Carpet Surfing Wrasse

HELP! I added a red fairy wrasse yesterday. This morning, i heard a strange splash noise and looked at the tank. I see my spotted hawkfish darting all around the tank. Yesterday he was harassing the wrasse to no end until the lights went out. Until this morning when he decided to really push it. Luckily i spotted the wrasse lying behind the tank, but i think it was out of water for about 2 minutes. Its now in the cheato cage in my fuge. At first it was lying on its side gasping for air. It now swimming about a little, but is obviously stressed. Gills are going a million miles per hour, hes discolored and has white patches all over him. I think he was getting bit up a bit this morning. Is there anything i can do to help? Or just sit and wait. My gf bought this fish for me so if it dies i'm in deep ****!!

 

Anyone?

 

Get rid of the hawkfish?

 

Oooo i am. There is a trap in the tank as we speak. I've caught every fish but him now tho. He seems to smart. All the other fish are in bags floating in the fuge. The wrasse goes from laying on the bottom of the cheato cage to swimming around a little then back to laying on the bottom. I dont know if there is anything i can do to help the wrasse.

 

hawkfish, from what I've observed, dont take well to new additions. I would get rid of it personally

 

If you want a wrasse, your tank needs to be covered. I really see no exception to this (I do keep a wrasse/anthias tank).

Clear mesh, like what is available from bulk reef supply, works best for this. Some screen from Home Depot could work in a pinch. Some people will suggest eggcrate, but if that fish is less than 2", he will go right through it. Trust me.

 

Just leave the wrasse alone for a while with the lights off in the fuge. Let it rest. If you're turning the lights on and checking on it it will probably stress it out more. I would highly suggest covering your tank. Not trying to sound like a jerk, but losing fish to jumping is a dumb reason to lose a fish. There's a really simple solution. Unfortunately, nearly everyone learns this the hard way.

Good luck on getting the hawkfish out and I hope the wrasse pulls through!

Ivan

 

Yea i was going to be making a cover from poly mesh. I dont want the egg crate i think it would create nasty shadows with the halide. And i knew the hawkfish would be trouble, i planned on observing the tank all day today to watch it. But it happened before the lights had even come on. I trapped the hawkfish last time i added a new fish and kept it out for two weeks. When i put him back in he was. Hes not getting another chance this time.

 

The sooner you get the wrasse out of confinement, the better off you'll be. I wouldn't worry too much about him though, as if he's swimming some I doubt the fall/time out of the tank is a concern at this point.

Even with my tank covered, I've still had them jump out at feeding time; the Scott's twice, the Lineatus once. Frantically grabbing them and returning them to the tank is never fun. :/

 

Hes not too confined in there really, the cheato basket is pretty empty at this point. I just trimmed. Its about a foot long, 8 inches tall and 5 inches deep. Its made out of egg crate too and the outlet of my cpr skimmer pushes water through it at a slow rate so it should be getting plenty of o2. As soon as i can catch the hawkfish i'm gonna put him back in the display alone for a while and see what happens. The hawkfish is just not swimming into it though. just everywhere around it.