Melanurus Wrasse dead after 6 days

[DustinDec]

I’ve been trying without success to keep a Melanurus wrasse and I’m uncertain why it has been so difficult. I tried a larger one this time, and it seemed fine for several days but yesterday it was barely swimming, almost like it hurt its spine as it wouldn’t swim around but rather straight into glass. I’m wondering if it could be due to tangs bullying it.

I fed ocean one and ocean two flakes once a day, strip of SF seaweed, and a rotation of the saltwater frozen food by SF (one cube at night). With the cube I do a few drops of garlic extract and selcon.

Fish in tank:
Blue tang
Yellow tang
white tail bristletooth tang
3 x Banggai cardinalfish
2 x Green chromis
2 x clown
Foxface
Diamond goby
3 sea urchin

It was eating, no problems. I had a slight spike in salinity due to ATO being left off by mistake last water change which brought it up to around 38 ppt for one day, it’s back down to 35. I didn’t see anything obvious problems until yesterday and it was too late at that point. All other fish are doing great, though I did have one cardinal that I bought same day, pass away after two days.

water parameters (water change due tomorrow):
Ph: 8
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Alk: 8
Calc: 475
Mag: 1450
Nitrate: Hannah says 19.1 / api says 5-10

Going to get my water tested at LFS today as well as it’s been awhile. I think my calc and mag are a little high, so depending of LFS test I’ll be reducing dosing. I’m still not seeing any red flags though.

My Royal gramma had problems a few weeks ago, but it’s fine now. I tried using a home made trap in cause there was a mantis shrimp, nothing. Could just be bad luck, but I got multiple fish from that fish store and they’re fine. I really want a yellow or Melanurus wrasse, but I don’t want to repeat the same issue. Thoughts on causes?

 

[vetteguy53081]

I’ve been trying without success to keep a Melanurus wrasse and I’m uncertain why it has been so difficult. I tried a larger one this time, and it seemed fine for several days but yesterday it was barely swimming, almost like it hurt its spine as it wouldn’t swim around but rather straight into glass. I’m wondering if it could be due to tangs bullying it.

I fed ocean one and ocean two flakes once a day, strip of SF seaweed, and a rotation of the saltwater frozen food by SF (one cube at night). With the cube I do a few drops of garlic extract and selcon.

Fish in tank:
Blue tang
Yellow tang
white tail bristletooth tang
3 x Banggai cardinalfish
2 x Green chromis
2 x clown
Foxface
Diamond goby
3 sea urchin

It was eating, no problems. I had a slight spike in salinity due to ATO being left off by mistake last water change which brought it up to around 38 ppt for one day, it’s back down to 35. I didn’t see anything obvious problems until yesterday and it was too late at that point. All other fish are doing great, though I did have one cardinal that I bought same day, pass away after two days.

water parameters (water change due tomorrow):
Ph: 8
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Alk: 8
Calc: 475
Mag: 1450
Nitrate: Hannah says 19.1 / api says 5-10

Going to get my water tested at LFS today as well as it’s been awhile. I think my calc and mag are a little high, so depending of LFS test I’ll be reducing dosing. I’m still not seeing any red flags though.

My Royal gramma had problems a few weeks ago, but it’s fine now. I tried using a home made trap in cause there was a mantis shrimp, nothing. Could just be bad luck, but I got multiple fish from that fish store and they’re fine. I really want a yellow or Melanurus wrasse, but I don’t want to repeat the same issue. Thoughts on causes?

I see tail nipped and bitten at which may suggest aggression. What other fish were in with it?
As for bent spine, may be neurological but more info on behaviors needed although its hard to develop a history over 6 days. It appears it was entered into display tank right away and you may want to consider quarantine with a deep bowl of sand and assure acclimation is done well.

 

[Snowxcross]

I’ve been trying without success to keep a Melanurus wrasse and I’m uncertain why it has been so difficult. I tried a larger one this time, and it seemed fine for several days but yesterday it was barely swimming, almost like it hurt its spine as it wouldn’t swim around but rather straight into glass. I’m wondering if it could be due to tangs bullying it.

I fed ocean one and ocean two flakes once a day, strip of SF seaweed, and a rotation of the saltwater frozen food by SF (one cube at night). With the cube I do a few drops of garlic extract and selcon.

