Leopard Wrasse Regression

[LobsterOfJustice]

Summary: Leopard wrasse was doing well in QT, now hiding in sand all day.

I will start this off by saying I have been in the hobby for 15 years and have successfully kept ornate leopards twice (one lost to crash, one lost during a move) and am currently keeping a meleagris. So I am familiar with their general care requirements.

I currently have a small female bipartitus in QT. Fish was purchased from LFS and seen eating at LFS. Got the fish home, formalin dipped, and into an observational QT with a dish of sand. She came out the next day, but a hogfish I picked up at the same time was giving her trouble, so I moved her to her own 10g tank with rock and sand. The fish was out the next day in the afternoon and was eating. By day 3 in the fish was out all day long, eating every time I fed the tank, 3-5x per day. I was surprised by how quickly she adjusted to my schedule, but the LFS was keeping her in a little cubicle with no rock or sand, so it probably forced her to get over her jet lag faster than usual.

However, about day 10, she stopped coming out. On the first day of her regression, I fed the tank in the evening anyway and she ended up popping out to pick up a few pieces of food. The next day, she came out for less than 10 minutes mid-day. She has not come out of the sand at all for the past two days. I have a Wyze cam set up on her QT with motion alerts so I know she’s not coming out when I’m not around.

The strange thing is, I had this same exact thing happen when I tried a bipartitus last year. She would do great but then one day just stop coming out. After a few days I would sift through the sand to get her out and she would be out for a few more days, but then would go back to full time sand hiding. After several weeks of this I moved her to my DT, where she was normal for about a week and then went in to sand hiding and I never saw her again.

I’m hoping to not repeat my past experience with this new one. Does anyone have any experience or suggestions with what might be causing a fish that had been adjusted and eating to revert back to full time hiding in the sand?

 

[mattzang]

curious what others say

i recently bought a china wrasse so similar fish and it looked great at the lfs. she was even eating pellets

i brought her home and put her in my qt tank, she never ate any of the pellets i fed, but did eat mysis and what not. i medicated with GC, but hesitated to medicate anything else including food. after about a week maybe two, she has regressed and is barely moving around. she comes out of the sand and buries at night, but she went from swimming all over the tank and me feeling bad i had her in a 10 gallon, to kind of just resting on the sand in a tupperware all day, zero interest in LRS/rods/mysis and even the live blackworms that at first she mowed down. i did see her poo a large chunky white poo so i think i messed up not medicating the food to start with

 

[ca1ore]

It’s one of two things. Leopards, particularly small females, aren’t particularly tolerant of aggressive tankmates and will hide permanently if harassed. Some individuals, though eating, will still lose weight and eventually not emerge from the sand. This presents as a ‘pinching’ behind the head. I’ve had this latter problem chronically with the black leopard; some with bipartitus. My way around both has been to keep leopards in a separate system for a number of months until they are observably plump and at least 2” in length.

 

[ca1ore]

curious what others say

i recently bought a china wrasse so similar fish and it looked great at the lfs. she was even eating pellets

i brought her home and put her in my qt tank, she never ate any of the pellets i fed, but did eat mysis and what not. i medicated with GC, but hesitated to medicate anything else including food. after about a week maybe two, she has regressed and is barely moving around. she comes out of the sand and buries at night, but she went from swimming all over the tank and me feeling bad i had her in a 10 gallon, to kind of just resting on the sand in a tupperware all day, zero interest in LRS/rods/mysis and even the live blackworms that at first she mowed down. i did see her poo a large chunky white poo so i think i messed up not medicating the food to start with

Some folks have had limited success with the China wrasse, I have not. Tried a pair on two separate occasions ..... zero for four. Won’t try again.

 

[mattzang]

Some folks have had limited success with the China wrasse, I have not. Tried a pair on two separate occasions ..... zero for four. Won’t try again.

yeah i knew they were difficult, but figured when she was eating pellets of all things at the lfs the hard part was already done. she hasn't died yet so maybe i shouldn't be so pessimistic, but things look bleak.

i think i'd get another, but will medicate foods and do copper + GC right away, and get them through the medicated portion of qt asap.

 

[ca1ore]

Of the four I tried, three just wouldn’t eat anything I tried .... including nutramar ova which NEVER fails. The fourth ate well, and I was quite optimistic. Then one day it never came out of the QT sand.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

It’s one of two things. Leopards, particularly small females, aren’t particularly tolerant of aggressive tankmates and will hide permanently if harassed. Some individuals, though eating, will still lose weight and eventually not emerge from the sand. This presents as a ‘pinching’ behind the head. I’ve had this latter problem chronically with the black leopard; some with bipartitus. My way around both has been to keep leopards in a separate system for a number of months until they are observably plump and at least 2” in length.

Thanks for your input. Both of these bipartitus (the one last year and the current one) started out with another fish in QT but were moved into their own tank to avoid the possibility of aggression.

I am well aware that they can survive for weeks in the sand (possibly coming out at night, etc) during initial adjustment. In my current situation, do you think it’s a good idea to flush her out of the sand after a day or two to make sure she is still getting food? I wouldn’t do this during initial adjustment but this situation seems different.