Melanarus swollen gill fast breathing

[Wagonpitt]

i noticed the melanarus yesterday breathing really heavy and its gills are swollen. When i fed the tank it still ate some food. Today i managed to catch it and put it in a acclimation box.
Any ideas what this could be.

I have some freshwater heating and aerating to do a fw dip to check for flukes.

I only have prazipro as far as meds, cant get meds without a vet prescription.

Ive read prazi pro can be hard on wrasse so just doing the fw dip for now unless i get better suggestion.

 

[Wagonpitt]

 

[ngoodermuth]

Yikes... his gills are definitely swollen. I see tangs in there, is anyone else showing symptoms? Scratching on rocks? Yawning / twitching?

 

[Wagonpitt]

No scratching or anything. Only one mimic tang. I have anthias, chromis, bangai, clowns, wrasses, firefish and midas blenny. I have a biocelatus wrasse and yellow purple wrasse none are the same as the melanarus. Melanarus is the biggest. Also have fairy wrasses. Tang is swimming normaly picking at rocks and nori clip. Everyone eating good. I feed spirulina brine and lrs reef frenzy and fish frenzy. Some spirulina flake.

 

[Wagonpitt]

Melanarus mouth is wide open and breathing heavy. It did take some chunks of reef frenzy when in the tank and in the acclimation box its in now

 

[Wagonpitt]

I did the fw dip and i think its flukes. Its my first time doing this so not 100% sure but i filled a fish bag with fw and floated in dt with a airstone in for couple hrs.
Took the fish from the acclimation box and put in the fw bag.
Kept it there for just over 4 min. It played dead for most the time. But didnt slow breathing.
Took it from bag and put back in acclimation box. When a put it back in the box i could see a couple specks come off the fish.
I took the bag and put in on a black surface and with a flashlight i can see A couple tiny white dots on the bottom.

Wrasse is in the acclimation box still swollen gills and breathing heavy with mouth wide open

 

[Wagonpitt]

What can i do right away to help this fish ? I only have access to prazipro. Its moving around in the acclimation box but still swollen gills, breathing heavy and mouth wide open. Still eating. Can i try prazipro infused food and how would i do that? Should i put it in a seperate tank and treat there. Or should i just keep in acclimation box and treat in dt.


Ill have to do something about the other fish aswell but im focused on this one right now since everyone else is fine for now.

 

[Mjrenz]

The fwd is stressful but should give him some relief, Prazi is usually recommended for no longer than 24hrs on a wrasse. You'll probably want to get a qt set up because there's a good chance he'll need antibiotics and you can't dose them in your tank. Wait for exact instructions from @ngoodermuth

 

[Wagonpitt]

I can set up a qt right away. But since it came from my dt isnt it likely all fish are infected and should be treated. Unfortunatly the only medication i can get is prazi pro.
For now its in an acclimation box in the dt. same condition, still eating.


Other then the fw dip i havnt done anything else. Waiting for @ngoodermuth or anyone else #reefsquad suggestions.

Hopefully it will be fine untill tomorow and if no one has better suggestions ill treat with prazipro either in the dt or a qt.

 

[Wagonpitt]

 

[Mjrenz]

Ngoodermuth will probably respond soon unless @Frtdrmrose7 @HotRocks or @Big G are watching

 

[Frtdrmrose7]

I can set up a qt right away. But since it came from my dt isnt it likely all fish are infected and should be treated. Unfortunatly the only medication i can get is prazi pro.
For now its in an acclimation box in the dt. same condition, still eating.


Other then the fw dip i havnt done anything else. Waiting for @ngoodermuth or anyone else #reefsquad suggestions.

Hopefully it will be fine untill tomorow and if no one has better suggestions ill treat with prazipro either in the dt or a qt.

Prazi can be tough on Melanarus I would give him some time to recover from the FW dip before hitting him with Prazi. I would get him into QT ASAP, I’m assuming you’re in Canada or Australia but can you source methylene blue? It’s excellent at transpiring O2 across damaged gills and has an antiseptic property.

