Sick Wrasse

[Tinman]

Hi,
I have 5 fish in quarantine recovering from ich treatment. I have 2 oscellaris clowns, a blue neon goby, a yellow goby and a 6-line wrasse. They have all been in quarantine for 3 months and have recovered wonderfully well.
The tank is a bare tank with 4 PVC tubes in it, temp is 80, salt is 1.024, ph is 8.2, ammonia is .1 mg/L, nitrites are 0, and nitrates are 0. I do daily water changes of 20% to keep the water clean and have done so for their entire quarantine. They are 2 days from being released from quarantine and put back into the display tank.
Here is my problem, the wrasse has stopped eating and is swimming into the walls. He is nose up in the corner and it almost looks like he is bent at the middle. He has been eating well all along until the other day. The water has been constant and nothing drastic has changed. I don't see anything on him nor do I see any physical problems. His fins are full and he has no obvious bite or nibble marks, just some very odd behaviour and a complete lack of appetite.
Has anyone seen behaviour and eating habits change like this before?

Thanks,
Mike

[vio]

sorry to hear about your troubles. How big is your quarantine? maybe is is very stressed out from the tight quarters.

[Tinman]

Thanks, it is a 25 gal that they have been in for a while. They are all small fish at the moment, the largest being one of the clowns at 3 inches in length. The rest are all less than 2 inches in length. I am going to put the rest back into the display tomorrow and hopefully that will help him to recover.

[leebca]

Most likely something it ate or didn't eat. I may spot something if you provide a complete list of all foods fed this fish, how often the fish are fed, and any other information regarding how much food is fed.

[Tinman]

Hi Lee,
I feed frozen brine shrimp twice a day and the amount is a piece about the size of a quarter for all five fish. I then do a clean up of the tank after to remove what little gets left over. The food hasn't changed and is the same package I have been feeding them for the past month.
I moved the other 4 fish back to the display tank where they are happily swimming around. The wrasse is currently in the corner of the tank straight up and down with his nose almost out of the water. I have never seen him do this before...
Thanks again,
Mike

[Tinman]

I should clarify, the wrasse is the only fish in the 25 gal QT now.

[leebca]

Brine shrimp has very little nutritional value for marine fishes. Keep in mind that a marine fish never saw a brine shrimp in the wild.

You need to improve its diet considerably. Please start by reading this: Feeding Marine Fish and Fish Nutrition

I wouldn't be surprised that the food it was getting before you got it and now are both contributing to its problems. There are many other worthy frozen marine foods to choose from. Feed only foods from the sea. Not only do you want another food, but you want to feed a variety of the right kinds of foods. The three foods to avoid are Brine Shrimp, pellets, and flakes. Read the above for other ideas and things to put into (additives) the food.

[Tinman]

Thanks Lee,
I never even thought to look into that. I hope I am not too late to help my poor wrasse. Very much appreciated.

Mike