New leopard wrasse not doing well after shipment

[christinna77]

Hey everyone,

I received a new leopard wrasse yesterday, and after more than 24 hours she’s still struggling. She was pre-quarantined, active and happily eating LRS at the store (they sent me a video). I've ordered from them before, and they've been really great, so I 100% trust them. She was shipped overnight and I've been in touch with them ever since she's arrived.

I set up a 15 gallon precycled AIO stocked with media from my DT. There’s plenty of oxygen - from a waterfall in the overflow, a bubbler, and surface agitation. All the parameters are also fine, ammonia and nitrates undetectable.

On arrival I floated the sealed bag for about 40 minutes, added Ammo Lock as soon as I opened it, then drip acclimated her for another hour until salinity matched. She lay on her side the entire time. Note: I followed the process recommended by the store. The shipping water was at 1.025 salinity and had no copper in it.

Once in the QT tank she continued lying on her side. A few hours later I dumped the container’s sand into a corner, thinking it might help her settle a bit better. The lights stayed off for the rest of the day, and also blacked out three sides of the tank. She attempted to bury once, but floated back up. When she does swim, she seems to be really struggling with her balance - could be a swim bladder issue or bloating?

I tried offering her some LRS and live brine shrimp, but she's shown no interest. This morning I turned on the lights (10% only, so it's still very dim) and added Seachem StressGuard (I didn't have any on hand yesterday). I’ve seen her try to get up and swim a few times, but she’s still having difficulty and mostly stays on her side at the bottom of the tank.

I uploaded a video with timestamps below. If any experts can review it and suggest what else I might try, I’d appreciate the advice. I only have General Cure on hand, and medication options in Canada are limited.



Thanks!

 

[twentyleagues]

Leopard Wrasses dont ship well. Its nice they shipped her with sand as they need sand to sleep in. I am not one of the fish docs though hopefully one replies soon.
@Jay Hemdal

 

[Stevemillercali]

They like sand, I’d add it so it can go in the sand

 

[bluemon]

They like sand, I’d add it so it can go in the sand

The QT looks to have sand already

 

[christinna77]

They like sand, I’d add it so it can go in the sand

There's lots of sand on one side and she's buried at least once already. Thank you though!

 

[christinna77]

Leopard Wrasses dont ship well. Its nice they shipped her with sand as they need sand to sleep in. I am not one of the fish docs though hopefully one replies soon.
@Jay Hemdal

She wasn't shipped with the sand, I added it myself to the QT tank (new and clean).

 

[twentyleagues]

She wasn't shipped with the sand, I added it myself to the QT tank (new and clean).

Oh sorry I mis-read that. Glad you know she needs it. I have never had luck with the container of sand in the tank they dont seem to understand this. Goes against some peoples belief but I have had the best luck with just acclimating leopards to tank parameters and putting them in the tank. Every time I have tried to QT them they die. Luckily I have 2 lfs near by that typically get them on a regular basis so if I want one its pretty easy to get.

Rereading that it makes it sound like I have had a lot I have not I have tried 5, 2 died in qt and 3 lived happily for years with me.

 

[christinna77]

Oh sorry I mis-read that. Glad you know she needs it. I have never had luck with the container of sand in the tank they dont seem to understand this. Goes against some peoples belief but I have had the best luck with just acclimating leopards to tank parameters and putting them in the tank. Every time I have tried to QT them they die. Luckily I have 2 lfs near by that typically get them on a regular basis so if I want one its pretty easy to get.

Rereading that it makes it sound like I have had a lot I have not I have tried 5, 2 died in qt and 3 lived happily for years with me.

Thank you! So I had two options: buy a leopard wrasse that just arrived at my LFS (no QT and not eating yet - they told me I better buy her right away, as they usually aren't able to keep them long term which was a major red flag for me), or go with a pre-QTed, already eating and treated one that needed to be shipped. I chose the latter, but maybe that was a mistake.

