Opinion on odd acting Banana Wrasse

Ev8siveaz · Jan 5, 2023

Hey everyone,

I have had been dealing with a strange issue out of my banana wrasse for the past 10 days or so. I have reached out to a few people that I trust on here but everyone seems stumped as to what is going on with it. I figured I would put a last ditch effort to see if anyone has anyone else has any suggestions/opinions/observations/etc. I have a feeling this may be one of the times where nothing can really be done for the fish but figured it was worth posting about.

A little background: I got this banana wrasse about a month ago. He acclimated great, had a loud personality, and ate like a pig for weeks. I thought at one point that my tank had flukes from how my other wrasses were acting so I treated with prazi. This fish and a cuban hogfish were added in the middle of a treatment so I went 4 full treatments, 8 days apart, to make sure that the flukes and eggs would be taken care of. I havent seen any signs from my other fish other than some scratching here and there but it hasnt been really frequent and, in my opinion, it is pretty normal for wrasse to scratch from time to time.

I have also tested my tank and dont see anything odd with my readings:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 21
Phos: 0.5
Ph: 7.8

On 12/27, I went to feed my tank for its morning feeding and noticed that my banana wrasse was not out for feeding. This was definitely unusual as he is the most aggressive eater in the tank and normal first to eat. I looked for him and found him hiding in the rocks. He did this for about 2 days before he actually came out again. When he first came out, he was swimming really odd. Basically in circles and he was running into rocks, other fish, the walls, etc. I reached out to Jay to see if he had unknown wrasse disease. Jay said that it was uncommon in Bananas and to keep an eye on him. I went to feed the fish that evening and noticed that the banana was out trying to eat with everyone but completely missing his food. The next day he would not eat again but I did catch him swimming around with a big piece of frozen grocery store shrimp that my eel must have dropped. To me, it looked like he was going blind or at least acting like it. I even tried to do sudden movements outside of the tank and he didnt respond to it at all. A few days passed like this and he started to swim normal again and react to my hand outside of the tank. It appears that his vision is back. He has been out for every feeding swimming around with the other fish but he has not had an interest in the food. He swims around it like he is going to go for it but never tries. I did see him grab a piece of clam from the eel yesterday but other than that nothing else. It has now been 10 days since hes eaten a full meal and for the past 2 days he has been hanging out in the top corner of the tank a lot. Even after 10 days of not eating, I don't feel that he has gotten any thinner.

I included a video of him hanging out in the upper corner of the tank. He does this more and more. Does anyone have any thoughts on why he went downhill? No other fish in my tank seem to have a problem. At first I thought bullying. I have set up a camera and watched from afar and I dont see anyone bothering him. I then thought that maybe he was caught with cyanide and I am now seeing the affects. I would love to see if anyone has any thoughts or suggestions as I think hes going to be in trouble soon since he really hasnt eaten in 10 days. Thanks in advance.

banana top of tank

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This is how he is swimming around today. Swims fine and looks healthy. It's just odd.

tank 1/5/23

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KrisReef · Jan 5, 2023

The good news is that Banana was healthy before the incident so it can survive a little while before lack of nutrition becomes a huge factor with the patient. I’m glad you have consulted with Jay first and sad that there’s no clear disease identified that might have a clear treatment option.

The symptoms are non specific but they do mimic or align with many untreatable indications. I’m sadly familiar with the effects of substance abuse and while I don’t think your fish got some “bad drugs” it may have ingested a bad fish pellet, or got jabbed from a poison fin ray to cause the behaviors and progression that you have reported.

It is interesting that it is now letting the eel take a bite and taste any food items before it grabs and eats.

Poison fish spine jab, toxic PSP microbes concentrated or present inside a filter feeding prey item, or a rotten piece of food might be indicated. If you can set up a recovery tank to lower stress would seem to be the only option no matter the cause.
Hopefully it continues to improve and makes a full recovery.

One Step at a Time.

MnFish1 · Jan 5, 2023

KrisReef said:
The good news is that Banana was healthy before the incident so it can survive a little while before lack of nutrition becomes a huge factor with the patient. I’m glad you have consulted with Jay first and sad that there’s no clear disease identified that might have a clear treatment option.

The symptoms are non specific but they do mimic or align with many untreatable indications. I’m sadly familiar with the effects of substance abuse and while I don’t think your fish got some “bad drugs” it may have ingested a bad fish pellet, or got jabbed from a poison fin ray to cause the behaviors and progression that you have reported.

It is interesting that it is now letting the eel take a bite and taste any food items before it grabs and eats.

Poison fish spine jab, toxic PSP microbes concentrated or present inside a filter feeding prey item, or a rotten piece of food might be indicated. If you can set up a recovery tank to lower stress would seem to be the only option no matter the cause.
Hopefully it continues to improve and makes a full recovery.

One Step at a Time.