Fish in tank:
Blue tang
Yellow tang
white tail bristletooth tang
3 x Banggai cardinalfish
2 x Green chromis
2 x clown
Foxface
Diamond goby
3 sea urchin

It was eating, no problems. I had a slight spike in salinity due to ATO being left off by mistake last water change which brought it up to around 38 ppt for one day, it’s back down to 35. I didn’t see anything obvious problems until yesterday and it was too late at that point. All other fish are doing great, though I did have one cardinal that I bought same day, pass away after two days.

water parameters (water change due tomorrow):
Ph: 8
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Alk: 8
Calc: 475
Mag: 1450
Nitrate: Hannah says 19.1 / api says 5-10

Going to get my water tested at LFS today as well as it’s been awhile. I think my calc and mag are a little high, so depending of LFS test I’ll be reducing dosing. I’m still not seeing any red flags though.

My Royal gramma had problems a few weeks ago, but it’s fine now. I tried using a home made trap in cause there was a mantis shrimp, nothing. Could just be bad luck, but I got multiple fish from that fish store and they’re fine. I really want a yellow or Melanurus wrasse, but I don’t want to repeat the same issue. Thoughts on causes?

Hey! Your tank has really only been up for 2 months. Not to say you cant add fish right away, but you have no things for this fish to graze on all day. This thing thrives on searching the tank all day for worms of all sorts, snails, etc. If it cant find anything you have to supplement it with Mysis/brine, etc... and maybe the problem is it's not enough. Possibly 2 frozen cubes of mysis a day is what is needed until you start populating your tank with the right bio diversity. The items you listed that you feed are more for herbivores like tangs, etc... Although i dont know what SF pack you're using? Get some Reef Frenzy and let the fish eat a variety.

 

[DustinDec]

Hey! Your tank has really only been up for 2 months. Not to say you cant add fish right away, but you have no things for this fish to graze on all day. This thing thrives on searching the tank all day for worms of all sorts, snails, etc. If it cant find anything you have to supplement it with Mysis/brine, etc... and maybe the problem is it's not enough. Possibly 2 frozen cubes of mysis a day is what is needed until you start populating your tank with the right bio diversity. The items you listed that you feed are more for herbivores like tangs, etc... Although i dont know what SF pack you're using? Get some Reef Frenzy and let the fish eat a variety.

Tank is around 7 - 8 months old. I have had success with our 3 tangs and foxface which is why it seems more geared towards them. But I made sure to include carnivore diet in the mkx and even try focus feeding the wrasse. I will try to expand on that further though. Right now we have no snails, just sea urchins and a single tiger conch that pops up every so often. Should I try stocking small snails?

I did put them directly into DT after letting the bag sit for 20min within tank. I do not have a QT set up at this time, though I’ve considered it.

I listed all our fish in my original post, the only fish I think would mess with the wrasse are the tangs. They definitely own our tank, but I never saw them attacking the wrasse and while my camera isn’t st the best angle, didn’t witness anything when spot checking.

 

[Uncle99]

I see what @vetteguy53081 pointed out.

Looks like being chased.

 

[I never finish anythi]

100% got a beaten up tail .you do have a decent sand bed for the wrass to hide/sleep in, don't you ?

 

[Snowxcross]

Tank is around 7 - 8 months old. I have had success with our 3 tangs and foxface which is why it seems more geared towards them. But I made sure to include carnivore diet in the mkx and even try focus feeding the wrasse. I will try to expand on that further though. Right now we have no snails, just sea urchins and a single tiger conch that pops up every so often. Should I try stocking small snails?

I did put them directly into DT after letting the bag sit for 20min within tank. I do not have a QT set up at this time, though I’ve considered it.

I listed all our fish in my original post, the only fish I think would mess with the wrasse are the tangs. They definitely own our tank, but I never saw them attacking the wrasse and while my camera isn’t st the best angle, didn’t witness anything when spot checking.

Ah my bad, i saw your build thread and noticed the Nov 2024 photo (thought it was the final photo of the build). I really dont think you have an aggression problem, i think it's feeding but everyone has an opinion - best of luck.

 

[DustinDec]

100% got a beaten up tail .you do have a decent sand bed for the wrass to hide/sleep in, don't you ?

I think so, here is a photo though. Should I add more before trying again? I can do more rock as well.

I’ve seen my whitetail chase the diamond goby several time, just never catches it.

 

[DustinDec]

Ah my bad, i saw your build thread and noticed the Nov 2024 photo (thought it was the final photo of the build). I really dont think you have an aggression problem, i think it's feeding but everyone has an opinion - best of luck.

I’m always open to feedback! If you have suggestions on things to add to make this successful please let me know. Even if it’s just another frozen food to add to the rotation.

 

[I never finish anythi]

Looks ok tbh . I have roughly the same depth SB and mine seems ok in it . Nice tank btw .

