Banana Wrasse deaths

[Anonymous]

A month ago I put a small banana wrasse into my tank, a week later he had disappeared, never to be seen again.....
Last week I bought a bigger one and decided to try again, saw his skeleton on the sand this afternoon. These are the only 2 fish I have lost. My system tests perfect on all parameters. I have an Iridis that is thriving. The tank is well stocked but nothing seemed to be giving him a hard time. Yesterday he had a small white tube hanging out his anus. Both fish came from the same LFS and I didnt QT either (they are wrasses) I'm thinking cyanide in the capture process, but if anyone has any ideas, am happy to hear them. I have 5 anenomes in the tank (385ga) but cant see him having been killed by one of them (???)

 

[Kevin207]

I put in a yellow coris / wrasse (very similar I believe to your bananna wrasse) about the same date, along with a yellow tang, a large blue hippo tang, a six line wrasse, and a royal gramma and the Coris only lasted about a day. Coincidence? I do not know. My local store had the fish for several weeks and said he was fine. My KH was at about 10.5, and my calcium was kind of low (310), and my salinity was about 1.026 (a tiny bit high). My local store said it likes a high KH (around 12) since it is a deep water fish. I don't know what to believe. :roll: Everyone else is happy and healthy still though.

 

[Anonymous]

I put in a yellow coris / wrasse (very similar I believe to your bananna wrasse) about the same date, along with a yellow tang, a large blue hippo tang, a six line wrasse, and a royal gramma and the Coris only lasted about a day. Coincidence? I do not know. My local store had the fish for several weeks and said he was fine. My KH was at about 10.5, and my calcium was kind of low (310), and my salinity was about 1.026 (a tiny bit high). My local store said it likes a high KH (around 12) since it is a deep water fish. I don't know what to believe. :roll: Everyone else is happy and healthy still though.

8O

"Yellow Coris" is the common name for Halichoeres chrysus. Calcium and KH levels should not be a huge concern for any fish, regardless of what depth they came from. H. chrysus is not a deepwater fish, either.

Time to find a new fish store!

 

[Anonymous]

A month ago I put a small banana wrasse into my tank, a week later he had disappeared, never to be seen again.....
Last week I bought a bigger one and decided to try again, saw his skeleton on the sand this afternoon. These are the only 2 fish I have lost. My system tests perfect on all parameters. I have an Iridis that is thriving. The tank is well stocked but nothing seemed to be giving him a hard time. Yesterday he had a small white tube hanging out his anus. Both fish came from the same LFS and I didnt QT either (they are wrasses) I'm thinking cyanide in the capture process, but if anyone has any ideas, am happy to hear them. I have 5 anenomes in the tank (385ga) but cant see him having been killed by one of them (???)

It could be. Could just be shipping stress. FWIW, it may be for the best. Thallasoma spp. wrasses make awful reef tank inhabitants. It will eat all your small fish, shrimp, clams, and snails, terrorize your larger fish (especially that iridis), and generally make a mess of things by flipping over frags and rocks in search of food.

 

[Anonymous]

Matt, is that fish prone to cyanide collection? I can't remember if that was true or not...

Peace,

Chip

 

[Anonymous]

Matt, is that fish prone to cyanide collection? I can't remember if that was true or not...

Peace,

Chip

I have no idea. Gresham would probably know.

 

[WRASSER]

The fish in the tank might be a little too intimatating for the wrasse and it just dives in, never to be seen again.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the response Matt, after two dying in a row I wont be retrying with a third- i also didnt realise that they were a problem fish. It may have been shipping stress or a dive into the glass floor that caused it to die, but I still think that it was possibly cyanide... a suspicion I am going to take up with my LFS (Who guarantee that no cyanide is used- although they obviously cant control the supplier)
Chip, as a rule of thumb, round fish (clowns, tangs etc) are easy to catch, thinner, sleeker fish are more difficult. (There are obviously exceptions) and wrasse are hard to catch in the wild... hence my suspicions...
Thanks again for the input!

 

[Kevin207]

i also didnt realise that they were a problem fish

I heard that the Bannana Wrasse Union and the Yellow Coris Coalition have planted this misinformation and compunded their effort by finding a few members to sacrifice their existence (with the promise of 70 virgin fairie wrasses each in their afterlife) all toward the end of staying back in the ocean instead of in tanks.