Scratches or sick wrasse?

[cicrush13]

So my wrasse appears to either have a bacterial infection or just scratch while sleeping in the rocks. What do you guys think?
View attachment 20260309_073109_42F48C4E-0861-4029-AFAA-8152B3D53C04.mov

 

[cicrush13]

He’s eating fine and swimming normal so far. This is new as of this morning.

 

[vetteguy53081]

He’s eating fine and swimming normal so far. This is new as of this morning.

Wrasse has early stage ich and you will need to place fish in Quarantine tank and treat with Coppersafe or Copper Power at therapeutic level 2.25 for a FULL 30 days (do not interrupt this 30 day period) monitored with a Hanna Brand copper test kit- No API brand. Also monitor Ammonia levels while in quarantine with a reliable test kit and add aeration during treatment using an air stone. All other fish in with it should also be removed as they have also been exposed to the parasites and placed in quarantine tank.
The display tank will have to be kept fishless (FALLOW) for 6-8 weeks to assure the existing parasites go through their life cycle without a host fish and die off. Inverts and coral can remain in the display (not treatment) tank during fallow period.

 

[cicrush13]

He’s eating fine and swimming normal so far. This is new as of this morning.

Wrasse has early stage ich and you will need to place fish in Quarantine tank and treat with Coppersafe or Copper Power at therapeutic level 2.25 for a FULL 30 days (do not interrupt this 30 day period) monitored with a Hanna Brand copper test kit- No API brand. Also monitor Ammonia levels while in quarantine with a reliable test kit and add aeration during treatment using an air stone. All other fish in with it should also be removed as they have also been exposed to the parasites and placed in quarantine tank.
The display tank will have to be kept fishless (FALLOW) for 6-8 weeks to assure the existing parasites go through their life cycle without a host fish and die off. Inverts and coral can remain in the display (not treatment) tank during fallow period.

That’s what I was afraid of.
For the quarantine tank, do I need to cycle it first or just get clean water in there?

 

[vetteguy53081]

That’s what I was afraid of.
For the quarantine tank, do I need to cycle it first or just get clean water in there?

Add fresh seawater and you can add a seeded sponge or media to tank But No carbon and start your copper level

 

[cicrush13]

Here’s a look with the blue light on to better see the white spots on him. It just didn’t look like ich from my experience and the marks on his head have come and gone a bit but look way worse today.

I’ve got a tank I’ll have set up tomorrow for him and the rest of the fish for treatment.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

So my wrasse appears to either have a bacterial infection or just scratch while sleeping in the rocks. What do you guys think?

I can’t see confirmed ich, but the video is out of focus a lot and the fish is swimming in and out of frame.

You might want to prepare to treat all of the fish for ich as a worst case scenario, but then post another video to tomorrow so we can better confirm it.

 

[cicrush13]

So my wrasse appears to either have a bacterial infection or just scratch while sleeping in the rocks. What do you guys think?

I can’t see confirmed ich, but the video is out of focus a lot and the fish is swimming in and out of frame.

You might want to prepare to treat all of the fish for ich as a worst case scenario, but then post another video to tomorrow so we can better confirm it.

I’ve dealt with ich before and this isn’t it. There’s clear bumps on the head, I can’t tell if the eyes are clouded or not and some white flecks on the body. He does hide in caves at night and could’ve scratched himself but I’m getting prepped for a hospital tank either way.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I’ve dealt with ich before and this isn’t it. There’s clear bumps on the head, I can’t tell if the eyes are clouded or not and some white flecks on the body. He does hide in caves at night and could’ve scratched himself but I’m getting prepped for a hospital tank either way.

A sort of standard thought is that coral reef fishes are well adapted to swimming around sharp coral - they are not very likely to scratch themselves on a rock (unless being chased around by another fish or something).

If you see the wrasse flashing or scratching its gills or sides on the sand or rocks, that can be a sign of flukes.

