Sudden yellow wrasse death

[Rincon_Reefer]

I am stumped...My yellow wrasse up and died....no sign of disease, was eating, no sign of trauma...just died.

My tank has been up for almost a year and a half. Yellow wrasse has been in the tank for a year after it was in QT for a month. No sign of health issues ever. All other fish are behaving normal. All corals and clam are normal.

Yesterday I was under my tank messing with my Neptune which has been giving me problems. I look up and see my yellow wrasse on its side. I quick give it 'fish cpr'. Gently moving it back and forth to get water through its gills. After about 15 minutes he came back around, and began swimming normally. The other fish kind of poked at him a bit. Then all went back to normal. I fed them he ate....cool.

Today at lunch he is belly up zero movement. Try same cpr, no response. Again no signs of disease, not skinny, and no nipping marks.

He was a juvenile when I got him so he couldn't be much more than 2ish years old.

Anybody experience anything like this? Any ideas on cause of death?

 

[MichaelP]

Tagging along. I just had the same thing happen to my Yellow Coris wrasse as well. Been with me for 3 years fat healthy happy and then last week dead for no reason

 

[Rick's Reviews]

Sorry for loss, I'm going to look into fish CPR though, never crossed my mind

 

[Rincon_Reefer]

Sorry for loss, I'm going to look into fish CPR though, never crossed my mind

Thanks, I actually saved a clownfish, who had jumped, the same way. It is something I learned to do while fishing. If it takes a long time to get the hook out and the fish is distressed it can help get them back on their feet...or fins I suppose.

 

[Lavey29]

I guess fish can have massive heart attacks too unexpectedly. Sorry for your loss. They are super cool fish.

 

[Rincon_Reefer]

I guess fish can have massive heart attacks too unexpectedly. Sorry for your loss. They are super cool fish.

Thanks. Yeah that is about the only thing I have read that matches what happened. It is pretty tough to find any info on fish deaths when they have been in a well established tank for a time and disease and bullying don't seem to be in play. One forum even suggested wrasse may be prone to hear attacks.

 

[Lavey29]

Thanks. Yeah that is about the only thing I have read that matches what happened. It is pretty tough to find any info on fish deaths when they have been in a well established tank for a time and disease and bullying don't seem to be in play. One forum even suggested wrasse may be prone to hear attacks.

Sounds like you provided him a nice aquatic home to live in though. I hope mine keeps rolling along.

 

[i cant think]

Was he struggling to swim at all? wrasses jump and if they hit the wrong thing they get a spinal injury and tend to die (This is what happened to my naoko fairy wrasse). I find it more uncommon for Halichoeres to jump but it can still happen.

 

[Rincon_Reefer]

Was he struggling to swim at all? wrasses jump and if they hit the wrong thing they get a spinal injury and tend to die (This is what happened to my naoko fairy wrasse). I find it more uncommon for Halichoeres to jump but it can still happen.

Not particularly. It is a good thought. I even thought he may have hit bottom. I have a thick sand bed, but there are some parts that are thinned out by my pistol shrimp's excavation project. He seemed to be swimming pretty normal though, if a bit slow.

 

[Rawsreef]

This may sound dumb. But can a fish die of old age? Lol

E - reason I ask is cause if everything was okay with him maybe he just lived a long healthy happy life. And maybe it was it’s time to go?

either way I am sorry to hear that

 

[i cant think]

This may sound dumb. But can a fish die of old age? Lol

E - reason I ask is cause if everything was okay with him maybe he just lived a long healthy happy life. And maybe it was it’s time to go?

either way I am sorry to hear that

Fish can die of old age, usually it’ll take Atleast a year if not two before they die off though. Yes some fish die within 6 months but a lot of the time it isn’t old age and has a different reason.