Wrasse making a meal of my acro

[Randomstylez]

I have a wrasse (Anampses neoguinaicus) in my tank for around 5 months, and there has never been an issue with him in my tank. About 3-4 days ago I noticed my Acro which I have had for 10+ months starting to have a little die off around its main branch, none of my other Acros had any issues so I started to pay extra close attention to the tank and anything I have been putting in or out. But today a bit before feeding I noticed my wrasse absolutely going to town on my Acro. I chased him off and immediately fed the tank. With little information online everything points to this fish being reef safe, or going after inverts only. I have a population of amphipods and I dose copepods weekly to keep him well fed while he hunts, today was just 1 day before a weekly dosing.

To give you an Idea though this fish is thriving in a small nano tank (Fluval evo 13.5) with 3 other tank mates, he is always hunting and does a great job of keeping a amphipod population in check. He also helps to control the bristle worms when they venture out while the lights are dimming down for the night. I have never noticed any health issues with him, and he gets along with the other fish swimmingly. There is medium flow in this tank with about 35x tank turn over, he is usually hanging out at the top with the rest of the fish, or patrolling the rocks for any meals and is the most interesting fish in the tank.


Admittedly this is my fault as I only feed once a day, but after noticing this will be feeding at least 2 times, or more if needed. Just felt like sharing since there is not a lot about this fish online for care proper care. Since I have read most die. Also I will be placing him into a larger tank when he out grows this one.

Best info I found was here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/all-about-reef-safe-wrasses-in-aquaria.259894/

Picture is a few days old, acro in question is the green one on the lower left side. It is only the area in the second picture and the polyps are still extended on the entire coral.

 

[blaxsun]

All the information does seem to indicate reef-safe. Keep in-mind that YMMV with individual fish. I have some that are listed as "reef-safe" yet I know they go after certain types of corals (doughnuts, for example).

@i cant think - any ideas?

 

[i cant think]

I have a wrasse (Anampses neoguinaicus) in my tank for around 5 months, and there has never been an issue with him in my tank. About 3-4 days ago I noticed my Acro which I have had for 10+ months starting to have a little die off around its main branch, none of my other Acros had any issues so I started to pay extra close attention to the tank and anything I have been putting in or out. But today a bit before feeding I noticed my wrasse absolutely going to town on my Acro. I chased him off and immediately fed the tank. With little information online everything points to this fish being reef safe, or going after inverts only. I have a population of amphipods and I dose copepods weekly to keep him well fed while he hunts, today was just 1 day before a weekly dosing.

To give you an Idea though this fish is thriving in a small nano tank (Fluval evo 13.5) with 3 other tank mates, he is always hunting and does a great job of keeping a amphipod population in check. He also helps to control the bristle worms when they venture out while the lights are dimming down for the night. I have never noticed any health issues with him, and he gets along with the other fish swimmingly. There is medium flow in this tank with about 35x tank turn over, he is usually hanging out at the top with the rest of the fish, or patrolling the rocks for any meals and is the most interesting fish in the tank.


Admittedly this is my fault as I only feed once a day, but after noticing this will be feeding at least 2 times, or more if needed. Just felt like sharing since there is not a lot about this fish online for care proper care. Since I have read most die. Also I will be placing him into a larger tank when he out grows this one.

Best info I found was here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/all-about-reef-safe-wrasses-in-aquaria.259894/

Picture is a few days old, acro in question is the green one on the lower left side. It is only the area in the second picture and the polyps are still extended on the entire coral.

So first off;
Once a day for any wrasse isn’t amazing, these guys really want 2 feedings if not 3-4 a day (In LFSs we often say ‘little and often’ which is the best way to feed most fish that have a higher metabolism like wrasses). I feed my 6 wrasses 2x every day. One before I leave between 7:40 and 10am depending on the day and one after I get back in the evening which is often between 5:30 and 7:40pm.

Secondly;
The area on the coral is is shaded, my corals have died off where the upper branches are growing like wildfire. The wrasse is likely to be simply patrolling and hunting Pods and other microfauna. The thing that’s making me avoid blaming the wrasse is if your coral was being picked at, it wouldn't have good PE. It would tuck away completely.

And finally;
I love the tank! It looks so healthy and I bet it’s a pain to keep thriving with that many corals of different needs.

 

[Randomstylez]

So first off;
Once a day for any wrasse isn’t amazing, these guys really want 2 feedings if not 3-4 a day (In LFSs we often say ‘little and often’ which is the best way to feed most fish that have a higher metabolism like wrasses). I feed my 6 wrasses 2x every day. One before I leave between 7:40 and 10am depending on the day and one after I get back in the evening which is often between 5:30 and 7:40pm.