 

[cicrush13]

I’ve dealt with ich before and this isn’t it. There’s clear bumps on the head, I can’t tell if the eyes are clouded or not and some white flecks on the body. He does hide in caves at night and could’ve scratched himself but I’m getting prepped for a hospital tank either way.

A sort of standard thought is that coral reef fishes are well adapted to swimming around sharp coral - they are not very likely to scratch themselves on a rock (unless being chased around by another fish or something).

If you see the wrasse flashing or scratching its gills or sides on the sand or rocks, that can be a sign of flukes.

Definitely not doing that. He’s very active and swims in the top half of the tank, mostly in the front. No one is bugging anyone.

2 percula clowns
1 royal gramma
1 coral beauty
1 line spot flasher wrasse

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Definitely not doing that. He’s very active and swims in the top half of the tank, mostly in the front. No one is bugging anyone.

2 percula clowns
1 royal gramma
1 coral beauty
1 line spot flasher wrasse

Royal gramma are really prone to both ich and flukes, you can use that fish as sort of a “canary in a coal mine” for any spreading infections.

 

[cicrush13]

Definitely not doing that. He’s very active and swims in the top half of the tank, mostly in the front. No one is bugging anyone.

2 percula clowns
1 royal gramma
1 coral beauty
1 line spot flasher wrasse

Royal gramma are really prone to both ich and flukes, you can use that fish as sort of a “canary in a coal mine” for any spreading infections.

Good to know. He’s doing just fine.

 

[cicrush13]

View attachment 20260309_190655_B12506C1-52D0-475B-812A-810FC766AD2F.mov
Update from this evening. Ignore the algae on the glass that grew today

 

[cicrush13]

Looking at him closer, his belly seems to be a little bit larger than normal. I’m not sure if this is from him grabbing some pallets at the surface, but he has been eating a significant amount of shrimp the last several days.


I guess I don’t know if I’ve seen ich presented itself this way to me. This looks maybe more bacterial still.

 

[cicrush13]

View attachment 20260310_065555_4BC00E2B-90DE-42A3-876D-34227965F7FE.mov
All right, so turn on the white lights this morning and he just came out in this video. There’s a tiny bit of slimy mess above his right eye. But other than that, he looks really good this morning compared to what he looked like yesterday. What do you guys think? This is look like ich still?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

All right, so turn on the white lights this morning and he just came out in this video. There’s a tiny bit of slimy mess above his right eye. But other than that, he looks really good this morning compared to what he looked like yesterday. What do you guys think? This is look like ich still?

I'm still not seeing ich here, more like disrupted scales. That could be bacterial (from some injury) or flukes.

Can you see ANY spots on the fins? that's one way I tell ich from flukes - ich trophonts commonly attach to a fish's skin, but flukes are typically only found on the body.

 

[cicrush13]

Definitely no spots anywhere on any of the fish in the tank. I’ve let freshwater for 10 years and had my fair share of ich in that time, and my dad had saltwater when I was growing up and I saw it then too. This doesn’t fit that typical case.

I have been leaning towards bacterial this whole time and really believe that now. I just don’t know what to treat it with. I used to to melafix for freshwater bacterial infections.

I’m planning on setting up a hospital tank this evening and moving the wrasse down there for observation and treatment.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Definitely no spots anywhere on any of the fish in the tank. I’ve let freshwater for 10 years and had my fair share of ich in that time, and my dad had saltwater when I was growing up and I saw it then too. This doesn’t fit that typical case.

I have been leaning towards bacterial this whole time and really believe that now. I just don’t know what to treat it with. I used to to melafix for freshwater bacterial infections.

I’m planning on setting up a hospital tank this evening and moving the wrasse down there for observation and treatment.

Just be sure that you have some sort of biological filter on the QT. You don’t want to move the fish only to lose it to new tank syndrome.

Another option would be to treat the DT with prazi for flukes.

 

[cicrush13]

Unhappy ending, moved to the sick tank and died today.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Unhappy ending, moved to the sick tank and died today.

That was unexpected - it didn't look that ill in the video. Were the water quality parameters the same between tanks> Did you have any issues capturing it up?