 

[ngoodermuth]

You can treat the display with prazi, with some considerations... ornamental worms and feather dusters will not tolerate it, and if you have a large bristleworm population there could be die-off which may be problematic.

If you do treat your display, keep the skimmer on with the cup removed to provide aeration. Remove any carbon/gfo. Keep wave-makers and pumps going, and maybe add an extra air-stone for good measure if you have it.

The freshwater dip likely removed a large portion of the worms... which is good if he was heavily infested, will reduce the chance of a negative reaction to the prazipro.

Make sure not to exceed the recommended dosage, keep in mind water displacement from rock, etc. You can do a water change after 24-48 hours if you’d like, but don’t forget to give the second dose in 5-7 days.

 

[ngoodermuth]

Have you seen any white stringy poop from the wrasse? I believe that you could have flukes, but I’m just wondering since there are no other fish showing signs yet, if maybe something else might be going on with the wrasse as well.

 

[Crashjack]

If it were me, I would treat the entire tank with Prazi. If one fish has flukes, they all likely do or will. Also to me, your sandbed looks a little thin for your Melanurus. When fighting dinos (and still fighting the cyano aftermath), I always ended up removing some sand with the dinos and now cyano. My Melanurus started acting more stressed... more skittish, would sometimes hide for a while during the day, stopped ripping nori off the clip... just wasn't himself. Though I was periodically replacing some sand, I realized that my sand had gotten pretty thin. I started keeping the sand thicker, and my Melanurus returned to normal. I'm not saying this is the cause of your primary issue, but it might be adding stress, which would make any problem worse.

 

[BestMomEver]

The fwd is stressful but should give him some relief, Prazi is usually recommended for no longer than 24hrs on a wrasse. You'll probably want to get a qt set up because there's a good chance he'll need antibiotics and you can't dose them in your tank. Wait for exact instructions from @ngoodermuth

Good advice from someone that knows all about it!

 

[Mjrenz]

Good advice from someone that knows all about it!

I've only been an "expert" for a little over two weeks now

 

[BestMomEver]

I've only been an "expert" for a little over two weeks now

Learning curve is sharp and steep!

 

[Wagonpitt]

Yes im in canada, even prazi is hard to get now but i still have 2 bottles from befor the ban.
Not sure about methylene blue but cant find any branded product only online and last time i tried that with flucanozole I didnt get it. Cant get reef rally either.

Ill start prazipro tomorow. Cant say about stringy poop because i havnt been around long enough to notice latly. For about 3 weeks now all ive done is feed frozen make sure everyone looks happy and check ato and auto feeder.

A while ago it got a big cut on its side that ended up healing by itself. I think this was from the tang. Could be the tang again maby. But i dont see any other swelling bruising or cuts. Only the gills.
Ive seen it grab food before and smash it against rocks. Too many smashes and it hurts its mouth then swims around mouth open breathing heavy for a couple mins. Never this heavy breathing or swelling of gills.

The halichorese wrasses sleep in the black container filled with sand. I put a net ontop of it this morning and waited for it to wake and swim into the net. But your right my sand is thin and theres eggcrate there aswell.

 

[Wagonpitt]

I can set up a qt an treat there but if its all the same id rather treat in dt to get all the fish. I do have some bristleworns that ive noticed so probably many more i havnt but Im guessing i have enough volume and bacteria to deal with any ammonia. And i have enough water for 50% Wc. Ill get a ammonia badge just incase.


I have lyretail anthias, chromis, bangai cardinal, clowns, purple firefish, midas blenny, the tang and the wrasses. Other then the wrasses can any of the other fish have a bad reaction to prazipro. I have fairy wrasses and halichorese


Also i think my 90g tank is overcrowded. I have a 135g 6’ in the garage to be set up but thats all on another thread.