Wrasses swimming oddly

[q.o.kingss]

New, so have no idea how to post yet.

Just got some wrasses today, and after
adjusting a bit a few seem to be swimming oddly. The blue spotted tamarins seem to have to put in alot of effort, doing a full body wiggle to swim. The china wrasse swims normally but then settles on the bottom half curled. Ill try and upload a video. They dont seem to fully fit a spinal injury or swim bladder symptoms but im not sure. I havent been able to find any ither posts/videos with the same type of swimming. Any ideas? Im hoping its just stress and theyll straighten up soon. Lennardi swims kinda with his tail up but he also puffs at the sand so im thinking hes just looking for stuff to terrorize

 

[vetteguy53081]

New, so have no idea how to post yet.

Just got some wrasses today, and after
adjusting a bit a few seem to be swimming oddly. The blue spotted tamarins seem to have to put in alot of effort, doing a full body wiggle to swim. The china wrasse swims normally but then settles on the bottom half curled. Ill try and upload a video. They dont seem to fully fit a spinal injury or swim bladder symptoms but im not sure. I havent been able to find any ither posts/videos with the same type of swimming. Any ideas? Im hoping its just stress and theyll straighten up soon. Lennardi swims kinda with his tail up but he also puffs at the sand so im thinking hes just looking for stuff to terrorize

Unfortunately this may be a neurological issue with wrasses known as UNWD which Posted by Jay Hemdal
afflicts newly acquired wrasses, usually Cirrhilabrus fairy wrasses or flasher wrasses, Pseudocheilinus, but occasionally other species as well. The gross visual symptoms are always the same; the fish shows a rapid onset of neurological symptoms where it either cannot swim well, swims tail down or swims with a bent spine. The other key symptom is that despite this, these wrasses will still attempt to feed. Most aquarists attribute the symptoms to some sort of an injury, such as running into the side of the tank. The trouble with that diagnosis is that these fish do not show external damage (bumped snouts, etc.) that would be expected from such an injury. Other hypothesis include barotrauma from deep water collection, or the use of cyanide to collect these fish. The trouble with these possible causes is that symptoms in other types of fish are known, and are different; emaciation in cyanide collection and swim bladder issues in cases of barotrauma. Mycobacterium has also been implicated, but that issue is more often present in long term captive fish, not newly acquired ones as in these instances.

Eventually, the affected fish becomes weaker and either needs to be euthanized, or dies spontaneously. To date, there is no known cure and the mortality rate seems to be 100%. All that can be said is that it is an unknown peripheral neurological disease. It does not seem to be highly contagious from wrasse to wrasse. The causative agent is possibly viral, but could also be nerve damage from nematodes or from microsporidians. Since the fish still tries to feed, it is unlikely the brain is affected, more likely only the spinal column or muscle nerves.

I recognized my first case of this syndrome in a Carpenter's wrasse in 2018. In 2020, I began noticing a trend of similar cases in other people's aquariums. It is unclear if this issue is newly developing, or had just gone unnoticed prior to this time.

the only other possibility is fish inhaling air in the bag for transport which would have to be expelled but symptoms do not support this

 

[zheka757]

i cant diagnose for you, but just want to know, where did you get them from? online? being shipped?
im only asking cause I'm interested in getting some wrasse my self, but i wouldn't by from this vendor.

 

[q.o.kingss]

Unfortunately this may be a neurological issue with wrasses known as UNWD which Posted by Jay Hemdal
afflicts newly acquired wrasses, usually Cirrhilabrus fairy wrasses or flasher wrasses, Pseudocheilinus, but occasionally other species as well. The gross visual symptoms are always the same; the fish shows a rapid onset of neurological symptoms where it either cannot swim well, swims tail down or swims with a bent spine. The other key symptom is that despite this, these wrasses will still attempt to feed. Most aquarists attribute the symptoms to some sort of an injury, such as running into the side of the tank. The trouble with that diagnosis is that these fish do not show external damage (bumped snouts, etc.) that would be expected from such an injury. Other hypothesis include barotrauma from deep water collection, or the use of cyanide to collect these fish. The trouble with these possible causes is that symptoms in other types of fish are known, and are different; emaciation in cyanide collection and swim bladder issues in cases of barotrauma. Mycobacterium has also been implicated, but that issue is more often present in long term captive fish, not newly acquired ones as in these instances.

