trigger fish isnt doing well

[reef25]

Iv had this trigger for 8 days and it was fine for the first 6 days but the 7th he starter to stay over in the left corner all day and the 8th(today) he started to just stay on the rocks and I woke up and he look bad I did a water change but hes still the same only thing wrong with the tank is it has 1 nitrite ppm.

Is the bioload too big?

[LisaD]

How long has the tank been set up before you added the fish? Other tank mates? Could you give all water parameters - ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, pH, temperature, specific gravity?

Is the fish eating (or was it eating)?

Edit: I just looked at the pic. It is blurry, but is the fish covered with what looks like white dust? And how did the fins get frayed? If the fish has velvet (Oodinium), it will die very quickly without quick intervention with meds. You need to read up, fast. Here is a start:

http://www.fishvet.com/Oodinium.pdf
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/amylloodiniumart.htm
http://www.reefs.org/library/aquarium_net/0597/0597_4.html

[LisaD]

I just saw your previous post, where you have it in a 20H. If you just started the tank, and added the fish before it cycled completely, you have new tank syndrome where the tank is cycling with the trigger. Deteriorating water quality can bring on disease such as velvet, ich or bacterial infection. As people mentioned in previous posts, a 20 gallon tank is completely too small for your trigger, even though it is small.

Also, either a mantis would get eaten by the trigger, or it would kill the trigger.

I have a recommendation for you - before you get any more fish, read this book:

http://www.amazon.com/New-Marine-Aquarium-Step-Step/dp/1890087521

It will help you set up your tank properly and choose the right inhabitants for the size tank and filtration you have.

With a 20 gallon tank, you are very limited in the fish you can keep. You will be better off making it an invert tank, with either a mantis shrimp or maybe a shrimp goby/pistol shrimp pair.

I hope you can save the trigger. Your best bet is to find a very experienced local hobbyist to help you with proper treatment and water quality. If it survives, you will need to rehome the fish or upgrade to a larger tank. Good luck.

[whipsaw]

I like you OP, you remind me of me.

you broke every rule in the book, and completely ignored the good advice you've been given. I have no doubt you'll ignore the advice in this thread as well.

I don't really have any advice. You have a vast pool of expertise here at your fingertips, and choose to not use it. Good luck- you'll figure it out given enough time and money.

[LisaD]

We've all done the wrong thing at one time or another. Using the expertise on the site is the difference between learning the easy way and learning the hard (and more expensive) way. I wasn't flaming the OP and hope they will take advice from experienced people on the board. The time for "pushing the envelope" is after a good bit of experience and expertise.

[89Foxbody]

So you took one of the nastiest fish available in this hobby, which also gets very large, and threw him in a brand new 20h tank.

Please do some research before you kill any more fish.

[geaux xman]

if there is nitrite, most likely there was a big ammonia spike. perhaps the tank wasnt properly cycled.

[Stumped]

This frustrates me to no end. I read your previous thread and saw the tank this fish is in. This fish does not deserve to die because you were too ignorant to do even a tiny bit of research and listen to the advice that was given by many experienced posters.

Everyone makes mistakes, everyone loses fish, everyone has to start somewhere, but it's stuff like this that contributes to the negative perception of the hobby. I hope you seriously slow down and re-think your stocking plans. Also if you have any chance of saving that fish I would actually listen to what LisaD has advised.

It's hard to tell what is wrong with it because the fish is blurry in the pic, but I would guess it might be velvet as well. There is also some chance that it is an extremely bad case of ich, but it's impossible to tell from that picture. I would guess that it is too late to save him though, as the fish looks to be in terrible shape and fairly thin for a trigger (looks a bit sunken in spots if that isn't shadowing).

[NuttinSpecial]

We've all done the wrong thing at one time or another. Using the expertise on the site is the difference between learning the easy way and learning the hard (and more expensive) way. I wasn't flaming the OP and hope they will take advice from experienced people on the board. The time for "pushing the envelope" is after a good bit of experience and expertise.

Good point but whipsaw is right. There is no helping this guy if he wont listen. On another thread while everyone was trying to convince him to get a bigger tank his response was "on youtube a guy has a lionfish, a triggerfish, and a SF eel in a 20gal" I feel bad for the little trigger though but this guy is just begging to learn the hardway. At the expense of that lil trigger.

[LisaD]

I agree, but I'd rather try to be constructive than flame in the slim chance it will do some good.

[whipsaw]

I'm honestly not trying to flame- though I might be trying to bait OP into following some good advice. I know how it is, I learned the hard way. It's far cheaper and easier to just listen to people that know more than I do right off the bat. I also get a bit irritated when good people take the time to honestly try to help and their advice is ignored repeatedly without so much as a 'thank you.'

I hope OP does another water change with good treated SW, sticks a bubble stone in that little tank for a couple hours, bags that poor fish up and takes it back to the store and then waits a couple months before buying any more livestock. I wouldn't bet any money on it happening though. It's not what I would have done.

[LisaD]

whipsaw, I thought your comment was a very good one, no flaming on your part.

OP, where are you?

[TitanTV]

Yeah. 20H is not a great size for a saltwater tank. Hopefully the OP can take the trigger back to the store

[NewbyReefer]

Yeah. 20H is not a great size for a saltwater tank. Hopefully the OP can take the trigger back to the store

I don't know if they will take it back due to how far gone that little guy looks. Hopefully the OP knows someone who is seasoned in this hobby and might take it off his hands to try and nurse it back.

[GrendelPrime76]

i doubt there will be any reply from the op but i hope they do the right thing and listen to the sound advice given