Aggressive 6 line wrasse

[Thunderbird2015]

so I'm curious for a second, maybe third or fourth opinion lol. The first fish I ever added to my now 2 month old tank was a 6 line wrasse. Within the first week my lfs store said my water levels were fine and a 6 line wrasse is hardy and would be nearly impossible to kill if something went wrong. So I bought him. Well since then I've added a few fish (tangs, a dotty back) ever time I add a fish, it dies. Sometimes weeks or days after being added. But that damn wrasse is still alive and my levels have always been perfect. Is it possible the wrasse is the culprit? Has it become too territorial? If so I'm probably going to donate it back and add other fish first. I have a 100g tank

 

[lmforbis]

6 line wrasses are notorious for killing all tank mates added after them.

 

[jay0705]

They can be aggressive but a decent size tang I find it hard to believe. Your tank is new and the wrasse may have adapted to it while new fish can't

 

[beth]

Did you see signs of aggression? What condition were the fish in when they died? Symptoms of attacks on body, frayed fins from nipping, chasing fish while alive, fish hiding?

 

[Thunderbird2015]

Boy where do I start...so I added a small yellow tang: after 3-4 days of normal activity it started getting super skinny and refused to eat.
Medium sized chocolate mimic tang: after 2 weeks (I'd like to add the thing ate like a pig ALL THE TIME) it started staying at the top of the tank. And then one morning it went from light brown in color to dark brown, swimming sporadically and then laying on the sand and died.
Purple dottyback: immediately was hiding at first. The next day it was swimming with the rest and a few days later it was hiding. It came out one more time and I never saw it after that. It's definitely dead now.
So all I have left is: 6 line wrasse, skunk cleaner shrimp, 4 turbo snails, 2 Mexican turbo snails, a fromia star, and one piece of lps and sps. In my 100g tank with a 125g protein skimmer and two 650gph powerheads

 

[beth]

You didn't mention anything about noticing aggression or the condition of the fish when you noticed the fish hiding or post-mortem.

 

[Thunderbird2015]

I personally didn't notice any aggression, but I never expected the wrasse to be that agressive to tank mates. It wasn't until this weekend when my lfs mentioned it being a possibility. The wrasse did turn the dead carcus of the dottyback into a skeleton but I managed to remove the chocolate and yellow tang before that happened. The yellow just looked super skinny when it died. The chocolate tang went from light brown to dark brown in just minutes and died.

 

[beth]

No wounds or chewed fins? You said your water conditions were good, can you list them.

 

[Thunderbird2015]

well I wasn't thinking of aggression so no I didn't notice any chewed fins or wounds. My water levels were good, and I can't list exact numbers but I have my water tested every week sometimes more by a very good test kit that the lfs uses. And I've learned the visual colors everything is supposed to be by watching them do it every single time. Never had an ammonia spike, or nitrite or nitrate spike. Ph levels have always been great. I do a 20% water change once every 30 days and I have a 100g tank with a 125g protein skimmer and two 650gph powerheads

 

[Thunderbird2015]

Ph is usually around 7.9. I try to keep it around that range for my coral

 

[beth]

Ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, temp? Ultimately, the only way to know if aggression is the problem is to observe it and you can't do that unless you introduce another fish to see what happens. You'll need to diligently pay attention to fish behavior in the tank. You could just find another home for the wrasse.

 

[Thunderbird2015]

Ive been considering donating the wrasse back to the lfs and adding new fish Wednesday

 

[lmforbis]

Might be your best bet. Maybe they'd give you some store credit. General rule is least aggressive fish first. Then add the rest in order of increasing aggressiveness spaced a few weeks apart.

 

[jay0705]

Its just odd to me that a 6 line could/ would kill 2 tangs. Imforbis is correct add the most docile fish first, but w a tang and a wrasse honestly I'd add the tang last in most cases.
I'am a tang guy, so don't get me wrong but the only fish I've ever seen bully a tang is another tang.

 

[lmforbis]

That may be true with healthy fish but a yellow tang that is skinny, takes a while to get really skinny, wasn't healthy in the first place. That may also be true of the mimic.

 

[jay0705]

True, if thats true w both fish. I would look elsewhere for my fish. It could be as simple as neither where healthy enough to survive.

 

[Thunderbird2015]

So now, I'm really getting pissed. A while back added an engineer goby and it did great and is still happy and healthy. Then added two pajama cardinals, they are also happy and healthy. Last night I added a leopard wrasse and a yellow tang. The leopard wrasse was doing awesome, immediately swimming around the rocks picking at copepods. The yellow tang immediately was acting funny, stayed in the back of the tank and swimming back and forth along the glass. So I turned the lights off to reduce stress, and the tang was fine and the leopard wrasse buried itself in the sand which I've read is normal for them to do. Woke up this morning, the happy wrasse was dead and the tang is still swimming against the glass (not violently) and refused to eat. Am I just getting crappy fish?

And I will add I successfully removed the 6 line before adding the cardinals and everything last night

And the cardinals have been in there for two weeks

 

[lmforbis]

Adding another wrasse may have been doomed to failure.
Yellow tangs often behave that way when they are first introduced. Sometimes they see their reflection and try to attack it.

 

[Thunderbird2015]

Adding another wrasse may have been doomed to failure.
Yellow tangs often behave that way when they are first introduced. Sometimes they see their reflection and try to attack it.

The 6 line has already been removed for over 2 weeks now. I just added the leopard wrasse last night. I'm just getting frustrated. It's not that I don't have patience because I do, it's just that I wished I had the knowledge. So I try to do as much research as I can but there's so many conflicting statements

 

[lmforbis]

Are you quarantining your fish?
Quarantine is to watch for and treat disease but also to make sure they are eating well before they are added to the tank.