 

[Snowxcross]

I’m always open to feedback! If you have suggestions on things to add to make this successful please let me know. Even if it’s just another frozen food to add to the rotation.

I've only lost fish due to jumping and invested in a custom lid since. I feed a variety but my go to for years is reef frenzy. Try that.

 

[DustinDec]

Looks ok tbh . I have roughly the same depth SB and mine seems ok in it . Nice tank btw .

So the ruling theory seems to be bullying. I guess I’ll look up possible solutions . Though I can’t see us getting rid of the tangs.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I’ve been trying without success to keep a Melanurus wrasse and I’m uncertain why it has been so difficult. I tried a larger one this time, and it seemed fine for several days but yesterday it was barely swimming, almost like it hurt its spine as it wouldn’t swim around but rather straight into glass. I’m wondering if it could be due to tangs bullying it.

I fed ocean one and ocean two flakes once a day, strip of SF seaweed, and a rotation of the saltwater frozen food by SF (one cube at night). With the cube I do a few drops of garlic extract and selcon.

Fish in tank:
Blue tang
Yellow tang
white tail bristletooth tang
3 x Banggai cardinalfish
2 x Green chromis
2 x clown
Foxface
Diamond goby
3 sea urchin

It was eating, no problems. I had a slight spike in salinity due to ATO being left off by mistake last water change which brought it up to around 38 ppt for one day, it’s back down to 35. I didn’t see anything obvious problems until yesterday and it was too late at that point. All other fish are doing great, though I did have one cardinal that I bought same day, pass away after two days.

water parameters (water change due tomorrow):
Ph: 8
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Alk: 8
Calc: 475
Mag: 1450
Nitrate: Hannah says 19.1 / api says 5-10

Going to get my water tested at LFS today as well as it’s been awhile. I think my calc and mag are a little high, so depending of LFS test I’ll be reducing dosing. I’m still not seeing any red flags though.

My Royal gramma had problems a few weeks ago, but it’s fine now. I tried using a home made trap in cause there was a mantis shrimp, nothing. Could just be bad luck, but I got multiple fish from that fish store and they’re fine. I really want a yellow or Melanurus wrasse, but I don’t want to repeat the same issue. Thoughts on causes?

I've had some issues with these and similar wrasse when newly acquired. They seem to have some difficulty getting through the supply chain in good condition, especially larger ones. What happens is that the shipper tries to fit as many fish into a box as they can. This disproportionally harms larger fish, because they tend to ship them in smaller bags than they really ought to.

Your fish indeed seems to have some tail damage, most likely from another fish in the tank. A long shot - but perhaps this wrasse was burying into the substrate at night, but its tail was exposed, leading to a fish biting it. When a healthy wrasse is swimming around, it is unlikely for other fish being able to run it down and bite its tail.

There is also an unknown wrasse disease that we see once in awhile - it kind of sounds like your report that your wrasse was unable to swim properly. Once KEY diagnostic for this issue though, is that the afflicted wrasse, while not able to swim correctly will still usually try to feed. Here is a thread about that:

Unknown Neurological Wrasse Disease (UNWD)

Unknown Neurological Wrasse disease (UNWD) There is a disease that afflicts newly acquired wrasses, usually Cirrhilabrus fairy wrasses or flasher wrasses, Pseudocheilinus, but occasionally other species as well. The gross visual symptoms are always the same; the fish shows a rapid onset of...

www.reef2reef.com

Here is a thread on melanurus:

Melanurus Wrasse

Hey guys, Been thinking about picking up a Melanurus wrasse but am not too familiar with them. I noticed on a few fish vender websites they categorize them as “reef safe: with caution”. I wasn’t sure if people have had any negative experience that would suggest not adding one. I currently run a...

www.reef2reef.com

Jay

 

[MnFish1]

you had 2 fish die - the cardinal and the wrasse - if I understand entirely - the rapid (how many days was it) - rise in salinity (if it was rapid) - could have caused part of the problem - and mimicked a neurological issue. Its hard to see how big your wrasse was - but I don't see a huge amount of hiding places - in case of aggression (which seems to be the case based on the photos)

 

[DustinDec]

you had 2 fish die - the cardinal and the wrasse - if I understand entirely - the rapid (how many days was it) - rise in salinity (if it was rapid) - could have caused part of the problem - and mimicked a neurological issue. Its hard to see how big your wrasse was - but I don't see a huge amount of hiding places - in case of aggression (which seems to be the case based on the photos)

I've added rock three times since I first posted my build thread. Im actually thinking considering adding a little more, but there is more on the back left and right. That said, there isn't really anywhere the tangs can't squeeze into.