Leopard Wrasse QT

[Dipan00]

I picked up a couple Bluestar Leopard last week. Both were eating at the store before I got them. Brought them home acclimated and threw into my 24g JBJ cube that I am using for QT. There is plenty of sand for the fish wrasses to hide in. The first one I put in went straight into the sand and has been there all week. The other has been coming out daily most of the day and eating no issues. I did move comb the sand around 3 days ago to see if that other wrasse was still alive. Sure enough found her but she hurried back into the sand. Will she come out eventually or waste away in the sand? There was no aggression from the other wrasse and they were both in the same tank when purchased. Any thoughts or ideas?

 

[Smite]

Have you checked late at night for the one that stays in the sand? I wonder if it's internal clock is just off still coming out at night searching for food?

 

[Dipan00]

Have you checked late at night for the one that stays in the sand? I wonder if it's internal clock is just off still coming out at night searching for food?

Intresting. No I havent checked at night. May give that a try later on tonight.

 

[BST310]

It’ll come out, I had a melanurus hide for about two weeks in the sand. This was early in the hobby for me and I just kind of wrote it off then one day there it was.

Maybe try some massstick or something similar that you could leave overnight in case it is searching for food while you’re not present.

 

[Smite]

When I was reading up on QT'ing leopards (chaoti) I came across someone who was pretty successful saying that was the issue he found with them. They come out at night, wither away with no food and it's assumed they stayed in the sand the whole time.
Looks like the Maldives is exactly 12 hours off our time, so maybe that's the case.

 

[Dipan00]

When I was reading up on QT'ing leopards (chaoti) I came across someone who was pretty successful saying that was the issue he found with them. They come out at night, wither away with no food and it's assumed they stayed in the sand the whole time.
Looks like the Maldives is exactly 12 hours off our time, so maybe that's the case.

Oh thats intresting. Chaots is another one I would love to get in my system.

It’ll come out, I had a melanurus hide for about two weeks in the sand. This was early in the hobby for me and I just kind of wrote it off then one day there it was.

Maybe try some massstick or something similar that you could leave overnight in case it is searching for food while you’re not present.

I do have some Masstick. Not sure it would gor for it buy may put a little in late at night

 

[jake_francis]

I bought a juvenile black wrasse 6 months ago. It buried it self for a week. It’s doing well now.

I just bought a juvenile radiant wrasse 2 weeks ago. It was MIA for 1 week. It’s out and about now.


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[mattyzang]

one tip i've seen is to put them in an acclimation box for a day or so, kinda forces them to time acclimate to your schedule. luckily my sand buriers have always adjusted themselves, i'd be worried about them grinding their mouths on the bare box, but for like a day or so it should be fine. that's how i acclimated my china wrasse, i put her in the box for a day, and then when lights started going down i let her out and she has been good to go since

 

[Dipan00]

Update the one that was eating died and the other is still in the sand. Probably calling it a loss at this point but we will see.

 

[Smite]

That sucks man, sorry to hear it. Hopefully the other one comes out and does well.

 

[mattyzang]

Leopards are friggin hard, ideally you get them from a store that they’ve been at awhile, but people love them so they sell quickly. They are reluctant to eat most foods and seem to have more internal issues than other fish. The last one I tried like exploded from the inside from something it was freaky, poor thing

 

[Dipan00]

Leopards are friggin hard, ideally you get them from a store that they’ve been at awhile, but people love them so they sell quickly. They are reluctant to eat most foods and seem to have more internal issues than other fish. The last one I tried like exploded from the inside from something it was freaky, poor thing

I met another Reefer yesterday. Super cool dude and had so many insane fishes. He told me he does a 45min formalin bath on all his fish and puts them straight into his tank. Leopards go straight into display and any other fish goes into a holding container in his display. makes sure they are eating. Once ready he releases them. Has probably has 40 insane fish. 6-8 of them being leopards. May try that route to get more fish in the system. Was def interesting.

