Is My Wrasse Blind Now?

ReefWithCare · Apr 26, 2019

GoldeneyeRet said:
I do use fendendazole with metro as an oral antiparasite. The fen replaces the prazi found in general cure, but the metro is still needed for flagellates, as mentioned.

I thaw, rinse and sort of dry on a paper towel some frozen food. I then add 1 fen to 1 metro to 2 focus to a couple cubes worth of food. I prefer to use mysis if the patient is eating it. Add a drop or two of selcon if you need more liquid. Then stir the mixture together and let it sit for a while. I am essentially battering the shrimp. I then feed it a couple times a day.

I think you are adding too much liquid and the fish are not getting meds. Also, 14 days is often not sufficient especially for stubborn flagellates. Try a 21 day course. I think fen may work for you, but also that it's worth trying gc again if you don't yet have any fen.

I have fed fen plus metro to my reef 2x per day for 21 days and suffered no obvious problems doing so.

Hope that helps, good luck!

Alright - I have fen handy from the bath I did earlier. So same parts fen and metro with 2 parts focus. Use drier frozen food. Got it [emoji106].

Fen doesn’t really dissolve that well if I recall correctly [emoji848]

GoldeneyeRet · Apr 26, 2019

You dont want it to dissolve, just stick to the mysis. But no, it doesn't dissolve well.

ngoodermuth · Apr 26, 2019

Ok... I had to go back and re-read the other post, but I remember this wrasse now.

That spazzy behavior that we thought was him getting antsy alone in QT, could have very well been neurological symptoms from smashing into the top

You can try to feed the medication- can’t hurt at this point... but, I have a feeling it might just be degradation from a spinal injury. I don’t want to sound too negative, but prognosis is generally not so good... especially if he seems to be getting worse rather than better.

Epsom salt can help with swelling, not sure how useful it would be this far out from the original injury.

If he stops eating completely... honestly... I might consider euthanasia

vetteguy53081 · Apr 26, 2019

Eyes look normal but displaying signs of internal intestinal. If you wave a net in front of the glass, does it take off? If so- Not blind.

ReefWithCare · Apr 27, 2019

Hard to tell because he’s always hiding now. I’m going to just go with GC. That Feb stuff doesn’t dissolve well and seems hard to mix in food given I can only hand feed him right now.

He seems better this morning

ReefWithCare · Apr 27, 2019

Just finished feeding him with some GC dosed frozen food with the pipette. He was hiding under a rock so I moved the food over to his mouth. He ate with some vigor but won’t come out of the hiding spots. He did flash his fins against my damsels so he may not be blind or at least can sense them.

No sign of weird poop. He is losing weight.

ReefWithCare · Apr 27, 2019

He pretty much does this all day. Breathing is normal.

ReefWithCare · Apr 28, 2019

Fed him again this morning with the pipepette. It’s getting harder to do since the damsels figured out I feed through a tube now [emoji29].

Breathing seems normal. I noticed his is moving his eyes up and down so maybe not blind [emoji848]. It’s under a cave most of the day.

ReefWithCare · May 6, 2019

Hi All,

Another update. I'm continually feeding the wrasse with the pipette GC dosed food. I haven't seen any strange poop but he is rather reclusive. Upon further inspection, he does not respond when I put a net or my finger to the glass when he is near it. Pretty confident he is blind. It's like having an eel again in the body of a wrasse.

I have no idea why he is blind now. Maybe I med'ed him too much or that parasite got to his nervous system who knows. He is surviving now because there isn't many fish in the tank but I can see him starving eventually with a fully stocked system as the more aggressive fish like clowns will happily pick at food in the pipette. He has gotten more pale since losing his sight.

Frtdrmrose7 · May 6, 2019

ReefWithCare said:
Hi All,

Another update. I'm continually feeding the wrasse with the pipette GC dosed food. I haven't seen any strange poop but he is rather reclusive. Upon further inspection, he does not respond when I put a net or my finger to the glass when he is near it. Pretty confident he is blind. It's like having an eel again in the body of a wrasse.

