Potter's Wrasse mouth injury

KJoFan · Jul 27, 2018

I received a nice sized Potter's Wrasse yesterday and unfortunately it arrived with so much mouth damage I'm not sure it will be able to eat. It appears like essentially it's entire upper jaw/beak is gone. It's just rounded down with the bottom beak sticking out.

It's in quarantine currently, but would there be any advantage to just putting it in the display where it can try to hunt naturally? I really think I'm in for watching this fish slowly starve to death.

I did lodge a complaint to the vendor and they have refunded me for the fish, so that's all squared away. It's an unfortunate situation, but I want to make sure I can give it the best chance, if there even is one. It was not kept with any sand with the vendor so could have damaged it's mouth that way, trying to bury and nothing to bury in. I have provided a cup of sand in the QT and it found it last night just fine.

HotRocks · Jul 27, 2018

KJoFan said:
I received a nice sized Potter's Wrasse yesterday and unfortunately it arrived with so much mouth damage I'm not sure it will be able to eat. It appears like essentially it's entire upper jaw/beak is gone. It's just rounded down with the bottom beak sticking out.

It's in quarantine currently, but would there be any advantage to just putting it in the display where it can try to hunt naturally? I really think I'm in for watching this fish slowly starve to death.

I did lodge a complaint to the vendor and they have refunded me for the fish, so that's all squared away. It's an unfortunate situation, but I want to make sure I can give it the best chance, if there even is one. It was not kept with any sand with the vendor so could have damaged it's mouth that way, trying to bury and nothing to bury in. I have provided a cup of sand in the QT and it found it last night just fine.

Such a bummer, especially since they are such a hard fish to find! I have been looking for one for months!

I would not move it to your DT if it were me. Especially since it has the injury. Better off trying to get him to eat in QT. I would try some live brine or blackworms. Can you post a pic of the damage?

KJoFan · Jul 27, 2018

HotRocks said:
Such a bummer, especially since they are such a hard fish to find! I have been looking for one for months!

I would not move it to your DT if it were me. Especially since it has the injury. Better off trying to get him to eat in QT. I would try some live brine or blackworms. Can you post a pic of the damage?

I will see if I can get a pic. He was a little erratic yesterday initially so hard to get clear pics. But he seems more calm today so I'll see what I can come up with. It's a total bummer to be sure. As you say, quite hard to find these days so I was excited to find one, and then this.

My other thought was seeing if I could shake out some of my chaeto from my display sump into the QT and see if some pods would jump ship into the QT. I've got a ton of chaeto and need to thin it out anyway. Or maybe even tuck some into the hob power filter on the QT and see if any pods make their way out. Not that I know exactly how their mouths work but I don't see how he could chew (do they chew?) without two halves of a mouth to chew from. But maybe it's not as bad as I think. I know pics will help so I will do my best to grab a shot or two of him.

It's so hard to get live foods here, I can order some next week but looking for any and all suggestions in the meantime. I've had real good luck using masstick in the past to entice leopards but again, not sure it's the best course given his physical issues.

KJoFan · Jul 27, 2018

This is the best I could get right now. You can maybe see how the top is just sort of nubbed off compared to the lower jaw....

KJoFan · Jul 27, 2018

Also...looks like a "she" not a "he" now that I am observing the photo myself.

But, does she have a chance??

GoldeneyeRet · Jul 27, 2018

No way I would risk the entire fish population of my dt for any fish, especially one that may be compromised.

I would qt the same as any other leopard. Live food on hand, some sand in the tank etc and be ready with antibiotics.

Good luck

TessGlo · Jul 27, 2018

Fingers crossed for your Potters.... I waited a long time to get mine and he was tricky to QT, the first one I got did not ship well and never made it. I like your idea of moving some chaeto in for pods. They use their mouth like a beak to pluck from the rock so that mouth is concerning. Yours does not look too thin from what I can see, which is good.

Mine has never learned to take dry food, but very slowly learned to take frozen, with the exception of Masstick, which he took almost from the start. Masstick may be helpful with your Potters injured mouth because its soft, plus you could mix in some antibiotics which might help with that mouth. I used Seachem KanaPlex mixed in Masstick successfully with a different wrasse that had some unknown skin lesions. My observation is that Masstick really entices fish to eat. I also hatched brine at the beginning, which you could do if you do not have access to live foods. Best wishes! Hope you have good news to share soon.

KJoFan · Jul 27, 2018

A couple more. It’s like she’s got a big old snaggle on the bottom.

USMC 4 LIFE · Jul 27, 2018

The wrasse looks large enough were it may have been living with this injury for quite some time. I say that due to it looking after healthy, not appearing skinny or with a sunken stomach, and it's colors appear great

Potters are definitely hard to get eating during the first day of two. I often quarantine them with other aggressive eaters and allow them a week to settle in before medicating.

