Pink-streaked wrasse red blotches

[PicoDeNano]

Hi everyone,

First post so, hello! Been reading r2r for a while as I'm building out my first mini reef, but first time I've needed to post.

I have a Pink-streaked wrasse currently in a 10 gallon QT. Purchased last Thursday and has been eating frozen mysis, although it's still pretty skittish of me and doesn't always eat (feed 2 to 3 times daily a small amount). I siphon out uneaten food multiple times daily too. Outside of his general skittishness, behavior all appears to be normal.

I noticed some red blotches yesterday on its sides and a little bit on its nose/mouth area.

For some more context, ammonia alert badge is reading at the lowest level. Temp is 77 F. Salinity is 1.025.

I originally planned on a slow drip acclimation, but my LFS strongly recommended just floating and transferring as the fish went from transit to store tank to my tank within about 8 hours or so and needed rest.

Based off my amateur research, thinking it could be a capillary issue stemming from salinity changes, bacterial, or ammonia-related. Is this major cause for concern and how would you recommend I proceed? Thank you!

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi everyone,

First post so, hello! Been reading r2r for a while as I'm building out my first mini reef, but first time I've needed to post.

I have a Pink-streaked wrasse currently in a 10 gallon QT. Purchased last Thursday and has been eating frozen mysis, although it's still pretty skittish of me and doesn't always eat (feed 2 to 3 times daily a small amount). I siphon out uneaten food multiple times daily too. Outside of his general skittishness, behavior all appears to be normal.

I noticed some red blotches yesterday on its sides and a little bit on its nose/mouth area.

For some more context, ammonia alert badge is reading at the lowest level. Temp is 77 F. Salinity is 1.025.

I originally planned on a slow drip acclimation, but my LFS strongly recommended just floating and transferring as the fish went from transit to store tank to my tank within about 8 hours or so and needed rest.

Based off my amateur research, thinking it could be a capillary issue stemming from salinity changes, bacterial, or ammonia-related. Is this major cause for concern and how would you recommend I proceed? Thank you!

Looks like bite marks and aggression

 

[PicoDeNano]

Looks like bite marks and aggression

Thanks for the feedback! It is currently by itself. 10-gallon tank with a heater, PVC tunnel with an elbow and another lone elbow. HOB filter with sponge over intake. Airstone too. It does seem to rub itself along the bottom sides of tank as if trying to escape as I've seen many a fish do, perhaps the PVC has some rough edges that can cause it?

 

[PicoDeNano]

Any other thoughts? It didn't come to me looking like this, started yesterday. Cause for immediate concern or just observation for now? Thank you!!

Edit: It seems his colors have returned to normal. Really interesting.

 

[Cthulukelele]

Pink streak wrasse do pretty horrifically in qt tanks and my guess would be stress related on initial add. It's actually my opinion on why we don't see them that often at our LFS sale tanks. They hide and get super washed out/unhealthy looking.

They also really don't tolerate most medications well if it was a medicated qt tank.

 

[PicoDeNano]

Pink streak wrasse do pretty horrifically in qt tanks and my guess would be stress related on initial add. It's actually my opinion on why we don't see them that often at our LFS sale tanks. They hide and get super washed out/unhealthy looking.

They also really don't tolerate most medications well if it was a medicated qt tank.

Thanks for the input! Yeah, I'm running the display fallow for 76 days, so he won't be going in there for a little while. He's by himself at the moment and will probably stay that way for the duration of his QT. I'm not medicating yet, want to have him eating more consistently before. Planning to do a slow 5-7 day copper power ramp then holding it for 30 days. Then a prazipro treatment. Depending on how he looks may just keep him in observation. But overall he's been healthy, just super skittish still. In a low light room that gets 0 traffic outside of me feeding 2-3 times a day and checking in on him, making sure ammonia is OK, etc.

 

[Cthulukelele]

Thanks for the input! Yeah, I'm running the display fallow for 76 days, so he won't be going in there for a little while. He's by himself at the moment and will probably stay that way for the duration of his QT. I'm not medicating yet, want to have him eating more consistently before. Planning to do a slow 5-7 day copper power ramp then holding it for 30 days. Then a prazipro treatment. Depending on how he looks may just keep him in observation. But overall he's been healthy, just super skittish still. In a low light room that gets 0 traffic outside of me feeding 2-3 times a day and checking in on him, making sure ammonia is OK, etc.

I personally wouldn't prophylactically treat this sort of wrasse with prazi. Fairy, flasher, and cryptic wrasse are the fish I've treated with prazi that had the worst reaction to it, but it should be fine as long as you monitor closely

 

[PicoDeNano]

I personally wouldn't prophylactically treat this sort of wrasse with prazi. Fairy, flasher, and cryptic wrasse are the fish I've treated with prazi that had the worst reaction to it, but it should be fine as long as you monitor closely

Appreciate it! Do you think treating with general cure in his food makes sense? I also have some nitrofurazone if needed.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Appreciate it! Do you think treating with general cure in his food makes sense? I also have some nitrofurazone if needed.

Don’t use General Cure orally! It’s a mix of prazi and metro and those two drugs have different oral doses….

 

[larrysaltisfun]

Do you have a deep bowl of sand for him in quarantine?

 

[PicoDeNano]

Got it, will not dose GC :).

 

[PicoDeNano]

Do you have a deep bowl of sand for him in quarantine?

No I do not. As I understand it, Pink-streaked wrasse are not sand sleepers. They sometimes use a mucus cocoon of sorts in small spaces to sleep. It's a pretty minimal set-up.

 

[larrysaltisfun]

Do you have a deep bowl of sand for him in quarantine?

No I do not. As I understand it, Pink-streaked wrasse are not sand sleepers. They sometimes use a mucus cocoon of sorts in small spaces to sleep. It's a pretty minimal set-up.

OK, didn’t know. I hope your fish winds up doing great.

 

[PicoDeNano]

OK, didn’t know. I hope your fish winds up doing great.

Appreciate it! Yeah they're not the most common fish and their behavior is pretty interesting. Fish is doing well so far, just trying to take it slow with him.

 

[larrysaltisfun]

 

[BobTheBlenney]

Throw in some rocks and make caves for him to hide in. Pinkies are cryptic wrasses and need cover. They make mucus cocoons in the rocks at night. PVC doesn't really cut it. Lack of a rock scape could definitely stress him. My pinkie never eats much but he always seems fat and happy and I've had him over a year. Of course, he could be gorging on pods.

Another thing to consider is that wrasses are sensitive to salinity changes. I lost one in QT at one point because the calibration was off on my hydrometer.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I personally wouldn't prophylactically treat this sort of wrasse with prazi. Fairy, flasher, and cryptic wrasse are the fish I've treated with prazi that had the worst reaction to it, but it should be fine as long as you monitor closely

Prazi powder is fine with wrasses as long as no solvent is used (that means Prazipro can be an issue). When you dose it you need to aerate the water very well and dose the net volume of the tank, not its named volume.

 

[Cthulukelele]

Prazi powder is fine with wrasses as long as no solvent is used (that means Prazipro can be an issue). When you dose it you need to aerate the water very well and dose the net volume of the tank, not its named volume.

Ah thanks for the info! I've only used prazipro

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Ah thanks for the info! I've only used prazipro

Here is a write-up I did about using PZQ:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/dosing-praziquantel-pzq.1105700/

 

[PicoDeNano]

Interesting, thanks for the info!