I have no idea why he is blind now. Maybe I med'ed him too much or that parasite got to his nervous system who knows. He is surviving now because there isn't many fish in the tank but I can see him starving eventually with a fully stocked system as the more aggressive fish like clowns will happily pick at food in the pipette. He has gotten more pale since losing his sight.

Sorry to hear, if you are absolutely sure he’s blind and cannot fend for himself I might consider euthanasia if it were me but that’s up to you.

ngoodermuth · May 6, 2019

Are you certain the damsels aren’t bullying it?

ReefWithCare · May 6, 2019

ngoodermuth said:
Are you certain the damsels aren’t bullying it?

He only fights with one of the damsels and he's the one who usually causes it (when he could see that is). Nowadays they mostly leave him alone. He would probably be fine in the tank if it was just the damsels since I can feed him with a pipette, but with more aggressive feeding clownfish it will be near impossible. One of the clowns I have in QT will go for anything and even tries to eat from the siphon tubes when I'm changing water lol.

It seems he knows his way around the bottom of the tank now so he will cruise around there. If he swims up he is completely lost and will bump into corals and rocks and sometimes bumps into the damsels. He can sense other fish around him and will flare up.

ngoodermuth · May 6, 2019

How long was he in copper?

ReefWithCare · May 6, 2019

ngoodermuth said:
How long was he in copper?

I think around 35-38 days at full therapeutic (1.75PPM+). Used Copper Power + Hanna Checker

ngoodermuth · May 6, 2019

ReefWithCare said:
I think around 35-38 days at full therapeutic (1.75PPM+). Used Copper Power + Hanna Checker

Ok, so it wasn’t a ridiculously long amount of time then. I’m honestly not sure what’s going on here besides a possible spinal injury.

Can you get another video of it?

ReefWithCare · May 6, 2019

ngoodermuth said:
Ok, so it wasn’t a ridiculously long amount of time then. I’m honestly not sure what’s going on here besides a possible spinal injury.

Can you get another video of it?

I just uploaded it. It was night time so the lights were dim. I fed him with the pipette so it was hard to record trying to hold the phone with one hand while feeding him with the other.

ngoodermuth · May 6, 2019

He doesn’t seem too interested in that food... blind or not.

Does he respond at all if you squirt a little mysis in his direction? Smaller foods?

@evolved, any ideas regarding the above video?

ReefWithCare · May 6, 2019

ngoodermuth said:
He doesn’t seem too interested in that food... blind or not.

Does he respond at all if you squirt a little mysis in his direction? Smaller foods?

@evolved, any ideas regarding the above video?

He doesn’t respond to mysis much. The food has to hit his nose or face to get a reaction. When I tried mysis he would miss a lot or bump into rocks. He’s given up to this method of feeding now

ngoodermuth · May 7, 2019

ReefWithCare said:
He doesn’t respond to mysis much. The food has to hit his nose or face to get a reaction. When I tried mysis he would miss a lot or bump into rocks. He’s given up to this method of feeding now

That’s odd, because even if he can’t see the food he should certainly be able to smell it. It’s unusual for a fairy wrasse to refuse to eat...

I wish I could offer better advice but the only real thing I could think to do would be to continue the medicated food for as long as he will take it, and hope for the best

Lasse · May 7, 2019

ReefWithCare said:
This wrasse has been given every med known to man at this point:

I suppose you give all of these medicines prior it got blind. I have a totally different possible explanation for the blindness. You do not see with your eyes - you see with your brain. Among non-migration fish species - the part of the body that contain most fat and have the fastest turnover of fat is the brain. Most of the medicines you mentioned is lipophilic and will bioaccumulate in the fat deposits of the fish (or/and their metabolites) Fat is the primary energy source for most fish species and the fat deposits will be filled or emptied depended off energy intake and energy output. It means that once in the fish – these drugs will be accumulated from and released into the bloodstream in higher and higher levels if they still are in the water (bath) or taken orally. Saltwater fish does drink – it means that these lipophilic drugs have two pathways into the fish. Through gills, body and orally by the water they drink. The excretion rate of these lipophilic drugs (or their metabolites) is normally low in SW fish. Normally is the pathway through the urine – but SW fish pee very little because of osmotic issues (the same reason why they drink water) IMO – this could be an equally good explanation as that the blindness is caused by an unknown microorganism.