Wrasse Can’t Swim and Is lying down.

[Brxdxn]

I have a 6 lined wrasse. I have had him for about a month. He got ich and I treated it and he was doing fine! He was eating swimming actively and being a fish. Until today, I woke up and noticed all my fish were out and he wasn’t he was hiding in a rock and he looked stuck so I moved the rock a little to see if he was stuck and he came out and went back to the rock all fine. So I was like idk maybe he just wants to chill. I then proceeded to do a water change just in case something was in the water and he wasn’t happy about it. So I went to work and come home and he cant even swim! It was so sad seeing him struggle and now he is lying down and just sitting their. I fed my tank and none of the food made his way so he didn’t eat and didn’t even look interested in food. Before I fed the tank I did a freshwater dip thinking he might have a parasite and I did that for about 3 minutes and he is the same. What should I do?

 

[TxReefer21]

I have a 6 lined wrasse. I have had him for about a month. He got ich and I treated it and he was doing fine! He was eating swimming actively and being a fish. Until today, I woke up and noticed all my fish were out and he wasn’t he was hiding in a rock and he looked stuck so I moved the rock a little to see if he was stuck and he came out and went back to the rock all fine. So I was like idk maybe he just wants to chill. I then proceeded to do a water change just in case something was in the water and he wasn’t happy about it. So I went to work and come home and he cant even swim! It was so sad seeing him struggle and now he is lying down and just sitting their. I fed my tank and none of the food made his way so he didn’t eat and didn’t even look interested in food. Before I fed the tank I did a freshwater dip thinking he might have a parasite and I did that for about 3 minutes and he is the same. What should I do?

Sounds like you’ve already done what I would do if you’ve already treated for ick and haven’t seen anything else going on related to it could be something else. Have you noticed him breathing or any of his fins moving when you try to get him to move. My 6 line will find a crevice in rock near bottom of tank and just hang out there to sleep or “chill” and then he will come out when he feels like it. I would check his gills get some active flow around him check to see if any part of the body looks odd.

 

[Brxdxn]

Yea I’m hoping he will be ok. I was starting to think that he may have swim bladder or constipation. And idk what to do when they get this. Do you maybe know?

 

[TxReefer21]

Yea I’m hoping he will be ok. I was starting to think that he may have swim bladder or constipation. And idk what to do when they get this. Do you maybe know?

Unfortunately I do not maybe @vetteguy53081 can help. I’ve only owned a couple wrasses and haven’t yet had any issues. Knock on wood.

 

[PBnJOnWheat]

Unfortunately I do not maybe @vetteguy53081 can help. I’ve only owned a couple wrasses and haven’t yet had any issues. Knock on wood.

If anyone will know it’s vetteguy! IMO if they can’t fight it off especially after that much treatment there’s not much else you can do. Treatment also stresses the fish out a lot and that in itself can make conditions worsen.

 

[TxReefer21]

If anyone will know it’s vetteguy! IMO if they can’t fight it off especially after that much treatment there’s not much else you can do. Treatment also stresses the fish out a lot and that in itself can make conditions worsen.

Absolutely trying different things all at once to quickly will definitely put the fish in the danger zone. I think he needs to put the wrasse in a separate area out of the tank with some water some flow and see what’s up with him. Or just let him be Most importantly not over stress the wrasse.

 

[PBnJOnWheat]

Absolutely trying different things all at once to quickly will definitely put the fish in the danger zone. I think he needs to put the wrasse in a separate area out of the tank with some water some flow and see what’s up with him. Or just let him be Most importantly not over stress the wrasse.

I’d almost say leave it and say a quick prayer. Sounds like you’ve done everything in the books and it hasn’t worked. I would leave him be to prevent any further stress but moving him may be a spike in stress early on but with no other fish less stress later.

 

[TxReefer21]

I’d almost say leave it and say a quick prayer. Sounds like you’ve done everything in the books and it hasn’t worked. I would leave him be to prevent any further stress but moving him may be a spike in stress early on but with no other fish less stress later.

Yeah I agree leaving him may be the best thing right now. Considering we don’t know what his/her PH is like ammonia levels nitrates and salinity. If that ick is no longer noticeable there’s something else going on.

 

[Brxdxn]

Thank you guys for your help. Idk how this is going to go my Nitrates have spiked up for some reason and I’ve done 2 so far and lowered them from 60 to 40 and I have no clue why it spiked I was doing my water changes and everything. This is very unfortunate this fish is beautiful and now its not looking so good. Ill leave it be and hopefully will go good with it. If not then you know its just life. U win some u lose some, I just wish I was more experienced and I could dose him properly but not yet, but hopefully things will go in the right path. He looked great for this whole month, but in one day he looks terrible. Idk, hopefully it wasn’t something of my wrong doing. Just sad seeing a fish suffer.

 

[Brxdxn]

Ive done 2 water changes*

 

[vetteguy53081]

Not much when it reaches this point
Can be intestinal, bladder or internal bacterial
If it were eating, there are a couple measures but this poor guy in distress

 

[Bars]

I'm not sure if sixlines jump and if you have a hard lid, but perhaps he 'simply' jumped, hit a hard object and as a result suffered an injury to his spine/tail. I've lost many exquisite fairy wrasses to either jumping out or for some reason hitting the rockwork hard and suffering spinal injury as a result.

Although in my experience these fish would usually struggle with swimming a few days before just giving up and laying on the sand bed.