 

[mattyzang]

I met another Reefer yesterday. Super cool dude and had so many insane fishes. He told me he does a 45min formalin bath on all his fish and puts them straight into his tank. Leopards go straight into display and any other fish goes into a holding container in his display. makes sure they are eating. Once ready he releases them. Has probably has 40 insane fish. 6-8 of them being leopards. May try that route to get more fish in the system. Was def interesting.

that's definitely an option, just fwiw that's not really a sufficient qt process. not that everyone has to qt stuff. and honestly for leopards and other difficult eaters, that might be an ideal way to get them in. even if they aren't eating prepared foods, dropping them into an established tank full of pods and what not is definitely an ideal environment. i personally wouldn't risk it, but i'm super risk averse with fish

i've tried a bunch of different methods with leopards, all of which qt, but i even tried setting up a tank, letting it hang out for a month or two, made sure pods were in there, then bought a leopard and wanted to get it eating before i did any medicating. still nothin lol, fish buried and i never saw it until it was dead one day. unfortunately i think a lot of it is the initial condition the wrasse arrives in. the way they're handled through the import process is not very leopard wrasse friendly from what i understand. no sand, nothing in the tank, rarely even offering food

 

[Dipan00]

that's definitely an option, just fwiw that's not really a sufficient qt process. not that everyone has to qt stuff. and honestly for leopards and other difficult eaters, that might be an ideal way to get them in. even if they aren't eating prepared foods, dropping them into an established tank full of pods and what not is definitely an ideal environment. i personally wouldn't risk it, but i'm super risk averse with fish

i've tried a bunch of different methods with leopards, all of which qt, but i even tried setting up a tank, letting it hang out for a month or two, made sure pods were in there, then bought a leopard and wanted to get it eating before i did any medicating. still nothin lol, fish buried and i never saw it until it was dead one day. unfortunately i think a lot of it is the initial condition the wrasse arrives in. the way they're handled through the import process is not very leopard wrasse friendly from what i understand. no sand, nothing in the tank, rarely even offering food

Yeah its def risky for sure. I have a seperate tank set up and just frustrating. I hate doing qt. Feel like 95% of the time fish just die in QT. I guess better than main tank getting disease. Just frustrating. I have 24g AIO JBJ cube set up, Will probably just leave that up and running and just dump fish in there. If they survive they survive and can go to the display if not start over and try again. Seems like thats probably the best option.

 

[mattyzang]

Yeah its def risky for sure. I have a seperate tank set up and just frustrating. I hate doing qt. Feel like 95% of the time fish just die in QT. I guess better than main tank getting disease. Just frustrating. I have 24g AIO JBJ cube set up, Will probably just leave that up and running and just dump fish in there. If they survive they survive and can go to the display if not start over and try again. Seems like thats probably the best option.

yeah i feel you. i even managed to get velvet in my dt despite qting everything, then it really feels fruitless. but it didn't make sense to me to do less qt if the hope is to avoid velvets and what not

but with some finicky fish like leopard wrasses, it does feel like it might be best to just toss them in the established tank for their survival

you could try ordering them online from a qt place, but it'll cost you for sure. i bought a china wrasse online, so with shipping it was like $200. way more than a what i'd pay for that fish at a lfs, but it arrived and ate pellets that night, so honestly it was worth it

or conversely i am 1 for 3 on blue star leopards. i got the first two from wholesale so $20-30 each. 3rd one was from a lfs for $60 i think. online they're like $120 i think for a qted one? plus shipping? so honestly it would've probably been about similar price and way less hassle to just get one online, but it's hard to stomach the cost sometimes

 

[Smite]

QT is tough man. I was adamant about it for years and had really good success with it. I was getting everything from rhomboid fairy wrasse and leopard wrasse to anthias, chromis and tangs through full QT treatments. I had more time back then to keep up with everything. Now I'm lazy and FW dip newbies to check for flukes and in the DT they go. Feed Rods Reef/LRS (when I can find it) multiple times a day as well as flakes and pellets on an auto feeder.

