Yellowtail Coris Wrasse MIA. . .

[polskp]

I could use some opinions here.

I decided to add a wrasse to my 75 reef tank following the natural passing of my flame shrimp. I found a beautiful Yelllowtail Coris Wrasse at my LFS, which appeared in excellent shape on inspection. He looked healthy, active, was vibrantly colored, and ate some mysid at the LFS (he had been there three weeks I was told).

I pounced on him, and brought him home. I float acclimated the wrasse for about 45 minutes, slowly adding tank water after temp equilibrium. He then dashed under a rock, and into the sand bed as I expected for about a half an hour. Shortly thereafter he came out and was swimming quite peacefully among my other fishes. (Which include a small, though somewhat bigger than the wrasse Yellow Tang, a small coral beauty, two ocellaris, and a pseudochromis.) Everyone seemed happy for an hour so I slowly turned on the lights. He was out for about four hours, and seemed to be doing quite well. He was checking out the tank, swimming through rocks, then he disappeared at about 8 PM. I have yet to see him since.

I suspected that he went to sleep per his normal lighting schedule at the LFS. And even though my lights stay on till 12 AM, I expected to see him out fresh in the morning. Well it has been nearly 20 hours (6 of which are daylight in the tank) and he has yet to make an appearance.

I guess I am just worried that he died somewhere, and that I will not be able to find him. Any thoughts would be appreciated!

Thanks!
Pete

[pixburg-reefer]

some wrasses sleep/hide in the sandbed. I do not know if the coris wrasse is one of them, but maybe look under your tank, under the sand, and see if you can see him.
or some wrasses are jumpers and he may have jumped out of the tank. I doubt it, but you still may want to look around the tank.
hth
kelly

[Kutter]

I had a great little Yellow Coris wrasse. At night he hid in the sand and the morning he would come out like clockwork.

Sadly, a few weeks back when I removed my Remora Pro (replaced it with a Euro-Reef CS12-3), there was a small opening at the back of the tank. Before I had a chance to cover it with some styrofoam, he jumped out. I found him the next day.

So, hopefully yours shows up but make sure every possible opening where he could jump out of is covered.

HTH.

[MiddletonMark]

Check the overflow too. My little flasher wrasse seems to love it in there.

[polskp]

Thanks for the replies guys! I didn't have the tank covered at all before today when I cut up some egg crate. Do you think that the wrasse might have jumped out overnight? ? ? I looked everywhere surrounding the tank, and can't find him. Thus I would assume that he is still hiding in the tank. It just seems weird that I would not have seen him at this point. I mean, it's not that big of a tank!!!!

[Frankysreef]

Might just be buried in the sand... Probly scared.. He'll come out.

[Kschell]

My Red Corris (Coris gaimard- I thnk that Yellowtail is the same?) used to dissapear for up to 3 days, although after 2 days, I get nervous enough to go digging around in the substrate for it. After 2 years he is always out and about, unless scared.

One question: I thought that these are not particularly 'reef safe'?

k.

[FastUno]

I have a red coris too, just bought him last week. I slowly did the acclimation thing & sent him off to the main tank. He swam happily for a while & disappeared the next day. I took him for dead, but to much surprise showed face a day later. It has been about 4 days now & no sign of him!

He is going to get hungry at one point, right?

[polskp]

Me too, except this has been a week today. I now have seen him three times, and am worried that he has not eaten in almost a week (excluding the pod scavenging he may do while he makes his rare camios). Any thoughts?

[Kschell]

When mine is gone for a while, I dig around (very gently) in the substrate till i find it. They are shy for a few months, and very much aware of what is going on outside the tank. I have had mine for 2 years, and he stopped taking 'days off' after the first year or so.

FastUno: 29 gal. seems small for a fish that will grow up to 1' long, do you have plans for this? Is yours in juv. coloration? I have heard that the juv. are more difficult.

With that much rock, i would think that he will just eat when hungry, until he figures out the feeding schedule.


k.

[FastUno]

Yea, mine is very small about 2 1/2" or so.
I should have listened to everyone, but I did not. I went small & now have plans for the next upgrade.

Damn & I had a 55g tank fully loaded, just wanted to start out small & go big when I moved. Looks like I cant wait that long!

[tdtiger]

Same here darn thing was fine for two days. Came out when the lights came on and gone in the sand at night. Its going on 4 days now and I havnt seen him anywhere. Most of the tank is covered, he's not on the ground anywhere I can see.

Whats the longest has anyone had their yellow coris/canary wrasse dissapear for?

[FastUno]

Damn, I am opening a door-to-door business selling these fish to reefers. I will come to you & offer you a big discount for it. As I am about to put it in I will tell you to look up, pretend to slip it in your tank & give you the explanation of the natural behaviors of this fish. I will make a killing!

So I paid money for a fish that I have, but just don't really have! Now what? On day 5 & no signs.

At least I took a pic of him before he went away.

[tdtiger]

Day 4 about 30 minutes ago the amazing thing has just happened! My yellow coris wrasse just appeared!!! But it has pop eyes in both eyes and doesnt swim straight.

What to do what to? I've taken it out of the main tank and put it in a seperate tank. Should I just wait it out? 4 days...I definitely thought it was a goner and now it just might be if it doesnt come through.

[Devious Rhesus]

Deja vu! My new sixline has been MIA since Friday.... and I only have a 29 gallon!

[Kschell]

tdtiger:
Be sure that the water quality is perfect in the isolation tank, and that it has proper filtration to avoid a cycle. I would treat with saltwater Myracin 2, (if tank has no live rock or coral) as it is most likely a bacterial infection. (search disease forum here) This particular fish likes to hide- i would also be sure the tank has enough substrate for it to burry itself.

good luck.

Fastuno: do you have a DSB? Might be worth digging around- also keep an eye out for ammonia spike: a sure sign that the fish has passed on...

K.

[tdtiger]

kschell, yeh i made a fresh mix of sw with no lr or corals and keeping the water circulating.

[chevyII]

TDtigers fish jumped out of his isolation tank lol. It is remembered buy its cousin goby and his friends shrimp and crab.

[tdtiger]

lol yeh darn fishie jumped out of its isolation tank over night sometime between 3AM and 6AM. top was half covered.