need help ASAP on newly added 6 line wrasse

[Jonathan G.]

i just added a 6 line on friday i acclimated him for an 1 1/4 hours and half way through it he kinda stopped moving. now figured he just was chilling cause thats how my LMB was when i got him a week earlier. well i added him and he kinda wiggled to a little cave and chilled there for the rest of the nitenot doing too much breathing and only moved his eyes to look around, my lights were off but i turned on my regular house lights every so often to check on him. now i woke up the next day and he was doing the same thing and i started to worry that he was dead.. well i went to work and came home, lights still off, and when i turned them on he was swimming but very clumsily and chasing his reflection... i also noticed that he was skimming the bottom of the substrate while he swam back and forth. but after i left my lights on for a while he went and chilled back in the cave where he was at. well i went to bed and woke up and he was in the same cave and breathing hard and not swimming at all. I also noticed that he had this little bit of slime that was stuck on him, i dont know what it was but i suctioned it off of him and the substrate with a turkey baster and put it in a cup well he seemed a little relieved but spooked at the same time, and swam to a new cave... well i went to work with him in the new cave and came back and he was still there. and yet again had this slime like substance on him... now i dont know if it is coming from him or if he is swimming in a cave that has it and it is getting it attacked to him. but this time it was a bit more and i had to use my fingers and pick him up and take it off of him. now he is still alive and swam around clumsily but went back to the cave and sure enough got it on him again. but he hasn't acted right since i got him. i got it from my lfs who has been in business for 15 years and is well trusted to it shouldnt have a disease so could this be just from shock? did i acclimate him too fast? me and my lfs use the same salt and keep the same temp. also what to you think this slime is?

 

[Jonathan G.]

i dont know if he will pull through this or if i should just put him out of his misery... i feel realy bad but my lfs has a week live guarantee so if he dies then i could take him back and get another one.

 

[Jonathan G.]

i accidentally wrote the wrong paragraph in the wrong thread and dont know how to erase it so if an admin or something sees this feel free to delete it. TYIA

 

[NaH2O]

Jonathan - do you notice the slime after the wrasse has been sleeping? Here is a thread you may want to check out. There are also a couple of articles linked there: question about 6 line wrasse

Do you know how long the LFS had it before you purchased it? Also, was it eating and behaving normally in the store? What are your water parameters?

 

[Jonathan G.]

ppyes it was after he was placed in the tank and when into a little nook in the rock... but he had it on him again just now and a lot more. and get this he had his head buried in a tiny hole in the rock and this clear slime was over him again and more so this time and he actually let me touch him and rub it off but i couldnt reach him that good due to the angle nor with a turkey baster so i took my power head and blasted him and the mucous and quickly suck it up with the baster; it kinda rejuvenated him but you could tell he was weak by the way it moved him. so i searched the rest of the tank for anything suspicous and the only thing i can think of is my feather duster... not the side where the feathers come out but the other end is capped off with a mucous. i placed this feather duster in the corner but he seems to be moving but i notice when his feathers are down sometimes at his base this little brown worm like thing will appear... now i dont know too much about feather dusters but i buried him twice and he has been moving both so should i just let him go wherever or place him on a rock. and most of all do you think the slime on the fish is from the feather duster or from something else? i have a mag drive 7 and 2 maxi jet 900's so this couldnt be a type of pest algea right?

and yesmy lfs does date all of his fish and that was in his tank a week. im still a newbie but that was adequate time right? also i use the same salt and keep the same temp of around 80F. oh and my parameters are pH 8.1-2 and amm and nitrite at 0 and nitrate around 20 and SG of 1.024 im about to do a water change in a day but am contemplating it due to his health.... should i go ahead with the water change.
oh crap one other thing that i left out that is kinda important, this last time i seem to have gotten it all off of him and he is again swimming in and out from cave to cave... my LMB was very generous and lent him his cave =) what a nice guy my LMB is but i dont know if i should try to help out the wrasse or just stop sticking my hands in my tank and just let him be

 

[NaH2O]

what are your water parameters? specific gravity, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH? I like when fish have been in the store for at least 2 weeks.

Do you have a quarantine tank for him if you need to treat him?

 

[Jonathan G.]

no i dont have a quarantine but this guy doesnt have a problem with diseases with his fish. he very seldom has a dead one in any of his tanks and usually all of his fish are very strong and healthy specimans. and sorry about the long post i didnt realize how much of a yapper i am

 

[Scooterman]

His slim sack is a normal thing, give hime some time to settle, is there other fish with him?

 

[Maxx]

jonathan,
The slime sack is a normal thing, just like Scooterman said. It's one of the fishes self defense mechanisms. Many scientists believe this sack hides the fish from nocturnal predators that use scent to hunt at night.

So your best course of action is to leave the fish alone, and let him get acclimated to your tank.

i placed this feather duster in the corner but he seems to be moving but i notice when his feathers are down sometimes at his base this little brown worm like thing will appear... now i dont know too much about feather dusters but i buried him twice and he has been moving both so should i just let him go wherever or place him on a rock.

the feather duster is a worm with a specialized "head" which filters microscopic particles fro the water in order to eat. The feathers that you see are the dusters feeding aparatus. Try not to move it any more. This will stress the duster out and can cause it to drop its feathers. When this happens, DO NOT THROW AWAY THE DUSTER, IT CAN REGENERATE THE FEATHERS IF LEFT ALONE!!

oh and my parameters are pH 8.1-2 and amm and nitrite at 0 and nitrate around 20 and SG of 1.024 im about to do a water change in a day but am contemplating it due to his health.... should i go ahead with the water change.

your nitrate is very high for invertebrates. Fish are able to handle the higher nitrate levels better, but you should ideally keep nitrates down below 0.2 ppm for inverts.

