My new wrasse is struggling

SallyWho

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Friday morning I picked up a redhead solon fairy wrasse, drip acclimated him, and put him into quarantine. Within an hour, he ate a few pellets and some mysis, and was actively swimming around and checking things out. Yesterday he started hiding and not eating, and today he looks rough. Possibly relevant is that he's the second one I got- the first one was fine for a day and a half before he hid away and I found him dead. I did a water change and a round of testing (everything fine) before picking up another. The QT was cycled by adding a satchel of ceramic media that I keep in my display tank's sump. There's a shallow thing of sand and a few pieces of PVC for him to hide in, a HOB filter, air stone, heater, and powerhead. He's not interested in mysis so I'm thawing some oyster eggs in the hopes of enticing him to eat. I can't see that he has any white spots or obvious damage, he hasn't been swimming into the flow of the powerhead or playing near the air stone, and he's breathing maybe a little heavily but not rapidly. He's just laying at the bottom. I did a 2.5g water change this morning (10g tank) and water parameters are as follows: salinity 1.025, ammonia 0.2, nitrite 0, nitrate 2, pH 7.8. I think there's a teensy bit of ammonia because I fed a little heavy trying to get him to eat. I can do another small water change later after I mix up some more saltwater.

Now that I think I've covered all the pertinate details, what can I do to help my wrasse? A quick freshwater dip just in case he's got gill flukes? Go ahead and dose general cure in case of internal parasites? I don't want to lose another one! Help me out, fellow reefers!
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SallyWho

SallyWho

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She runs her salinity around 1.023 or so, but I got this guy straight out of the shipping box before he went into the store system. I drip acclimated him for 30mins before putting him in my tank.
 

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She runs her salinity around 1.023 or so, but I got this guy straight out of the shipping box before he went into the store system. I drip acclimated him for 30mins before putting him in my tank.
So what was the salinity of the water in shipping box? Many shippers run low salinity.
 
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SallyWho

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I didn't check. Surely a 30min drip acclimation would be sufficient, unless the fish was shipped at crazy low salinity? And if not, wouldn't the fish have struggled from the minute he landed in the tank? He swam around and ate for almost two days before going downhill.
 

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I didn't check. Surely a 30min drip acclimation would be sufficient, unless the fish was shipped at crazy low salinity? And if not, wouldn't the fish have struggled from the minute he landed in the tank? He swam around and ate for almost two days before going downhill.
30 mins sometimes not enough. Bought a powder blue Saturday and acclimated over an hour and a half. 1.923 is low and considered hyposalinity.
I generally float 20 mins and release bag in dedicated bucket then add 16oz container of water every 15 mins 6-7 times.
 
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Well, crap. But why didn't it decline immediately? Why did it wait almost two days before its suffering became apparent?
 

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Well, crap. But why didn't it decline immediately? Why did it wait almost two days before its suffering became apparent?
It's very common to see the harmful effects and sometimes death, caused by rapid salinity changes 2-3 days later. Many shippers have their fish in range of 1.015 salinity. The effects seem to vary a bit from fish to fish.
 
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I checked on him first thing when I got home from work this morning, and he's still alive. Riding the struggle bus hard, but there's still gill movement. There's some fine white speckles on him- tried to get a picture and it was impossible- but I'm pretty sure it's the fine sand that I have in a dish in there. When I did a water change, some of the sand got out of the dish and dusted the bottom where he's been laying. It looks like sand, but I guess I can't rule out ich. The ammonia alert badge is a little green so I'm mixing more water for another water change. What else can I do? He's not eating- zero interest in the oyster eggs, and ignored the mysis and brine earlier. I have a bad feeling about him, and I feel horrible for probably being the cause of it. Any advice on keeping him alive? I can keep up with the water changes, but I can't force him to eat.
 

Big G

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Giving the fish either a bath or treat the QT with methylene blue will help the fish to transpire O2 which sometimes helps the fish's internal organs to function better and helps the fish's gills as well.

MB will stain the plastics and tubing permanently.

Dosing instructions for using 2.303% Methylene Blue solution:

1) 30 min bath (preferred): 1 teaspoon (5 ml) per 5 gallons.

2) In a quarantine tank: 1 teaspoon (5 ml) per 10 gallons every other day for 10 days with water changes before each treatment.
 
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SallyWho

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Giving the fish either a bath or treat the QT with methylene blue will help the fish to transpire O2 which sometimes helps the fish's internal organs to function better and helps the fish's gills as well.

MB will stain the plastics and tubing permanently.

Dosing instructions for using 2.303% Methylene Blue solution:

1) 30 min bath (preferred): 1 teaspoon (5 ml) per 5 gallons.