Secondly;
The area on the coral is is shaded, my corals have died off where the upper branches are growing like wildfire. The wrasse is likely to be simply patrolling and hunting Pods and other microfauna. The thing that’s making me avoid blaming the wrasse is if your coral was being picked at, it wouldn't have good PE. It would tuck away completely.

And finally;
I love the tank! It looks so healthy and I bet it’s a pain to keep thriving with that many corals of different needs.

I don't really blame him, It was my inexperience that lead to this, and I will learn from it. I'm only 11 months into the hobby and I feel like I barely know anything. This fish is supposed to be expert only and I thought I was doing fine because of how well he adapted, but it seems I have so much to learn. I have doubled the feeding to the tank to 2x daily to try and remedy this, would hate for him to eat my other acros.

On your second point it is shaded but its so much greener than it used to be, it used to just be an area without color but I angled it in such a way that it does get light, plus it gets sunset light for about an hour most days. I do agree that polyp extension is one of the reasons I thought it was something I did to cause this rather than the wrasse. For example I started reviewing everything I added to the tank and my Water Changes were 4 degrees over the tank temperature so I have bought a controller to fix that.

It is so difficult..... Finding good flow patterns for both sides of the tank is stressful, Cleaning is hard because of how much corals there are, the list goes on. This was my first reef tank and I have learned so much from all the issues I imposed on myself without knowing. I am glad for the experience this provides me for when I eventually upgrade to a 200g but thats 2 years off, enough time for this tank to hopefully fully grow out.

 

[ZipAdeeZoa]

Just thinking out loud here but is it possible the acro could have pest that he was actually eating off of it?

 

[fodsod]

I have a wrasse (Anampses neoguinaicus) in my tank for around 5 months, and there has never been an issue with him in my tank. About 3-4 days ago I noticed my Acro which I have had for 10+ months starting to have a little die off around its main branch, none of my other Acros had any issues so I started to pay extra close attention to the tank and anything I have been putting in or out. But today a bit before feeding I noticed my wrasse absolutely going to town on my Acro. I chased him off and immediately fed the tank. With little information online everything points to this fish being reef safe, or going after inverts only. I have a population of amphipods and I dose copepods weekly to keep him well fed while he hunts, today was just 1 day before a weekly dosing.

To give you an Idea though this fish is thriving in a small nano tank (Fluval evo 13.5) with 3 other tank mates, he is always hunting and does a great job of keeping a amphipod population in check. He also helps to control the bristle worms when they venture out while the lights are dimming down for the night. I have never noticed any health issues with him, and he gets along with the other fish swimmingly. There is medium flow in this tank with about 35x tank turn over, he is usually hanging out at the top with the rest of the fish, or patrolling the rocks for any meals and is the most interesting fish in the tank.


Admittedly this is my fault as I only feed once a day, but after noticing this will be feeding at least 2 times, or more if needed. Just felt like sharing since there is not a lot about this fish online for care proper care. Since I have read most die. Also I will be placing him into a larger tank when he out grows this one.

Best info I found was here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/all-about-reef-safe-wrasses-in-aquaria.259894/

Picture is a few days old, acro in question is the green one on the lower left side. It is only the area in the second picture and the polyps are still extended on the entire coral.

Great tank!

 

[Randomstylez]

Just thinking out loud here but is it possible the acro could have pest that he was actually eating off of it?

I considered that too, but wouldn't that pest be on my other acros also? This is the only one with any discoloration

Great tank!

Thank you

 

[Griev]

Have you tested your phosphate lately? Based on the symptoms (greening up, STN, only one acro affected) sounds a lot like what has happened to me with my acros in the past when my PO4 crept up without me noticing.

 

[i cant think]

I considered that too, but wouldn't that pest be on my other acros also? This is the only one with any discoloration

Not necessarily, I had monti eating nudibranchs that were only ever on my Digi but avoided my spoingodes and plating species.

 

[Randomstylez]

Have you tested your phosphate lately? Based on the symptoms (greening up, STN, only one acro affected) sounds a lot like what has happened to me with my acros in the past when my PO4 crept up without me noticing.

Yup I test weekly religiously. Phos is very normal for my tank right now, Saturday it was 0.05, normally anywhere between 0.04 - 0.09 for months.


Although as an update, I checked on the tank during lunch and the backside of the Carolina reaper has 2-3 white spots. Still has good polyp extension and this change happened between this morning and noon.

Now the spots where the reaper was eaten are 100% dead tissue as they never get any light. I checked all around and its only the dead tissue that has these spots. Does the side that's not getting light harm the coral if it is in fact dead tissue? I don't think I'd care that is eaten.

 

[Randomstylez]

Not necessarily, I had monti eating nudibranchs that were only ever on my Digi but avoided my spoingodes and plating species.

Update above.