Injured/Sick Fairy Wrasse please advise so I can save this guy.

[jmet]

About 5 days ago I picked up a Yellow Fin Fairy Wrasse, he looked healthy but hid allot.. typical of this species as I have read. To make matters worse I had a Blue Damsel in the tank that while he had never bothered another fish in the tank took it upon himself to steal this guys lunch money every day.

After a day of this I moved the Blue "Devil" back to a 2nd tank which only housed two three stripe damsels, which is another story in itself...

Anyway, fast forward about 3 days after that the fish has been constantly digging itself into the live rock in fear of the damsel that is no longer there then the day before yesterday I notice a film.. almost spider web like in the spot he was last wedged and some of this same film on the top of his head back to wards his top fin which was flat instead of standing up.

Yesterday I notice that at the top of his head what looks to be a hole as if he was bit or cut himself on a rock with a small amount of the white film like substance around it and his top fin, he has for the last couple days stayed in a shell as seen below.

Today I removed the two three stripe "DEVILS" the Blue did not make it with the beating he took, and have finally set this up as my quarantine tank. I gave this tank a cleaning and water change today.

Anyway, attached is a picture.. not great but one which will hopefully help us diagnose the poor guys problem. I understand freshwater dips are not recommended for open wounds but did pick up some Maracyn-Two which was recommended for a similar issue on another site.

I hope that we can save this guy as he was a gift for my wife and well I'm a softy for these poor little fella's and would hate to see him die. Other then staying in the shell he is eating fine and I do not see exaggerated breathing. Anyway on to the pic.

http://www.jeremymetzler.com/sick.JPG

[JennM]

The mucous is his protective cocoon. These wrasses usually sleep under the sand, they encase themselves in a cocoon that they secrete, to keep their scent contained, so predators can't find them.

Your substrate is way too coarse for this fish. It needs finer sand to bury in - that's probably why it's hiding in the rocks and hurting itself.

It's normal for them to be shy for a few days to a few weeks - in fact they will bury in the sand sometimes for days at a time initially. Problem is, he doesn't have a suitable sandbed to hide in.

I wouldn't necessarily medicate. Rather, get him into a scenario with a proper sand substrate for him to hide in and let him heal himself.

Jenn

[jmet]

Originally Posted by JennM

The mucous is his protective cocoon. These wrasses usually sleep under the sand, they encase themselves in a cocoon that they secrete, to keep their scent contained, so predators can't find them.

Your substrate is way too coarse for this fish. It needs finer sand to bury in - that's probably why it's hiding in the rocks and hurting itself.

It's normal for them to be shy for a few days to a few weeks - in fact they will bury in the sand sometimes for days at a time initially. Problem is, he doesn't have a suitable sandbed to hide in.

I wouldn't necessarily medicate. Rather, get him into a scenario with a proper sand substrate for him to hide in and let him heal himself.

Jenn

Perhaps this is why he has moved to one of the several large shells I have in the tank, oddly enough it is the same shell the Blue Devil called home. He digs himself in very tight and doesn't move at all.. but gradually has come out more and more.

Might he be happy staying inside these shells at night or would you recommend that I at least put live sand on one half of the tank.. as weird as that may look?

You're info is much appreciated as after talking to my LFS where I got the fish whom are pretty reliable.. and doing what I thought to be thorough research about this particular fish online.. I got none of that info...

[JennM]

I learned the hard way myself with yellow coris wrasse about 20 years ago... nobody warned me he'd sleep under the substrate (this guy was tough and slept under the crushed coral I used at the time!)... we couldn't figure out why he disappeared for days!

These days I think it's widely assumed that people use sand substrate - puka shell and crushed coral or other coarse substrate is not as commonly used anymore.

I'd still try to get him in the sand... it's important for them. Good wholesalers actually ship them with a bit of fine sand in the bag as they tend to want to dive into the sand when they are afraid. The shell may suffice for now but if he's injured, clearly he's not comfortable there.

HTH

Jenn

[jmet]

So you think he will be ok? It looks bad to me.. but you seem calm about it.


I thought the opposite to be true as I mostly see crushed coral here, I myself use Florida crushed coral of which I just added another 40 pound bag about a month back.

So half the tank or redo it all in you're opinion? The half I was thinking about has hardly in live rock on that side.

[JennM]

If it's otherwise eating and behaving normally, no I don't see cause for too much alarm. Keep an eye on the injury - if it starts looking infected then medication may be in order but the stress of moving him etc., may do more harm than good. Add some garlic and/or vitamin c to the food to help him heal faster.

I guess a lot depends on the LFS and what locals use/recommend. I quit using crushed coral in the early 90s... that was the only way to go back then but nowadays aragonite is more common and IMO a better surface area for beneficial bacteria. Just as you can put more marbles than golf balls in a mayonnaise jar, finer sand provides more surface area than larger substrate for denitrifying bacteria, so from a biological standpoint, aragonite is better.

That and crushed coral can limit the types of sand shifting creatures you keep. Many folks like to keep nassarius snailes, sand stars and sand sifting cucumbers, sleeper gobies etc., all of these do fine in sand but crushed coral is way too coarse for them.

Many folks go bare-bottom (true Berlin method) nowadays too... that's another post. I've always preferred to use a thin (3/4" to 1") layer of sand to keep these organisms. If you want to keep jawfish, a deeper coarse substrate is needed for them.

If your local shop still uses crushed coral, that's probably what they sell and recommend - IMO that's "old school"... and it's not a bad substrate but for this fish it's better off in a finer sand. This is what it would hide in in its natural habitat. The shell is its way of improvising.

If it were me I'd get rid of the crushed coral and move to aragonite - but if you do this you may want to do it gradually so you don't lose all of the good fauna and flora that you have in there already. Do it incrementally so you don't throw the biological out of whack, and give a change to the worms and pots and other fauna to migrate into the sand.

HTH

Jenn

[jmet]

I will shift to sand as recomended then, I figure I will do one side of the tank and then after a month or so the other side, bagged sand from liveaquaria would be cheaper but would live sand from my LFS be better?

[JennM]

I don't know what liveaquaria sells, so I can't answer that. I like Carib Sea's products...

Live sand from etail would be cheaper? Have you factored in shipping?! It's heavy stuff.

Jenn

[jmet]

Originally Posted by JennM

I don't know what liveaquaria sells, so I can't answer that. I like Carib Sea's products...

Live sand from etail would be cheaper? Have you factored in shipping?! It's heavy stuff.

Jenn

They sell a 30lb bag of Carib for 21.99, shipping on that would be less then 10 bucks if I am not mistaken..

[JennM]

Is that live sand or dry aragonite? Typically the live sand comes in 20 lb bags. I would think that shipping on 30 lbs would be a bit steep...

Jenn