What to do about my wrasse?

austinl01

austinl01

Member
I bought a six-line wrasse two weeks ago. When I placed him in the tank, he hid immediately between my live rocks. I haven't seen him since the first day. My tank is covered so there's no way he could have jumped out. What should I do? I'm concerned he could be dead and spoiling the water.
 
molsen187

molsen187

Member
what other fish do you have in the tank? it could be he is just hiding. sometimes it takes some time for a fish to get used to its new digs and it may not be out as much while it does. if you are scared it is messing up the water test the water and see what the results are.
 
austinl01

austinl01

Member
Thanks. I just think it's strange for it to be hidden that long! I will test the water and let you know. I don't think any of my current inhabitants would hurt the wrasse. I have the following in my tank:

1 Orange Ocellaris Clown, 1 Flame Tail Blenny, 1 Yellow Watchman Goby with a Tiger Pistol Shrimp, 1 Diamond Goby, 1 Six Line Wrasse, 1 Sea Urchin, 3 Turbo Snails, and 12 Hermit Crabs, 1 Coral Banded Shrimp
 
molsen187

molsen187

Member
i bet he is just hiding out for now. my guess is the longer you have him the more you will see him out and about. i had a flasher wrasse that stayed out of sight for t least a week before he was out and about with the rest of the fish. the other fish don't sound like anything that should be bothering the wrasse. if he is tiny he may just be nervous.
 
molsen187

molsen187

Member
yeah i would check everything you can. check nitrites as well if there are any of those in the water that could kill the fish. what is the ph at?
 
P

PghFishNerd

Member
Yeah that sounds like a normal 6-line thing to do. Mine was like that at first and then became fearless about a month later. I used to sneak up on him by creeping around on the other side of the room. Another thing u could do is look around as soon as your lights come on. Sometimes mine would be swimming around when the tank was dark in the early morning.
 
austinl01

austinl01

Member
I completed a water test today and here are the results:

Ammonia = 0.5
pH = 8.4
Nitrate = 0
Nitrite ~ 0.02

It's the end of the month so it's time for my 30% water change. Are these values high considering it is water change time? Would they be much higher if the wrasse was dead? Thank you for your responses.
 
bogliman

bogliman

New Member
your water is fine. Nothing that will kill the fish. If there's a problem with your water parameters you'll notice automatically either you'll start growing algae or your inverts start dying on you. Some wrasses will take days to explore in your tank usually a couple of days but they should be at least swimming out once in a while. just sit in front of the tank for a few minutes and wait if he comes out. if your tank has a cover that means the fish is in there. if you acclamated him properly he should be fine unless there's something in your tank that would bother him and possibly kill him.
Use a flashlight and checkout crevices if he's there and if he's dead you'll see him or pieces of him being eatten up by snails or crabs. i've had a couple of fish die in my 34g without me knowing why and what's going on with it why they're dying on me although the first fish i added in the tank was the six line and it's still alive. i added a perc clown and it was alive for a couple of days then the following day i just saw it being eatten by the peppermint shrimp. last month i bought a blenny and again for two days it was fine...it even dug a whole in the sand and after a couple of days i saw it again being eatten this time by the crabs.
If you don't have a tank cover on top you might want to check out the back of your tank since they are also jumpers. i've lost a few sixlines from them jumping out of the water and always to the back of the tank. That's why i decided to put the sixline this time in my 34g covered tank.
Sometimes you just don't know what's happening to them unless you have a camcorder and record them at night to find out what's happening.
Be hopeful and just sit in front and check it out for a few minutes and you'll see if he comes out. A couple of weeks unseen is not normal.
 
molsen187

molsen187

Member
imo you don't want any ammonia or nitrite in there at all. i would definitely do a water change and test again. the only thing you want to be able to pick up is nitrates and even then you don't want them to high. the ammonia being in your tank could be from something dieing. how long has your tank been up and running?
 
austinl01

austinl01

Member
molsen187 said:
imo you don't want any ammonia or nitrite in there at all. i would definitely do a water change and test again. the only thing you want to be able to pick up is nitrates and even then you don't want them to high. the ammonia being in your tank could be from something dieing. how long has your tank been up and running?
Click to expand...

The tank has been going for 3 months now.
 
austinl01

austinl01

Member
Well, I took all the live rocks out and searched the sand. No signs of the wrasse. I'm mystified. :lookaroun
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top