I’m thinking about moving her to my DT, yes. The three fish in there (blenny, firefish, basslet) are all peaceful, but I’m worried the flow might be too much for her, especially since she already seems to be struggling now. I also wanted to observe her for at least two more weeks just in case the store missed anything.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hey everyone,

I received a new leopard wrasse yesterday, and after more than 24 hours she’s still struggling. She was pre-quarantined, active and happily eating LRS at the store (they sent me a video). I've ordered from them before, and they've been really great, so I 100% trust them. She was shipped overnight and I've been in touch with them ever since she's arrived.

I set up a 15 gallon precycled AIO stocked with media from my DT. There’s plenty of oxygen - from a waterfall in the overflow, a bubbler, and surface agitation. All the parameters are also fine, ammonia and nitrates undetectable.

On arrival I floated the sealed bag for about 40 minutes, added Ammo Lock as soon as I opened it, then drip acclimated her for another hour until salinity matched. She lay on her side the entire time. Note: I followed the process recommended by the store. The shipping water was at 1.025 salinity and had no copper in it.

Once in the QT tank she continued lying on her side. A few hours later I dumped the container’s sand into a corner, thinking it might help her settle a bit better. The lights stayed off for the rest of the day, and also blacked out three sides of the tank. She attempted to bury once, but floated back up. When she does swim, she seems to be really struggling with her balance - could be a swim bladder issue or bloating?

I tried offering her some LRS and live brine shrimp, but she's shown no interest. This morning I turned on the lights (10% only, so it's still very dim) and added Seachem StressGuard (I didn't have any on hand yesterday). I’ve seen her try to get up and swim a few times, but she’s still having difficulty and mostly stays on her side at the bottom of the tank.

I uploaded a video with timestamps below. If any experts can review it and suggest what else I might try, I’d appreciate the advice. I only have General Cure on hand, and medication options in Canada are limited.



Thanks!

Not unusual for this type of wrasse. Sand is insufficient- provide it a dep bowl with the sand and lower the light intensity for remainder of day allowing it to settle in. It will likely explore tomorrow at lights on
Stressguard does not lower stress and is mainly a water conditioner and not what label implies

 

[christinna77]

Not unusual for this type of wrasse. Sand is insufficient- provide it a dep bowl with the sand and lower the light intensity for remainder of day allowing it to settle in. It will likely explore tomorrow at lights on
Stressguard does not lower stress and is mainly a water conditioner and not what label implies

Thank you! There's lots of sand already, but I'll dump in some more. The tank was blacked out all day yesterday when she arrived. Only today, after another 24h I turned on the lights at 10% intensity.

 

[Uncle99]

Hey everyone,

I received a new leopard wrasse yesterday, and after more than 24 hours she’s still struggling. She was pre-quarantined, active and happily eating LRS at the store (they sent me a video). I've ordered from them before, and they've been really great, so I 100% trust them. She was shipped overnight and I've been in touch with them ever since she's arrived.

I set up a 15 gallon precycled AIO stocked with media from my DT. There’s plenty of oxygen - from a waterfall in the overflow, a bubbler, and surface agitation. All the parameters are also fine, ammonia and nitrates undetectable.

On arrival I floated the sealed bag for about 40 minutes, added Ammo Lock as soon as I opened it, then drip acclimated her for another hour until salinity matched. She lay on her side the entire time. Note: I followed the process recommended by the store. The shipping water was at 1.025 salinity and had no copper in it.

Once in the QT tank she continued lying on her side. A few hours later I dumped the container’s sand into a corner, thinking it might help her settle a bit better. The lights stayed off for the rest of the day, and also blacked out three sides of the tank. She attempted to bury once, but floated back up. When she does swim, she seems to be really struggling with her balance - could be a swim bladder issue or bloating?