Live foods mixed with garlic guard are great ways to get its appetite going. I usually drop the food in front of a power head to entice them. Place a sand bowl in there as well. It can take a day or two for it to find the sand. once it find the sand and gets acclimated to its surrounding, it's survival rate will greatly increase. You should also note any "stress patches" so you don't confuse these as bacterial infections .The stress marks usually go away once the wrass e starts to sleep.in the sand. Additionally, if a leopard wrasse is buried i take that as a good sign as I have never had any sand burrowing wrasse die while buried, so don't bother it.

KJoFan · Jul 28, 2018

@HotRocks any thoughts?

@USMC 4 LIFE you could be right regarding size/health. I didn't know if perhaps the injury was recent, happened upon collection/transport which means it probably hadn't affected it's weight yet. But, it did come to me at a good size/weight. I just need to find something it will eat if it can.

I'm still skeptical on my success here but I will try. It found the sand both nights so far.

HotRocks · Jul 28, 2018

KJoFan said:
@HotRocks any thoughts?

@USMC 4 LIFE you could be right regarding size/health. I didn't know if perhaps the injury was recent, happened upon collection/transport which means it probably hadn't affected it's weight yet. But, it did come to me at a good size/weight. I just need to find something it will eat if it can.

I'm still skeptical on my success here but I will try. It found the sand both nights so far.

Only suggestions I can think of other than live food offerings, would be a 90 minute bath in acriflavine in order to try to prevent infection as the fish heals. Vitamin soaked foods as well (once the fish is eating).

cracker · Jul 28, 2018

beautiful fish ! Does the injury look new? From the 1st pic I see no reddening or such color is good & she looks plump. What food do You have on hand?

KJoFan · Jul 28, 2018

cracker said:
beautiful fish ! Does the injury look new? From the 1st pic I see no reddening or such color is good & she looks plump. What food do You have on hand?

It doesn’t look new actually. There’s no redness or swelling or raggedness at all to the mouth. Just the deformity I guess.

I don’t have live foods on hand but I do have frozen LRS, Masstick, Reef Nutrition Brine, ROE and Roti Feast. As well as frozen mysis and frozen cyclopeeze.

She hasn’t emerged from the sand yet today.

cracker · Jul 28, 2018

Sounds like a good selection of food, I can't get live food here either . No redness doesn't look new. That's all good !

KJoFan · Jul 28, 2018

cracker said:
Sounds like a good selection of food, I can't get live food here either . No redness doesn't look new. That's all good !

So far it hasn't seem very interested in any foods. I've stuck to ROE and Masstick so far. I've had a Potter's previously and it went crazy for Masstick, I was hoping for the same in this case. I'll keep trying.

KJoFan · Jul 30, 2018

Update:

She spent the entire day Saturday buried in the cup of sand. I did add some General Cure on Friday and will let that run it's course and then probably do another round. I've always used Prazi in my QT, but decided to give this a try. I added some to some Masstick along with some Focus as well but as yet haven't gotten her to eat that. I also typically wait a few days before starting any meds but since she seemed a bit lethargic to start I started meds right away. She flashed along the bottom of the tank initially but seems unphased now.

Sunday she was out all day and showed minor interest in some food and seemed to pick around on the bottom a bit but I can't say if she ate anything. Last night at bedtime for final check she was not buried in the sand, but just tucked between the glass and the cup of sand. Those kinds of behaviors always worry me but she was out and about swimming this morning.

I offered up some LRS Reef Frenzy nano and am certain I saw her pull a couple bits into her mouth and keep them so...I'm 99% sure she at least ate something.

We're only on day 4 in QT so nowhere near out of the woods yet but I'm hopeful she's showing some interest in some food and seems able to eat. She's very calm, she swims around the QT constantly but isn't skittish or darty or anything.

violetjones · Mar 27, 2023

KJoFan said:
Update:

She spent the entire day Saturday buried in the cup of sand. I did add some General Cure on Friday and will let that run it's course and then probably do another round. I've always used Prazi in my QT, but decided to give this a try. I added some to some Masstick along with some Focus as well but as yet haven't gotten her to eat that. I also typically wait a few days before starting any meds but since she seemed a bit lethargic to start I started meds right away. She flashed along the bottom of the tank initially but seems unphased now.

Sunday she was out all day and showed minor interest in some food and seemed to pick around on the bottom a bit but I can't say if she ate anything. Last night at bedtime for final check she was not buried in the sand, but just tucked between the glass and the cup of sand. Those kinds of behaviors always worry me but she was out and about swimming this morning.

I offered up some LRS Reef Frenzy nano and am certain I saw her pull a couple bits into her mouth and keep them so...I'm 99% sure she at least ate something.

We're only on day 4 in QT so nowhere near out of the woods yet but I'm hopeful she's showing some interest in some food and seems able to eat. She's very calm, she swims around the QT constantly but isn't skittish or darty or anything.

Did your wrasse live? I have one in a similar situation.