Eventually, the affected fish becomes weaker and either needs to be euthanized, or dies spontaneously. To date, there is no known cure and the mortality rate seems to be 100%. All that can be said is that it is an unknown peripheral neurological disease. It does not seem to be highly contagious from wrasse to wrasse. The causative agent is possibly viral, but could also be nerve damage from nematodes or from microsporidians. Since the fish still tries to feed, it is unlikely the brain is affected, more likely only the spinal column or muscle nerves.

I recognized my first case of this syndrome in a Carpenter's wrasse in 2018. In 2020, I began noticing a trend of similar cases in other people's aquariums. It is unclear if this issue is newly developing, or had just gone unnoticed prior to this time.

the only other possibility is fish inhaling air in the bag for transport which would have to be expelled but symptoms do not support this

Finally got a vid of the china. Other than this, he swims straight, though kinda slowly. Not sure if this is helpful or not

 

[q.o.kingss]

i cant diagnose for you, but just want to know, where did you get them from? online? being shipped?
im only asking cause I'm interested in getting some wrasse my self, but i wouldn't by from this vendor.

I ordered them online from reef pro, and yes they were shipped from south fl to middle-ish fl

 

[vetteguy53081]

Finally got a vid of the china. Other than this, he swims straight, though kinda slowly. Not sure if this is helpful or not

turn lights down and allow fish to adjust. Other than one laying in sand, they seem to be coming around. Dont attempt to feed until tomorrow.
Fresh water and oxygen right now is key
how did you acclimate them and for how long ?.
Did you use any of the bag water they came in ?

 

[q.o.kingss]

turn lights down and allow fish to adjust. Other than one laying in sand, they seem to be coming around. Dont attempt to feed until tomorrow.
Fresh water and oxygen right now is key
how did you acclimate them and for how long ?.
Did you use any of the bag water they came in ?

I let them sit in their water at room temp with an airator, bc all my qt tanks/water change water is room temp. Then i acclimated them to the water change water over an hour. Tank is a 10 gallon sterile with some clean sand, that will get an 80% water change daily or as needed as i monitor them to see if they need meds.
(Kept them covered through acclimation and most of the day, once they started moving around a bit i opened the covers little by little)

 

[SaltyT]

Welcome to R2R!

Your lennardi looks great! Nothing to worry about with her she's just hunting. Anampses don't handle shipping well and can exhibit swim bladder issues after shipping. Not sure why, maybe rough handling during transit. I've had it happen with my femininus, but she straightened out after a few days. Hopefully that's the case with your china wrasse and blue spots. What salinity were they shipping in? I've had this vendor ship anampses in 1.019. Is that a blue star leopard I see partially buried? How deep is your sand?

 

[q.o.kingss]

Welcome to R2R!

Your lennardi looks great! Nothing to worry about with her she's just hunting. Anampses don't handle shipping well and can exhibit swim bladder issues after shipping. Not sure why, maybe rough handling during transit. I've had it happen with my femininus, but she straightened out after a few days. Hopefully that's the case with your china wrasse and blue spots. What salinity were they shipping in? I've had this vendor ship anampses in 1.019. Is that a blue star leopard I see partially buried? How deep is your sand?

Salinity is the one thing i forgot to check noob mistake. But with the acclimation i dont think it would have been much difference.
Yes a blue star. Sand isnt deep, plan was to use C.phos while in qt so i wasnt even planning on adding sand but they have the habit of trying to swim down on bare bottom so i thought theyd be more comfy this way. Ill try and keep it piled on one side so they can bury, but so far only that guy has even wanted to

 

[SaltyT]

Salinity is the one thing i forgot to check noob mistake. But with the acclimation i dont think it would have been much difference.
Yes a blue star. Sand isnt deep, plan was to use C.phos while in qt so i wasnt even planning on adding sand but they have the habit of trying to swim down on bare bottom so i thought theyd be more comfy this way. Ill try and keep it piled on one side so they can bury, but so far only that guy has even wanted to

Good idea to pile up sand for all those sand sleepers. What do you have your QT temp set at? Just curious since you have the lennardi.

