Sick Cirrhalabrus Rhomboidalis

#1
Hi Friends,

This pretty girl isn't acting right. She's breathing heavily and just sort of hanging out in one area. She's new (1 week) and was NOT qt'd. (No lectures please, she was ordered and came in early while I had the flu. This is the first set of fish not qt'd and won't happen again, promise).

So I'm posting in experts area because a lot of people will watch this video and say "she's just being a wrasse", which is what I thought the first time I saw this a couple of years ago with a labouti. He died 3 days later. Here is the list of her symptoms, which mirror his exactly.

1. Upon introduction, no hiding. Immediate acclimation with no apparent stress.
2. Perfect eating from day one. No loss of appetite.
3. Seems exceptionally friendly, at the front of the glass every day. Wrasses should be off picking at rocks or something, not happily staring me in the face.
4. An apparent bounce when treading water. Almost like a bouyancy issue (I have considered swim bladder, as she is a deep-water wrasse).
5. A tendency for the back end of the fish to be lower than the front end (head is higher than tail)
6. Heavy breathing, especially after eating.


I pulled her out and have her in my QT now. I'm about to start Prazi, but I'm looking for advice. If she dies, I will certainly dissect her and microscope the findings for the cause, but I would really like to avoid that. I really like this fish. If anyone has experience with this, please let me know. I'll cross-post on R2R as I have never posted this and want as many eyes as possible on this in case someone knows. Thanks in advance!
 

SynDen

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#2
Not really sure, and others likely will have a better answer, but my first guess would be some sort of flukes. Which if it is, Prazi should work on it, and freshwater dips may help as well. At the least, a freshwater dip could determine if it is flukes or not, as the parasite(s) will fall off during the dip.
 

Fourthwind

Anthias
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#4
I have seen the same thing on a carpenters wrasse I had. The head up part suggests internal parasites or infection affecting the swim bladder. I agree prazi is a good start. Would also slowly reduce the salinity down to 1.020 over a day. Get some Furazone green on hand in case its bacterial. Might also consider some Metronidiazole. If you get a binder like seachem focus, you could soak some mysis in the metro and feed it.
 

jda123

Dolphin
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#5
If it is eating, get it some pellets in some garlic. While I do not think that garlic is a miracle cure, it seems to really help the fish fight off any parasites that it might have. I do think that it helps do a degree. Plus, fish seem to like to eat it.

I would be cautious of hypo salinity with wrasses. Some are Ok with it and some are not... not sure where Cirrhalabrus wrasses fit in. Hypo is near death for leopards and some flashers and fairies.

I have no specific experience with Cirr wrasses, but I have seen other fish act like this when they have infected swim bladders. I have seen this mostly with deepwater fish, but I do not think that Rhomboids are all that deep.
 
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