Possum Wrasse acting in pain…. :(

[Jdogg266]

I’ve had the fish for a year now and moved it into a smaller tank that has been running with coral for over six months. it has been doing fine in the new tank. It was in there for a couple of days acting normal, but I was looking at him tonight and saw this.

 

[Jdogg266]

Wow well I can’t get the video to upload but he is just battering himself around the tank violently. He looks fairly pale but I don’t know if yellow banded possum wrasse just look like that.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Wow well I can’t get the video to upload but he is just battering himself around the tank violently. He looks fairly pale but I don’t know if yellow banded possum wrasse just look like that.

I got the video to play, but it is pretty short and the fish is small in it. Does it have some sort of discoloration on its tail?

That seems to be what I would call "agonal motion" it is not a good sign, it means the fish is likely dying. The next step would be moribund, where the fish just lays on the bottom.

Jay

 

[Jdogg266]

I got the video to play, but it is pretty short and the fish is small in it. Does it have some sort of discoloration on its tail?

That seems to be what I would call "agonal motion" it is not a good sign, it means the fish is likely dying. The next step would be moribund, where the fish just lays on the bottom.

Jay

To my surprise he is still alive this morning. I have no clue what to do about it. To me it’s tail looks completely normal. No fin rot or anything. I am thinking about putting it in praziquantel just to do something.

 

[Jdogg266]

I got the video to play, but it is pretty short and the fish is small in it. Does it have some sort of discoloration on its tail?

That seems to be what I would call "agonal motion" it is not a good sign, it means the fish is likely dying. The next step would be moribund, where the fish just lays on the bottom.

Jay

It almost looks like it is itching on everything I don’t see any flukes or external parasite.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

It almost looks like it is itching on everything I don’t see any flukes or external parasite.

It could just be flashing, but it seemed a lot more severe to me than that. You typically will not see most skin flukes and you'll never see gill flukes. I would dose the tank with Prazipro/praziquantel. If you can't get that drug soon, you could try a 5 minute FW dip to try and buy some time.

Jay

 

[Jdogg266]

It could just be flashing, but it seemed a lot more severe to me than that. You typically will not see most skin flukes and you'll never see gill flukes. I would dose the tank with Prazipro/praziquantel. If you can't get that drug soon, you could try a 5 minute FW dip to try and buy some time.

Jay

So this is what I’m doing. Since it seems that time is of the essence I am doing strong baths of prazzi and ParaGuard. When I pulled him out of the tank my urchin was snacking on his fins. He has entered the behavior of mortibund like you said…

what ever happens to this little guy I really appreciate your help jay.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

So this is what I’m doing. Since it seems that time is of the essence I am doing strong baths of prazzi and ParaGuard. When I pulled him out of the tank my urchin was snacking on his fins. He has entered the behavior of mortibund like you said…

what ever happens to this little guy I really appreciate your help jay.

Ugh, sorry - any wrasse that can get caught by an urchin is in a bad way. Good luck!
Jay