Pink-streaked wrasse red blotches

[PicoDeNano]

I'm now wondering if it was stress related? He's in a dark room and I turned the lights on full without really thinking. Perhaps that induced panic? Not seeing the same color anymore, fortunately. I appreciate all the advice and help!

 

[PicoDeNano]

Last update with a pic .

 

[PicoDeNano]

@Jay Hemdal how would you approach quarantining a Pink-streaked wrasse? I'm a little worried about running Copper Power since they can be sensitive. I've had him for a little more than a week and haven't seen anything indicating parasites as of yet and it has been eating pretty well. I was planning to ramp copper up over 7-10 days to about 2.25 or so and holding for 30 days. He'll be in quarantine for a while as my display is going through a 76 day fallow, so he'll stay isolated for another couple of months. I appreciate any advice!

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

@Jay Hemdal how would you approach quarantining a Pink-streaked wrasse? I'm a little worried about running Copper Power since they can be sensitive. I've had him for a little more than a week and haven't seen anything indicating parasites as of yet and it has been eating pretty well. I was planning to ramp copper up over 7-10 days to about 2.25 or so and holding for 30 days. He'll be in quarantine for a while as my display is going through a 76 day fallow, so he'll stay isolated for another couple of months. I appreciate any advice!

That slow of a ramp up is a bad idea - copper power work until you reach 2 ppm. What I’ve seen happen is people ramp this slowly, the fish die from uncontrolled protozoan issues and they conclude, “ I must of ramped the copper up too fast”, when actually the reverse was true.

If you have the HR Hanna copper checker, you can get to 2.0 ppm in 24 hours (two or three partial doses, testing as typical go). Then, you can decide to go to 2.25 or not.

 

[BobTheBlenney]

Just my opinion, but if he's in QT that long with no visible signs of infection then I wouldn't worry about any kind of treatment. Also, wrasses typically are not susceptible to ich and copper treatment may do more harm than good. Most wrasse keepers will use Prazi to "de-worm" their wrasses, but again if he's doing fine after 2 months in QT then why treat him? Now, you can take all that with a grain of salt if you like because I personally don't believe in prophylactically treating fish, but in the all years I've been doing this, I've never had a wrasse show any sign of disease (except for a pintail that developed the weird neuro symptoms that nobody really has an explanation for).

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Just my opinion, but if he's in QT that long with no visible signs of infection then I wouldn't worry about any kind of treatment. Also, wrasses typically are not susceptible to ich and copper treatment may do more harm than good. Most wrasse keepers will use Prazi to "de-worm" their wrasses, but again if he's doing fine after 2 months in QT then why treat him? Now, you can take all that with a grain of salt if you like because I personally don't believe in prophylactically treating fish, but in the all years I've been doing this, I've never had a wrasse show any sign of disease (except for a pintail that developed the weird neuro symptoms that nobody really has an explanation for).

Wrasses do develop ich and worse, they are also prone to Amyloodinium (velvet).

 

[BobTheBlenney]

Wrasses do develop ich and worse, they are also prone to Amyloodinium (velvet).

I appreciate your reply, I'm sure wrasses can develop any kind of infection, especially in captivity. However, everything I've read indicates that wrasses tend to be rather disease and parasite resistant. Is that not the case?

 

[PicoDeNano]

Thank you for the reply, @Jay Hemdal! What do you mean that they die from the protozoans? They had too much time to get a foothold?

 

[PicoDeNano]

Just my opinion, but if he's in QT that long with no visible signs of infection then I wouldn't worry about any kind of treatment. Also, wrasses typically are not susceptible to ich and copper treatment may do more harm than good. Most wrasse keepers will use Prazi to "de-worm" their wrasses, but again if he's doing fine after 2 months in QT then why treat him? Now, you can take all that with a grain of salt if you like because I personally don't believe in prophylactically treating fish, but in the all years I've been doing this, I've never had a wrasse show any sign of disease (except for a pintail that developed the weird neuro symptoms that nobody really has an explanation for).

I appreciate your input, @BobTheBlenney! Planning to get a Tailspot btw :).

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I appreciate your reply, I'm sure wrasses can develop any kind of infection, especially in captivity. However, everything I've read indicates that wrasses tend to be rather disease and parasite resistant. Is that not the case?

No - they aren’t especially resistant to protozoan disease or flukes. In fact, the species that sleep in sand actually come into contact with the larval parasites sooner than some other species. They to produce mucus that can slow infections down a little bit, but that resistance is minimal and doesn’t apply to gill parasites like velvet.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Thank you for the reply, @Jay Hemdal! What do you mean that they die from the protozoans? They had too much time to get a foothold?

Correct - taking days or longer to get to a full copper dose offers the fish no protection until the full dose is reached, then, these amine chelated copper products, while mild on the fish, also take longer to control the protozoans.

 

[Tcook]

Thank you for the reply, @Jay Hemdal! What do you mean that they die from the protozoans? They had too much time to get a foothold?

Yes. You take too long to get to a therapeutic level so in the meantime the parasites continue to multiply. You don’t need to “ramp” chelated copper like Copper Power.

 

[Tcook]

Ha! I don’t know how I didn’t see Jay’s response.

 

[PicoDeNano]

Correct - taking days or longer to get to a full copper dose offers the fish no protection until the full dose is reached, then, these amine chelated copper products, while mild on the fish, also take longer to control the protozoans.

Got it! Thank you for the advice. So the chelated copper being ramped to 2.0 over 24 hours shouldn't be too stressful on a species like this that's supposed to be more prone to sensitivity?

One last question. He's been isolated for 10 days without any meds and seems healthy and very active. Even if he's by himself for 76+ days, there's no way to ensure he doesn't have ich without the copper treatment because it could be a low enough load that his immune system suppresses it, and as soon as other fish get involved, it could cause the load to increase to dangerous levels, correct?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Got it! Thank you for the advice. So the chelated copper being ramped to 2.0 over 24 hours shouldn't be too stressful on a species like this that's supposed to be more prone to sensitivity?

One last question. He's been isolated for 10 days without any meds and seems healthy and very active. Even if he's by himself for 76+ days, there's no way to ensure he doesn't have ich without the copper treatment because it could be a low enough load that his immune system suppresses it, and as soon as other fish get involved, it could cause the load to increase to dangerous levels, correct?

Correct, getting to 2 or 2.25 ppm copper in 24 hours is fine.

Holding a fish for 45+ days with no treatment does help reduce the chance for it to develop ich later on, but it doesn't lower that chance as much as a full copper treatment will.

 

[PicoDeNano]

Got it, I appreciate you!