wrasse in QT question

[sczlars]

hey folks,

I have this little fourline wrasse in my QT tank right now. It has been there for 2 weeks now; looks good, acts normal, active, eats great, etc. I gave it a (temp & ph adjusted + methylene blue) FW dip before it went into the QT tank. It was a shortish dip (3 min?) as the fish looked stressed enough that I cut it short.

So all seems fine except that its breathing seems a bit rapid, and has been like that the whole time. About 2 "breaths" per second, except when it gets excited at feeding time, and ups it to about 3/sec. Is this normal? For any larger fish like a centropyge angel, I'd say that this was way too fast, but this little wrasse is so active I'm thinking maybe it is a higher metabolism animal. It reminds me of a hummingbird :)

I haven't done any sort of meds yet.. though I'm thinking about a prophylactic prazi cure.

any suggestions would be appreciated.

thanks, --Lars

[sczlars]

http://www.larsjohannesson.com/aquarium/reeftank/images2012/20120202-_DSC6819.jpg

[snorvich]

What was the fresh water dip trying to prevent? Are you treating in quarantine with copper? How is it eating?

[sczlars]

Hi Steve,

Dipping, prophylactically, as advised by Bob Fenner, to help exclude hitchhiking critters.

No other treatment since, it is just in the QT tank for observation and shipping rehab; it eats with gusto, especially things that look like real food, like the enriched brine shrimp, etc. I'm alternating between that and NLS pellets, which it picks at eventually, though not enthusiastically.

--Lars