Tailspot wrasse still flashing despite many medications

JumboShrimp · Sep 21, 2018

I have had a tailspot wrasse for many months, and he has recently started to flash against the rocks (and sometimes the sand), and do a lot of double-over moves (bending head to tail). What confounds me is that he was in a QT for a month using PraziPro first, and then Coppersafe at therapeutic levels. (He might even have been in there when I was using API Erythromycin to treat other fish.) The point is that he should have been clean as a whistle when he went into the DT. Well, after about 3 weeks in the DT I noticed the flashing, which became increasingly more frequent. Fearing the other fish would inherit whatever the problem is, I had that “Oh, No!” moment and decided to plunk-down $40 and treat the entire 90-gallon DT with API General Cure. I am well into the second dose (the ‘after 48 hour’ dose) and the wrasse swims actively and eats—but still flashes. All other fish seem fine— including a puffer, tang, dwarf angel, and filefish.

Even if I was willing to fish (no pun) the wrasse out, back into a QT, I’m not sure what the point would be if I have already tried so many medications. Thoughts?

ihavecrabs · Sep 21, 2018

How long did you treat with copper during your QT. As I understand, the fish was it QT for 1 month treated with Prazi first, and then copper?

This leads me to believe the fish did not spend enough time in copper, unless you removed him from his QT and placed into a fresh tank for observation.

JumboShrimp · Sep 21, 2018

Sorry for any time-line confusion on my end. I can say that the Coppersafe was used for 30 days (after about a 3-day dosage ramp-up). And I should mention that the DT was fallow for 6 weeks prior to any fish being returned to it. Given that every other is showing no signs of anything, what is the best guess as to the wrasse— a stubborn case of.... (?) The DT is FOWLR, and I have a bottle of API Super Ich Cure— but of course I really don’t want to be dumping more things into a DT full of seemingly healthy fish blindly. Should I just do my post API General Cure water change/carbon and keep an eye on the wrasse and other fish? Many thanks!

Humblefish · Sep 21, 2018

@JumboShrimp Any chance you can catch the wrasse and FW dip to check for flukes? https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/freshwater-dip.248898/

That would at least tell us whether or not flukes might be the culprit here.

JumboShrimp · Sep 22, 2018

Here’s my saga of an update: Not only did the Tailspot Wrasse keep flashing, but the heretofore healthy Kole Tang suddenly started to swim into the powerhead unceasingly; after 24 hours of watching this I knew the next domino would fall (right ?). Yep. The Foxface showed signs of ich. So now it was “game-on” (again!). Here’s what I’ve done:

I took most of today catching 10 fish in a 6-foot long tank with rock work. (I use the low-tide method, and when I’m down to about 6” of water I use weighted (filled) plastic water jugs like fencing to start to corral the fish into smaller and smaller sections of the tank.) Anyway, I freshwater dipped each of the 10 fish as they went one at at a time into a hospital tank; no flukes in sight on any of the fish. I am starting Coppersafe for what I assume from the Kole Tang’s powerhead-dance might be marine velvet. I have a Hanna Checker for the copper levels. My plan is to go fallow on the tank for about 80 days, using the time to use filtration and water changes to get the water parameters in tip top shape. That will give me 30 days of Coppersafe at therapeutic levels, 30 days of additional observation, and then at the end of 80 days I will re-introduce the fish into the DT at the rate of about 3-a-week. PLUG: I learned nearly all of this by reading Reef2Reef forums/articles.

Now a question: Have I left anything out? I feel as if I am using all nuclear options here, and hope & pray that it will be IMPOSSIBLE for ich or velvet to plague these same 10 fish in this same DT unless I introduce something on a new rock/invert/fish that was not properly quarantined—someone please tell me I’m correct (!?)