Once you get these guys through QT you need to start a build thread. You have a nice group of wrasses

 

[q.o.kingss]

Salinity is the one thing i forgot to check noob mistake. But with the acclimation i dont think it would have been much difference.
Yes a blue star. Sand isnt deep, plan was to use C.phos while in qt so i wasnt even planning on adding sand but they have the habit of trying to swim down on bare bottom so i thought theyd be more comfy this way. Ill try and keep it piled on one side so they can bury, but so far only that guy has even wanted to

Good idea to pile up sand for all those sand sleepers. What do you have your QT temp set at? Just curious since you have the lennardi.

Once you get these guys through QT you need to start a build thread. You have a nice group of wrasses

73°, no heater just room temp. House is set at 75 but just doesnt get that warm lol

Still building the wrasse collection, some are already in the 375 (radiant, black leo, rhomboid, cleaner, green coris, pink streak, reg leo)
I have 3 tanks/tubs of tangs laying around too, that ill be adding in groups soon. Thats a headache ive been avoiding, but i have the excuse of a few still being qt'd atleast lol

 

[q.o.kingss]

Good idea to pile up sand for all those sand sleepers. What do you have your QT temp set at? Just curious since you have the lennardi.

Once you get these guys through QT you need to start a build thread. You have a nice group of wrasses

Heres the tank during cycling. It never wants to let me post the good vidoes/pics for some reason

 

[SaltyT]

73°, no heater just room temp. House is set at 75 but just doesnt get that warm lol

Still building the wrasse collection, some are already in the 375 (radiant, black leo, rhomboid, cleaner, green coris, pink streak, reg leo)
I have 3 tanks/tubs of tangs laying around too, that ill be adding in groups soon. Thats a headache ive been avoiding, but i have the excuse of a few still being qt'd atleast lol

Perfect temp for lennardi. I think your caeruleopunctatus' and neoguinaicus will come around. The caeruleopunctatus' are a little thin, but the fact that they didn't immediately try to bury is a good sign to me. Have they attempted to feed yet? I didn't notice in the videos.

 

[q.o.kingss]

Perfect temp for lennardi. I think your caeruleopunctatus' and neoguinaicus will come around. The caeruleopunctatus' are a little thin, but the fact that they didn't immediately try to bury is a good sign to me. Have they attempted to feed yet? I didn't notice in the videos.

All but the china and leo have eaten so far. Hopefully theyll be acting better tomorrow

 

[SaltyT]

All but the china and leo have eaten so far. Hopefully theyll be acting better tomorrow

Keep us posted!

 

[Jay Hemdal]

New, so have no idea how to post yet.

Just got some wrasses today, and after
adjusting a bit a few seem to be swimming oddly. The blue spotted tamarins seem to have to put in alot of effort, doing a full body wiggle to swim. The china wrasse swims normally but then settles on the bottom half curled. Ill try and upload a video. They dont seem to fully fit a spinal injury or swim bladder symptoms but im not sure. I havent been able to find any ither posts/videos with the same type of swimming. Any ideas? Im hoping its just stress and theyll straighten up soon. Lennardi swims kinda with his tail up but he also puffs at the sand so im thinking hes just looking for stuff to terrorize

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

Were the fish shipped in to you? I see some slight positive buoyancy and that sometimes happens in shipped fish due to lower pressure on the plane.

Jay

 

[jp_75]

Heres the tank during cycling. It never wants to let me post the good vidoes/pics for some reason

Nice scape! You did it?

 

[q.o.kingss]

I di

Nice scape! You did it

I did not, kevin from top shelf aquatics did it

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

Were the fish shipped in to you? I see some slight positive buoyancy and that sometimes happens in shipped fish due to lower pressure on the plane.

Jay

They were shipped via ups, but never left the state so idk if they went on a plane? They wete about 3 hours away but the place wouldn't let me pick up in person, i tried twice lol

 

[q.o.kingss]

Keep us posted!

Gave them some live amphipods as i was messing around in another tank. They perked up a bit. China was eating earlier today and leo even came out. Both blue spots still swimming oddly.

 

[SaltyT]

Gave them some live amphipods as i was messing around in another tank. They perked up a bit. China was eating earlier today and leo even came out. Both blue spots still swimming oddly.

That blue spot is really going for that ampiphod in the video lol They look better today.