Cure. Next day the fish is swimming like a drunk. Very disoriented and can't seem to swim right. Doesn't seem to be breathing heavily. Still eating and occasionally rights itself. Added carbon to the HOB in case it's a reaction to the medication.

I'm almost thinking it's a swim bladder issue or spinal injury, but very odd that this keeps happening after prazi treatments.

Fish is still alive and I will do what I can to salvage, maybe it recovers on it's own somehow, but I really don't get what is happening. Maybe it has something to do with collection practices with this species??

 

[KMench]

So, I just got a golden rhomboid..... should I not run it through prazi? You’ve got me concerned after reading this.

 

[Elgringodiablo]

So, I just got a golden rhomboid..... should I not run it through prazi? You’ve got me concerned after reading this.

Hard to say... Everything I have experienced is only anecdotal. I would recommend observing it for a few days before any kind of treatment regardless. From what I understand General Cure is easier on them since it's a lower dose of Prazi. Also, Chloroquine Phosphate is a definite no (which I'd imagine you already know). I've also heard of people doing half doses of Prazipro.

I have a lineatus in the QT next to it, who is quarantining like a champ and has had no issues whatsoever with General Cure. I've used Prazipro on tons of wrasses in the past and only had issues with six lines when using it.

Honestly, my issues may have nothing to do with prazi, maybe I got two fish with spinal injuries or swim bladder issues??

@evolved Any experience with quarantining golden rhomboids??

 

[KMench]

I was supposed to be getting a pintail in addition but it didn’t ship because it “failed inspection”. They said next week they should have more, so maybe I’ll just wait until next week to do the two rounds of prazi.

 

[Elgringodiablo]

I was supposed to be getting a pintail in addition but it didn’t ship because it “failed inspection”. They said next week they should have more, so maybe I’ll just wait until next week to do the two rounds of prazi.

If you got it from a place that guarantees their fish, ala LiveAquaria, try to get the prazi treatments in within their 14 day window. My first one was from LA, but died on about day 18 and my current one is direct from wholesale from my service guy (so no warranty, but slightly cheaper).

 

[KMench]

Only problem is I just have one quarantine tank, so if I put it through prazi now and then the fish that was supposed to come does get shipped then it’s going in the same tank and I would have to re-prazi

 

[Elgringodiablo]

Only problem is I just have one quarantine tank, so if I put it through prazi now and then the fish that was supposed to come does get shipped then it’s going in the same tank and I would have to re-prazi

I'd focus on the fish you have now. The other one may not show up at all, if they didn't have a healthy one to send you to begin with (have had this happen, where two weeks later they just refunded me). Also, I'm sure you've heard this before, so I will try not to soapbox you, but you should really try to QT one at a time. One sick fish can kill multiple healthy ones (speaking from experience).

 

[KMench]

Good point. I was thinking that since they said they should have them next week that I will indeed get one next week. I only got the rhomboid Wednesday, but he has been eating well and seems good to go, so maybe I’ll use prazi today or tomorrow when I’ll be home all day.

 

[ZachR32]

Is it possible you have a heavy lid on the QT? If the fish isn't displaying symptoms when you first get it, perhaps it's jumping into the lid when you're not watching and breaking its back?

 

[evolved]

I have used prazi on rhomboidalis at least twice in the past with no issues. Prazi is routine for me with wrasses - I have never had any issues from it. I have used general cure as well, but possibly faced trouble with it once before - it was an indeterminate situation.

The species has faced collection woes in the past, which manifest ~4 weeks after collection and present themselves very similar in manner to what you're seeing. Those issue have not been present the past 2-3 years, but I suppose things could linger. It's definitely a swim bladder or spinal issue, and while I agree it looks more like the latter sometimes it is hard to tell the difference.

 

[Elgringodiablo]

Is it possible you have a heavy lid on the QT? If the fish isn't displaying symptoms when you first get it, perhaps it's jumping into the lid when you're not watching and breaking its back?

Not impossible. Using egg crate lids on my QT, I've run tons of fish through those systems without injury including a decent amount of wrasses. No way to rule it out, but crazy if that's happened to two in a row of that species but no others.