2) In a quarantine tank: 1 teaspoon (5 ml) per 10 gallons every other day for 10 days with water changes before each treatment.
I know for darn sure my LFS doesn't carry methylene blue. Any idea where I can get some quickly? Even Amazon Prime might not make it in time.
 

Big G

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I know for darn sure my LFS doesn't carry methylene blue. Any idea where I can get some quickly? Even Amazon Prime might not make it in time.
Pretty common fish treatment med. Do you have a local pond supply company in your area? The Koi breeders/hobbyists use it a lot.
 
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SallyWho

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Pretty common fish treatment med. Do you have a local pond supply company in your area? The Koi breeders/hobbyists use it a lot.
Nothing within an hour of me. :( I'm surprised, really. I'd have thought there'd be one. The local petsmart doesn't have any in stock (but I could order a whole gallon online!), and there aren't any other stores in the area that stock fish medicine. Two of them hadn't even heard of MB. I don't like big cities, but there are disadvantages to living in a smaller town. I found some Kordon MB on bulkreefsupply and am shipping it fast. I hope water changes will keep this guy alive until it gets here. What's your favorite food/food additive to get sickly fish to eat? I know people say "soak your food in garlic" but they can't possibly mean straight juice from a garlic clove, right? What product is the garlic stuff they're referring to?
 

Big G

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Yep. Good old garlic juice. It helps to hide the scent of meds.

I make fish "smoothies" for all of my fish. Take 6-8 assorted (chopped clams, chopped mussels, cyclops, brine shrimp, mysis, etc.) frozen fish cubes place into a bowl and the fridge to "slump." Mix and then strain off the excess liquid as it will spike your nitrates and phosphates. The mix will stay good in the fridge for a few days.

Can also add meds to the above + Focus as a binder to spot feed directly to the fish.
 
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SallyWho

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Yep. Good old garlic juice. It helps to hide the scent of meds.

I make fish "smoothies" for all of my fish. Take 6-8 assorted (chopped clams, chopped mussels, cyclops, brine shrimp, mysis, etc.) frozen fish cubes place into a bowl and the fridge to "slump." Mix and then strain off the excess liquid as it will spike your nitrates and phosphates. The mix will stay good in the fridge for a few days.

Can also add meds to the above + Focus as a binder to spot feed directly to the fish.
For real? Just straight garlic juice? So I can maybe take some of that thawed oyster eggs or mysis, add a drop of garlic, and try to spot feed the little guy? I only have a few meds on hand: general cure, metroplex, kanaplex, and ick shield. Should I add any of those to the slurry, or just the garlic juice and food?
 

Big G

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For real? Just straight garlic juice? So I can maybe take some of that thawed oyster eggs or mysis, add a drop of garlic, and try to spot feed the little guy? I only have a few meds on hand: general cure, metroplex, kanaplex, and ick shield. Should I add any of those to the slurry, or just the garlic juice and food?
Metro is good to treat suspected internal parasites when mixed with food.
Kanaplex is good for treating bacterial infections when dosed into the water column.
GC is good for treating flukes and internal parasites when dosed into the water column or for internal parasites when added to the food to directly treat the gut.
 
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SallyWho

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Giving the fish either a bath or treat the QT with methylene blue will help the fish to transpire O2 which sometimes helps the fish's internal organs to function better and helps the fish's gills as well.

MB will stain the plastics and tubing permanently.

Dosing instructions for using 2.303% Methylene Blue solution:

1) 30 min bath (preferred): 1 teaspoon (5 ml) per 5 gallons.

2) In a quarantine tank: 1 teaspoon (5 ml) per 10 gallons every other day for 10 days with water changes before each treatment.
I got the Kordon MB! BRS wasn't kidding about fast shipping. You said 1tsp per 5g water? I've got a fully 5g bucket and I added 1tsp, but it is so dark! How in god's green earth will I be able to see the fish? I'll have to scoop out the water a little at a time until it's shallow enough to see him? I know it's only a 30min bath, but will it kill him with that concentration? I have a heater warming up the water and I'll put the air stone in there with him to make sure he's got plenty of oxygen and a little water movement.
 
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SallyWho

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After a 30min bath. I did a 50% water change with a slightly lower salinity, too. I'm hoping that will help him adjust. How often should I give him these MB baths? Until he's swimming around, eating, and not hiding?
 

Big G

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Giving the fish a "bath" every other day for 10 days as you watch for changes.

Many Old School reefers use MB on all of their incoming fish right out of the bag. It can help a fish in so many ways.
 
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SallyWho

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He died overnight. So the lesson here is that many fish travel in much lower salinity than I expect, and a 30min drip acclimation is far too short?
 

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