wrasse white mouth

[pomoev]

Another wrasse emergency, unfortunately.

Got a Solon Fairy wrasse last Saturday. He's been in an unmedicated QT since then. First 5 days he'd been active and ate twice a day, everything looked well. Last 24 hours he's been hiding under a rock producing a lot of mucus. I touched him and found out his mouth is all white. I assume he could hurt his mouth during the transportation or in the first day in the QT and now either bacteria or fungus is growing around the injured area.
What's the best strategy to treat him? Kanaplex? Methylene blue bath?

 

[pomoev]

Started Kanaplex+Metroplex+Furan-2.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Could the wrasse have spooked and run into something? The kanaplex and furan are good choices, I don’t see a need for the metroplex though, it only works against protozoans and anaerobic bacteria, and since this is outside the fish, it can’t be the latter.

Jay

 

[pomoev]

Could the wrasse have spooked and run into something? The kanaplex and furan are good choices, I don’t see a need for the metroplex though, it only works against protozoans and anaerobic bacteria, and since this is outside the fish, it can’t be the latter.

Jay

Hi Jay,

thanks for the comment. I followed the HumbleFish recommended antibiotic application. Also, I didn't do copper or anything because I've been having really bad luck with wrasses. Do you think it's worth finishing the Metroplex treatment just to make sure the fish has no ich? Or should I stop dosing Metro and better do copper later?
Thanks.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Since you started the metroplex, and aren’t using copper, you should continue it.
The trouble with mouth lesions is they usually keep the fish from feeding, so that works against things. It becomes a race really....
Jay

 

[pomoev]

Dead by the next morning.

 

[pomoev]

My experience with wrasses so far:
6 cases - died within 2 days in QT with no visible symptoms,
2 cases - survived the first days, but later picked up a bacterial infection and died quickly.
The fish came from at least 3 different stores, so something is wrong on my side.

I blamed PraziPro, but the last 2 cases occurred in a non-medicated tank. I kept a diamond goby and a midas blenny together with one of the wrasses, and those two have been doing well for the last 3 weeks, so I can't really blame some chemical condition unless it's very specific to wrasses only. My last suspect is fish stress.

I started adding some rock and sand to the QT to lower their stress levels, but it makes it harder to observe the fish. E.g. one of the bacterial infection cases was: a melanurus wrasse buried himself in the sand, and in two days when I dug him out - he had a huge liaison on his side, which was too late to treat.

What can be improved?

• Seems like a UV sterilizer could have helped at least in 2 cases.
• Maybe darkening the tanks in the first 2 days might have helped with stress.
• Sand seems to be a requirement for stress management for the species that bury.
• Liverock seems to be better than PVC pipes from the stress management perspective, although PVC seems to be better for observability and maintenance.
• Anything else?

My setup is: 2 x 20g long each with a glass lid, airstone, heater, thermometer, small powerhead, and ammonia alert.

 

[pomoev]

@SaltyT @4FordFamily - really interested in your opinions. Thanks.

 

[SaltyT]

Sorry to hear about your losses I‘m not sure what happened to your other wrasses, but I agree that your Solorensis looks like it had a secondary bacterial infection on it’s mouth.

As far as your QT setup goes for wrasses, I would swap out the glass lid for a mesh one. This will help reduce the potential for injury for those wrasses that dart upward when spooked (like fairies). Sometimes rock in a QT is a potential hazard too when a wrasse darts. If you ever need to treat with copper make sure you swap it for PVC.

You’re right about sand being required for wrasses that bury, but your QT doesn’t need to be completely covered in sand. A container of sand large enough for a wrasse to bury in is good enough. BTW, your sand looks a bit coarse in the pic. Keep the size of your sand under 4mm to reduce the potential for abrasions and infection in burying wrasses.

I really hope your next wrasse does better for you! Best of luck!

 

[Jay Hemdal]

My experience with wrasses so far:
6 cases - died within 2 days in QT with no visible symptoms,
2 cases - survived the first days, but later picked up a bacterial infection and died quickly.
The fish came from at least 3 different stores, so something is wrong on my side.

I blamed PraziPro, but the last 2 cases occurred in a non-medicated tank. I kept a diamond goby and a midas blenny together with one of the wrasses, and those two have been doing well for the last 3 weeks, so I can't really blame some chemical condition unless it's very specific to wrasses only. My last suspect is fish stress.

I started adding some rock and sand to the QT to lower their stress levels, but it makes it harder to observe the fish. E.g. one of the bacterial infection cases was: a melanurus wrasse buried himself in the sand, and in two days when I dug him out - he had a huge liaison on his side, which was too late to treat.

What can be improved?

• Seems like a UV sterilizer could have helped at least in 2 cases.
• Maybe darkening the tanks in the first 2 days might have helped with stress.
• Sand seems to be a requirement for stress management for the species that bury.
• Liverock seems to be better than PVC pipes from the stress management perspective, although PVC seems to be better for observability and maintenance.
• Anything else?

My setup is: 2 x 20g long each with a glass lid, airstone, heater, thermometer, small powerhead, and ammonia alert.

Sand is a big help for burrowing wrasses during quarantine, some people use sand in a tray. Darkening the tank helps all fish during quarantine - none of my Q tanks have anything more than ambient light. UV can't hurt, but often will not help in acute cases of really any disease. Conditioned live rock helps with water quality, but since I use copper, that won't work, so I use PVC and some other inert biofilter.
FWIW: wrasses are "not created equal" - hardiness is species-dependent. Yellow coris wrasse are prone to Uronema. Larger wrasse are fine with copper. Fairy and flasher wrasse have issues with transport and possibly copper. Macropharyngodon are just too darn delicate overall for my taste. I've never personally seen any issues with any wrasse using praziquantel.

Jay