Agreed

Ev8siveaz · Jan 5, 2023

KrisReef said:
The good news is that Banana was healthy before the incident so it can survive a little while before lack of nutrition becomes a huge factor with the patient. I’m glad you have consulted with Jay first and sad that there’s no clear disease identified that might have a clear treatment option.

The symptoms are non specific but they do mimic or align with many untreatable indications. I’m sadly familiar with the effects of substance abuse and while I don’t think your fish got some “bad drugs” it may have ingested a bad fish pellet, or got jabbed from a poison fin ray to cause the behaviors and progression that you have reported.

It is interesting that it is now letting the eel take a bite and taste any food items before it grabs and eats.

Poison fish spine jab, toxic PSP microbes concentrated or present inside a filter feeding prey item, or a rotten piece of food might be indicated. If you can set up a recovery tank to lower stress would seem to be the only option no matter the cause.
Hopefully it continues to improve and makes a full recovery.

One Step at a Time.

Thanks! Definitely good insight. I didn't think about bad food or poison from something else in the tank. I do have a lionfish and thought he may have gotten stung at one point but Jay said I would see a clear puncture if that was the case and there isn't one.

Unfortunately I don't have another tank. I do have an open spot in my sump that has nothing but live rock in it if you think that would be less stress for him. Not sure if it would be.

Ev8siveaz · Jan 5, 2023

@Jay Hemdal @MnFish1 @KrisReef I am now starting to see all 4 of my wrasses scratch/bounce off the literal same spot of my overflow. Would it be safe to assume a parasite of some sort again (if so, I think I have a prazi resistant strain of flukes) or could this be behavioral/territorial that they all do it at the same time in the same place? The banana actually charged the bird as he was doing this and then bounced off the same spot. After that the hogfish did and then the fairy. I got the bird and fairy on video doing it.

I wouldn't question it if it wasn't the same exact spot for all of them. Literally the only place I've seen any fish "scratch" in my tank is on that part of the overflow.

Ev8siveaz · Jan 5, 2023

After watching the bird wrasse go after this spot again, it looks like he is picking something from the wall and then eating it. That may be why they are all running into that area.

Jay Hemdal · Jan 5, 2023

Could be behavioral/feeding, but that last video with the fairy wrasse, that isn't a feeding response, definitely a scratch.

Just curious - your lionfish looks a bit pale and mopey. Does it perk up when you feed it? Also, any worries that it might take out your Cuban hogfish?

Jay

Ev8siveaz · Jan 5, 2023

Jay Hemdal said:
Could be behavioral/feeding, but that last video with the fairy wrasse, that isn't a feeding response, definitely a scratch.

Just curious - your lionfish looks a bit pale and mopey. Does it perk up when you feed it? Also, any worries that it might take out your Cuban hogfish?

Jay

I think there is definitely something in the tank. They all seem to be scratching. Not really sure what to do at this point. I have dosed prazi pro a total of 6 times in the past 6 months. Always gets better after I dose but then goes back a week or so after.

Could they be scratching from the healing from the prior prazi treatments?

It's funny you say that. Today is the first day he has looked like this and didn't want to eat. It appears he isn't feeling well too. He is pretty well fed and I've never even seen him look at another fish in the time that I've had him.

I'm thinking I need to go hyposalinity. Any direction on me to start. I will start tomorrow.

vetteguy53081 · Jan 5, 2023

While prazi addresses flukes, certain flukes takes longer and often requires additional treatment. One thing that may change their response to treatment is . . . . .. How did you use and treat with Prazi Pro?
Typically despite the bottle 5 day is to do an initial dose for 8 days, do a water change day nine and do one more 8 day dose interval
Use airstone with prazi as it does reduce both oxygen and appetite

Jay Hemdal · Jan 5, 2023

Ev8siveaz said:
I think there is definitely something in the tank. They all seem to be scratching. Not really sure what to do at this point. I have dosed prazi pro a total of 6 times in the past 6 months. Always gets better after I dose but then goes back a week or so after.

Could they be scratching from the healing from the prior prazi treatments?

It's funny you say that. Today is the first day he has looked like this and didn't want to eat. It appears he isn't feeling well too. He is pretty well fed and I've never even seen him look at another fish in the time that I've had him.

I'm thinking I need to go hyposalinity. Any direction on me to start. I will start tomorrow.

Ah, so multiple prazi treatments grows a population of prazi eating bacteria in a tank that then pull it out of solution so quickly that it no longer works well. Your tank may have that issue. If so, hypo is your next step. Here is a thread that discuses that:

Hyposalinity

Hyposalinity Jay Hemdal 2021 This term refers to a long-term bath treatment for marine fishes in which the salt content of the water is lowered and held below the point that certain parasites can survive. The salt level reached, and the time of the treatment are the two variables...

www.reef2reef.com

Jay