I tried offering her some LRS and live brine shrimp, but she's shown no interest. This morning I turned on the lights (10% only, so it's still very dim) and added Seachem StressGuard (I didn't have any on hand yesterday). I’ve seen her try to get up and swim a few times, but she’s still having difficulty and mostly stays on her side at the bottom of the tank.

I uploaded a video with timestamps below. If any experts can review it and suggest what else I might try, I’d appreciate the advice. I only have General Cure on hand, and medication options in Canada are limited.



Thanks!

We’re both the salinities the same, you post bag at 1.025, what’s your QT run? Same chemistry?

When you open the bag, any ammonia becomes increasing hard on most fish, so if salinity was on, why acclimate for the hour? Heightened risk of ammonia burn.

The fish to me looks in distress and is unable to hold his own.

All My wrasses love a ton of sand. I can’t see much.

 

[christinna77]

Unfortunately, as I was about to dump in more sand, I inspected her and think she's passed I'll leave her in the tank for a bit more to 100% confirm, but she didn't react at all when I took her out of the water for a few seconds, and I don't see her breathing.

 

[christinna77]

Here are some post mortem pictures. I just reviewed the cam footage and she completely freaked out for a minute, swimming erratically all over the tank, and then dropped dead. I read that's normal for wrasses to do just before death.

 

[reely989]

Sorry to hear. Beautiful fish. I’m not an expert by any means like some on here but I really dislike drip acclimation. I personally feel like it just prolongs stress. Unless the salinity is way out of whack I always just temp acclimate by floating the bag and dropping them right in. I feel like I’ve had much easier transitions into new tanks that way.

 

[christinna77]

Sorry to hear. Beautiful fish. I’m not an expert by any means like some on here but I really dislike drip acclimation. I personally feel like it just prolongs stress. Unless the salinity is way out of whack I always just temp acclimate by floating the bag and dropping them right in. I feel like I’ve had much easier transitions into new tanks that way.

Thanks, but even in the bag I could see she was already not doing too great :/ I'm thinking if she perhaps got too banged up during shipment, she really had lots of issues keeping her balance right from the beginning.

So far I've temp acclimated and dumped all my other fish, but the store owner specifically recommended to drip acclimate this one, as well as provided ammo lock, so I followed their instructions.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Here are some post mortem pictures. I just reviewed the cam footage and she completely freaked out for a minute, swimming erratically all over the tank, and then dropped dead. I read that's normal for wrasses to do just before death.

Unfortunately yes and I dont see this as a salinity issue.
How was fish acclimated and how long?
These fish dont ship well especially if thin as in your case

 

[reely989]

Thanks, but even in the bag I could see she was already not doing too great :/ I'm thinking if she perhaps got too banged up during shipment, she really had lots of issues keeping her balance right from the beginning.

So far I've temp acclimated and dumped all my other fish, but the store owner specifically recommended to drip acclimate this one, as well as provided ammo lock, so I followed their instructions.

Yeah they are tough to get home sometimes. I ordered mine from Dr reef and he sent me two and one of mine didn’t fare well either.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Here are some post mortem pictures. I just reviewed the cam footage and she completely freaked out for a minute, swimming erratically all over the tank, and then dropped dead. I read that's normal for wrasses to do just before death.

Sorry to hear - I don’t think there was anything you could have done to change the outcome. This genus is delicate and just don’t ship well. Additionally, it looks thin to me and in the post mortem pic there is a lesion on its right upper side.

 

[Uncle99]

Unfortunately, as I was about to dump in more sand, I inspected her and think she's passed I'll leave her in the tank for a bit more to 100% confirm, but she didn't react at all when I took her out of the water for a few seconds, and I don't see her breathing.

RIP
Sorry for your loss..
A challenging fish

 

[christinna77]

Unfortunately yes and I dont see this as a salinity issue.
How was fish acclimated and how long?
These fish dont ship well especially if thin as in your case

For 40m I floated the bag and then did another hour of drip acclimation (dosed ammo lock right after opening), as recommended by the store. Salinity matched.