help with sixline wrasse dieing

[qckslvr76]

Hello,

I have a sixline that is not looking to good. I have had him for about a week now and appeared to be acclimating to the tank well eating and swimming around the tank. Today I noticed he wasn't swimming around but found him laying in some of my rock still alive. Then he came out for a little while and swam around and now he is back in the rock again. He appears to be breathing heavily like he is not getting enough oxygen.

This is my second sixline wrasse and my other did the same thing. Had him also about week and found him laying in the rocks until I found him being devoured by my crabs.

I don't want to loose this fish but I can't get him out of the rock. I don't have a quarintine tank as of yet but wanted to atleast get him out of the rock and place him in a container of some sort until I can get him to the pet store tomorrow. Wether he lives or not since I still have my receipt.

I did check my params today. Here is what they are:

Salinity- 0.023
Nitrite- 0
Nitrate- .100
Ammonia- .25
ph- 8.0
temp 79-80

Has anyone had any problems like this with sixline wrasses before? Or could it be I am just getting bad fish? Any suggestions on getting him out of the rock so he don't get eatin by the crabs if he does die?

The tank has been set up for 7 months now.

Chris

[ThaFISHGUY]

Have you noticed your clarki clown harassing the sixline? Clarki's are known for picking on passive tankmates.. Which could explain the reason why the sixline is hiding in the rocks.

[qckslvr76]

No, the Clarki doesn't seem to be bothered by his presence. I haven't noticied him chasing him around or anything.

[ThaFISHGUY]

Was the problem with the sixline present as soon as you put him in your tank? How do you acclimate your fish into your tank?

[qckslvr76]

When I acclimate my fish I put the bag in the tank for about 20-30 min for temp. Then I put some of my water in the bag and let it sit in the tank for about another 20-30 min. I net the fish out and place it in the tank. I do not poor the LFS water into my tank.

The sixline seemed to be acclimating well, swimming around, picking the pods off the rocks, eating when I fed them. He seemed fine. As I mention above this is the second one I had do the same thing. He lasted about a week and half.

Any thoughts on getting him out of the rock?

[ThaFISHGUY]

The only thing that i can think of is the Clarki. You say that he has never picked on or harassed the sixline, that you've seen. Try looking into your tank at night. Sometimes they like to wait until nobody is looking.

[qckslvr76]

Anybody have any suggestions on getting the sixline out of the live rock?

[qckslvr76]

Thanks fish guy if he makes it I will try to look at night and see if anything happens.

[SAT]

The symptom is typical of protozoan parasites on the gills, such as Brooklynella or Amlyoodinium (I'd list Ich or Cryptocaryon, except you didn't mention any spots). If so, it's likely your other fish have immunity since they aren't showing symptoms. I suggest waiting at least six weeks before you try again. That should be long enough for any parasites to die out, assuming your current fish aren't hosting them.

Did you see any other symptoms, such as discoloration of the skin, cloudy eyes, or cloudiness on the fins, prior to death? If so, that could help pinpoint the cause.

I suggest you set up a quarantine tank. That way you can be reasonably sure you won't introduce any more baddies to your display tank. See: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-1...ture/index.htm

That 0.25 for ammonia is worrisome. It's probably not high enough to cause the symptom you listed, but it's plenty high for long term exposure to damage fish. Much higher and it could be your culprit. Did you list ammonia at that level because it's the lowest your test kit will go, or do you actually have that much in your tank? Generally speaking, you should not detect any ammonia in your tank, and 0.1ppm is the limit before I would take action.