Here is a good article for you to read and save to your computer for reference
Reef Aquarium Water Parameters

Do several water changes to lower this. Remember, you are just diluting what you have in the tank, so several larger (50% or more) water changes will be required to lower the Nitrate levels in your tank.

no i dont have a quarantine but this guy doesnt have a problem with diseases with his fish. he very seldom has a dead one in any of his tanks and usually all of his fish are very strong and healthy specimans.

Okay, not to sound harsh, but it doesnt matter if your LFS doesnt have any problems with diseases in his system. If he is regularly getting in shipments of fish, their immune system is comprimised and they are susceptible to disease. He will most likely treat the system with something, copper is most common is FO systems. You do NOT want ot add copper treated water to any system holding inverts, it will kill them. Thats how it keeps fish from getting parasites like Ich. You really need to know what you are buying BEFORE you buy it. Research the fish, learn about its habits, what it eats, any special behaviours (like a mucus coating at night) so you dont have any surprises or issues in your tank. I'm a little disappointed in your LFS for not telling you about this, or the feather duster in the first place....but I dont know the LFS in question, they might have mentioned it to you or may not have realized you didnt know...but they should be ensuring you know what your getting before you buy it to avoid replacing a fish or invert unnecessarily.

You should buy, beg, borow, whatever...a few good books. Here are some really good ones for you to read, and they will answer alot of your questions and help you to learn about whats going on in and with your tank.

The Conscientious Marine Aquarist: A Commonsense Handbook for Successful Saltwater Hobbyists by Robert Fenner Probably the best book out there for beginners. It has alot of information and doesnt talk down to the reader. I actually still use mine today for reference from time to time.

Natural Reef Aquariums: Simplified Approaches to Creating Living Saltwater Microcosms by John Tullock Another great book, some of the material will be rehash from The Concientious Marine Aquarist, but still helpful non the less.

Marine Fishes: 500+ Essential-To-Know Aquarium Species by Scott W. Michael This one will help you with identifiying a fish and what it needs to be kept successfully in an aquarium. Very good book, if you only buy or borrow two of these, get this one and the Concientious Marine Aquarist.

That swhould help you out with alot of stuff. I seriously reccomend getting ahold of these, it will help you out immmensely.

Nick

 

[Jonathan G.]

no they definitly didn't mention the slime thing and they do treat their fish with a copper additive but i dont add their water to my tank. but he has been out and about but now he has disappeared and i checked around all the rocks and the only one he could be in has a few deep holes in it. when this slime coats them they are able to get out of it by themselves right?

 

[Jonathan G.]

i checked around my tank cause i just did a water change and was cleaning up the mess and he didnt jump so i know thats not an issue

 

[Maxx]

yes they can get out of it on their own...
Put a cover of some sort over your tank. They will jump. Thats how I lost mine. I now have egg crate and plastic poly cloth from HD zip tied together to make a breathable lid over my tank....lets light and sir through, keeps fish in...

Nick

 

[AW2EOD]

Jumping into this a little late, I know, but the first thing I would do, Jonathan is to stop picking/sucking/rubbing the slime off of him, if you havent stopped already. It's only stressing him out more.

The slime coat is a natural defense, as other people stated. In the wild, these fish will produce this mucus, while sleeping or threatened. It is said that it covers up their scent, from predatory fish that hunt by smell.

With him being in the tank for only a short amount of time, and then you repeatedly taking him out or picking him up and getting him with the turkey baster is just stressing him more.

I'd say just leave him be for the time being and he should pull through. He just needs time to be on his own, to get used to his new surroundings.

 

[Jonathan G.]

yea i have and now he is cool... i was real worried but now i just let him go and he is getting adjusted and enjoys his new home.

 

[AW2EOD]

Awesome! Glad to hear he's going better.

Do you have any pics of your setup?

 

[Jonathan G.]

yea im working on getting them developed but i keep spending what money i do have on my tank. but i will tomorrow and take some more pics of my lights and enclosure that i just got done putting together and also of my newest family member the rainford goby, still nameless =(

 

[Jonathan G.]

oh and ill take some of the wrasse when he's sleeping so everyone can see what its like so they dont get confused and look dumb like me =) i also got a new horseshoe crab that is quite the character but im concerned i have too much water flow for him cause everytime i watch him he is catching a drift from the powerhead and floats to the other side of the tank and just kicking his legs repeatedly. but sometimes hes fine and chills and buries himself in the substrate.

 

[NaH2O]

Jonathan - keep your eyes on the horseshoe crab. They can get quite large - kind of like a bull in a china shop, not ideal when you have your aquascaping just right. Also, be sure to watch your sandbed infauna, and note if you see it dwindling. How big of a crab did you get? Did you receive any feeding instructions?

 

[Maxx]

What are you feeding your Rainford?
Did you pick up any of those books yet?

Nick

 

[Jonathan G.]

im working on getting the books and the rainfords appears to be nipping at my live rock and substrate and also ate a bit of the food i gave him. prime reef is the food i use. also the horseshoe i got is about the size of a silver dollar