| Wrasse Nose Woes (or Wrasse vs. Snail)
OK. This is a bit freaky.
I have a Four-line wrasse who has become the boss of the tank, quite aggressive(for a "peaceful" fish) toward newcomers and put my Pajama Cardinal back in his place.
I was just about to pour food into the tank the other night and I noticed that the Wrasse was chowing down on an Astraea snail. He had his whole mouth in the shell and appeared to be going at it. I gently took a Kent scraper and feigned to scare him off, but he didn't budge. Hmm... I then stuck my hand in the tank and that didn't phase him.
I soon discovered that the Wrasse's thin beak was stuck well within the shell. My guess is that he tried to get a big bite of snail meat and the snail retracted into the shell, pulling his nose inside until he was stuck!
He started to appear stressed and exasperated. Over the next 20-30 minutes I attempted several things to gently/carefully get the poor wrasse free. He was really really stuck, and nothing was working. I then took a pair of needlenose pliers and chipped away at the shell's aperture, trying not to harm the wrasse in the process. The shell was way too hard and calcified to allow much progress. I even tried to poke at the mussel with a toothpick to see if I could get it to relent, but I think that only made the matter worse...
Finally, I went to the kitchen for a nutcracker, and proceeded to crush the upper half of the shell, all the time while keeping the fish in the water. After several attempts, I broke the top half off and started to excavate the snail meat until the wrasse was finally freed. RIP poor Astraea....
The very stressed and exhausted wrasse made it into a cave and rested there on its side all night with the gills pumping. I thought he was a goner.
The next morning, I saw him still in the same cave, but a few inches away and more upright. By the time I came home he was out, but far more sheepish than usual - not daring to eat much. By the following evening, he was pretty much back to normal - except that his nose is a bit bent now...
Perhaps he'll think twice before being so agressive...
Last edited by rroselavy; 09-10-2008 at 08:34 PM.
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