HELP! One wrasse almost dead in QT, another breathing heavy and erratic, worried about my foxface

[CincyReefer07]

I have a foxface and a rhomboid and fairy wrasse in a 60 breeder qt, no meds, 1.025 salinity, 78 degrees, few pieces of pvc in tank. Rhomboid and fairy wrasse have been swimming and eating just fine for the past week, last night I noticed rhomboid seemed lethargic but still ate some. This morning he’s floating on its side, upside down, breathing heavy, can barely swim, when I did an emergency water change he almost got sucked into my siphon hose, fairy wrasse is extremely erratic when I shined a light in tank or turned room lights on, laying on bottom of tank with lights off and breathing heavily.

WHAT SHOULD I DO?! Worst part is I’m already now 20 minutes late for work this morning and I have a magnificent foxface in the tank that has been fine for 10 days in the qt tank eating and swimming just fine. I don’t want anything to happen to my foxface. I don’t have another tank to set up

Nobody since I brought these fish home middle of last week have shown any kind of sickness or disease. Have eaten all frozen and pellets and flakes I’ve offered. Now in the last 8-10 hours this situation with my wrasses and scared something will happen to my foxface.

 

[fishguy242]

hi, add airstone if possible , #fishmedic

 

[CincyReefer07]

It’s 7am here and I don’t have an air stone plus have to be at work, but I have hob filter that cascades water into tank breaking water surface plus two powerheads, one pointed directly at water surface for surface agitation.

 

[CincyReefer07]

hi, add airstone if possible ,#fishmedic

I don’t have an air stone, have hob filter breaking water surface plus two powerheads, one pointed straight at surface for surface agitation and it’s 7am here so stores are closed and I have to be at work that I’m now 45 minutes late for

 

[CincyReefer07]

Seachem badge and salifert ammonia test kit don’t show any signs of ammonia. Did a 5 gallon water change 2 days ago and just did a quick emergency 10 gallon water change as soon as I saw the fish this morning

 

[Sharkbait19]

How is the foxface acting now?
With no medicine added, it’s possible there was a latent infection in the tank that has begun to hit and that is what is affecting your fish.

 

[CincyReefer07]

How is the foxface acting now?
With no medicine added, it’s possible there was a latent infection in the tank that has begun to hit and that is what is affecting your fish.

So I did all I could earlier this morning which wasn’t much besides testing the water for ammonia, making sure the salinity and temp was correc, trying to feed a little to them, put some new clean filters in the hob filter, and doing a water change. I was running so late for work that I finally got to the point where I just had to leave as much as I didn’t want to. Left all 3 fish in the qt tank and asked if my parents could stop at my place to check on them since they usually stop to let my dogs out anyways while I’m at work. By 1pm they told me the rhomboid had passed and they pulled it out of the tank for me and sat it in a cup of water for when I get home. But according to them the clown fairy and foxface were swimming regularly as far as it looked to them, and were eating.
I’m going to be headed home from work in the next half hour to check on them myself and make sure they are indeed doing okay.

 

[fishguy242]

freshwater dip the deceased wrasse to check for flukes

 

[CincyReefer07]

freshwater dip the deceased wrasse to check for flukes

Would flukes even show itself in a freshwater dip if the fish died 6-7 hours ago? I just got home a half hour ago and put it in a cup of rodi water 10 minutes ago

 

[fishguy242]

Would flukes even show itself in a freshwater dip if the fish died 6-7 hours ago? I just got home a half hour ago and put it in a cup of rodi water 10 minutes ago

not sure ? #fishmedic

 

[CincyReefer07]

not sure ? #fishmedic

Just wondering because I thought I read flukes only live for a short amount of time in a deceased fish. Not sure if it was scales or what, but that’s how I’d describe what came off of him in the rodi water cup. Was some tiny white looking scales maybe? And I’m wondering if that’s just because it had been so many hours since death at that point.

 

[fishguy242]

can you post pic of what came off for the experts

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Would flukes even show itself in a freshwater dip if the fish died 6-7 hours ago? I just got home a half hour ago and put it in a cup of rodi water 10 minutes ago

Flukes typically bail off a fish within an hour or so of death, but still might be worth a try. Gill flukes are tiny though, you may not see them without a microscope.
Jay

 

[CincyReefer07]

can you post pic of what came off for the experts

There was no way to get a good picture of it. No microscope, didn’t have anything dark to put it up against as it was white and extremely tiny. Closest I had was an orange lid off a 5 gallon bucket and my cell phone camera couldn’t focus in close enough to even see it