Blennioidei
Active Member
Hi guys,
My cleaner wrasse, which I have had for 2 years, started acting strangely a few days ago. He is usually cruising around the tank, but now he has stayed in one low-flow corner and was not interested in food. His stomach looked a bit rounder, so I thought maybe it was constipation or something. Today I found him lying on the sand, breathing heavily and not really swimming. Looking at him, I don't think he will make a recovery, but I am open to ideas and would like to identify the most likely cause of his demise.
He was one of my first fish. I'm not sure I would have bought him, knowing what I know now, but he seemed happy in my tank.
Infos:
Tank: ~70 gallon, ~3-year-old mixed reef
Others: Tankmates are a Scopas tang, foxface, leopard and red flasher wrasse, 2 clownfish, and a lawnmower blenny. Everybody else looks normal.
Tank state: Corals are happy, fighting some cyano, mainly on the back wall.
Parameters: All in line, attached the picture of my readings.
Aggression: There was some ongoing aggression from the foxface, as she did not want to be cleaned, but no unprovoked aggression. I did not see any other aggression. When I disabled the powerheads, he mingled with the other fish more and did the usual cleaning motions.
Feeding: He usually ate aggressively. I am feeding a mix of foods: mysis, artemia, clams, pellets, flakes, etc.
Observations: I can't see any spots or injuries. His swimming is a little bit weird, like he is not horizontal but more diagonal. He did go to sleep in his usual spot in the rockwork.
New arrivals: I have not added anything to the tank in the past 3–6 months.
The fish is in an observation box at the moment, laying on its side, heavy breating, and looks like mid poop, see the video
What could have happened? Can I do anything?
Some of my ideas:
My cleaner wrasse, which I have had for 2 years, started acting strangely a few days ago. He is usually cruising around the tank, but now he has stayed in one low-flow corner and was not interested in food. His stomach looked a bit rounder, so I thought maybe it was constipation or something. Today I found him lying on the sand, breathing heavily and not really swimming. Looking at him, I don't think he will make a recovery, but I am open to ideas and would like to identify the most likely cause of his demise.
He was one of my first fish. I'm not sure I would have bought him, knowing what I know now, but he seemed happy in my tank.
Infos:
Tank: ~70 gallon, ~3-year-old mixed reef
Others: Tankmates are a Scopas tang, foxface, leopard and red flasher wrasse, 2 clownfish, and a lawnmower blenny. Everybody else looks normal.
Tank state: Corals are happy, fighting some cyano, mainly on the back wall.
Parameters: All in line, attached the picture of my readings.
Aggression: There was some ongoing aggression from the foxface, as she did not want to be cleaned, but no unprovoked aggression. I did not see any other aggression. When I disabled the powerheads, he mingled with the other fish more and did the usual cleaning motions.
Feeding: He usually ate aggressively. I am feeding a mix of foods: mysis, artemia, clams, pellets, flakes, etc.
Observations: I can't see any spots or injuries. His swimming is a little bit weird, like he is not horizontal but more diagonal. He did go to sleep in his usual spot in the rockwork.
New arrivals: I have not added anything to the tank in the past 3–6 months.
The fish is in an observation box at the moment, laying on its side, heavy breating, and looks like mid poop, see the video
What could have happened? Can I do anything?
Some of my ideas:
- Age: I don't know how old he was, so maybe he was already older when I got him? He honestly did not grow noticeably during the time I had him.
- Malnutrition: The only real client for cleaning was the Scopas, and occasionally the foxface. More would have been better, most likely.
- Injury: From the funky swimming, maybe some kind of spinal injury?