My best QT system;
-40g breeder - size helps a ton. 20L sometimes for smaller fish.
-penguin 350 bio wheel filter - used mostly for flow, aeration and surface agitation. Flow is overlooked sometimes. Specifically for wrasse and anthias in my experience. I'd pack it with floss so I didn't have to disturb the fish trying to get uneaten food out of the tank.
-Sponge filter driven by air pump. I feel was one of my main reasons for success. Cheap, so I'd always have a brand new sponge seeding in the sump of my 100g reef. Allowed me to not always have the QT running but instantly cycled when I did need it. removes so much of the hassle and is a nice strong filter that stayed alive during copper treatments. The aqueon pump I used had 2 outlets, so I'd also add an airstone. I feel that really helped with all medications not stripping water of oxygen.
- Plenty of PVC fittings for hides. 1-2" fittings
- I'd treat for flukes first with back to back prazipro treamtents (or general cure usually for wrasse). Then I'd perform a small water change as recommended and start the copper treatment with copper power. I'd ramp up over 4-5 days to the recommended level. I'd stay there for 10-14 days then straight to DT if looking good. That slow adjustment was key for wrasse and anthias.
- I had a cheap gravity fed ATO with eshopps float for salinity control
- for wrasse and anthias I'd add a small cheap pond pump or power head. That flow was necessary to get them eating frozen for me. The movement would trigger feeding. Selcon helped a ton for taste of mysis/brine but with that seeded sponge filter I could feed whatever I wanted. Much better success with better foods like LRS or Rods.

#1 thing I'd recommend is the sponge filter seeded from your display. A seasoned air driven sponge filter is hard to kill and really lets you feed as heavy as needed. The day I'd set up a QT and pull the sponge I'd go buy a new one from 405 fish for $10 and throw that one back in the sump of the DT. Worth every penny.

EDIT: one thing I forgot, i'd FW dip fish on their way into QT. If they've got flukes or even velvet this buys you a bit of time and gives some temporary relief from those parasites.

 

[jake_francis]

Wrasses are very sensitive and expensive. Based on my experience they don’t tolerate QT. I had better success in drip acclimation and directly releasing it in the display tank. I always make sure that the fish is eating at the store.


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[Dipan00]

QT is tough man. I was adamant about it for years and had really good success with it. I was getting everything from rhomboid fairy wrasse and leopard wrasse to anthias, chromis and tangs through full QT treatments. I had more time back then to keep up with everything. Now I'm lazy and FW dip newbies to check for flukes and in the DT they go. Feed Rods Reef/LRS (when I can find it) multiple times a day as well as flakes and pellets on an auto feeder.

My best QT system;
-40g breeder - size helps a ton. 20L sometimes for smaller fish.
-penguin 350 bio wheel filter - used mostly for flow, aeration and surface agitation. Flow is overlooked sometimes. Specifically for wrasse and anthias in my experience. I'd pack it with floss so I didn't have to disturb the fish trying to get uneaten food out of the tank.
-Sponge filter driven by air pump. I feel was one of my main reasons for success. Cheap, so I'd always have a brand new sponge seeding in the sump of my 100g reef. Allowed me to not always have the QT running but instantly cycled when I did need it. removes so much of the hassle and is a nice strong filter that stayed alive during copper treatments. The aqueon pump I used had 2 outlets, so I'd also add an airstone. I feel that really helped with all medications not stripping water of oxygen.
- Plenty of PVC fittings for hides. 1-2" fittings
- I'd treat for flukes first with back to back prazipro treamtents (or general cure usually for wrasse). Then I'd perform a small water change as recommended and start the copper treatment with copper power. I'd ramp up over 4-5 days to the recommended level. I'd stay there for 10-14 days then straight to DT if looking good. That slow adjustment was key for wrasse and anthias.
- I had a cheap gravity fed ATO with eshopps float for salinity control
- for wrasse and anthias I'd add a small cheap pond pump or power head. That flow was necessary to get them eating frozen for me. The movement would trigger feeding. Selcon helped a ton for taste of mysis/brine but with that seeded sponge filter I could feed whatever I wanted. Much better success with better foods like LRS or Rods.

#1 thing I'd recommend is the sponge filter seeded from your display. A seasoned air driven sponge filter is hard to kill and really lets you feed as heavy as needed. The day I'd set up a QT and pull the sponge I'd go buy a new one from 405 fish for $10 and throw that one back in the sump of the DT. Worth every penny.

EDIT: one thing I forgot, i'd FW dip fish on their way into QT. If they've got flukes or even velvet this buys you a bit of time and gives some temporary relief from those parasites.

Thanks for that share this definitely helps. Gonna try a few different things next time around. Figure out my rhythm and works works best.

@Smite whats your success rate been with FW dip and straight to the display?