New Bursa Trigger. Concenrs

[kevinaii]

Hey guys...
On Sunday I bought a beautiful healthy looking bursa trigger from the Petco. I got him home, drip acclimated him for 45 mins to an hour and woke up in the morning to feed him some mysis shrimp. He ate a like a champ.
I fed the tank a small amt of pellets on Tuesday but he wasn't interested. This morning some more mysis shrimp. Again. He ate like a champ.

I had noticed that at night he spends his time resting in the rocks. In the day he seems to roam around.

But upon getting home today he won't leave the rocks. He also seems to be breathing very heavy. I'm concerned.

Salinity's about 1.024
Had my water tested recently had 0 nitrates/nitrites

What do you think?

FYI his tank mates are a yellowtail damsel & a hawkfish. We had 10 cessarius snails, but i think he's picked them off.

[stingeragent]

I can't speak for all triggers, but I have a pink tail. And he eats anything and everything. If I fed the tank and he wasn't up pushing the other fish outta the way I'd be worried. Are your other fish acting normal? You didn't include this info, but do you have test kits to test yourself? I honestly would not trust a LFS , especially a big chain like petco to test my water. Do you have good water movement in the tank? Judging from your post, I'd guess you don't have a quarantine tank setup. That is basically an absolute necessity. If the trigger you introduced does have some kind of fish disease, your other 2 fish may now have, or have it soon.

[kevinaii]

The other fish look great.
When it's been feeding time the trigger is the man. The other fish dart out of the way if he's near a piece of food. He hasn't "asked" for food since I've had him home like I've read people say their triggers do, but he's been well fed thus far.

I had my water tested at the LFS, not the Petco. I just happened to buy the Trigger from the Petco, but no, I shamefully don't have my own kit. I guess I really need to get one. Like desperately. Really wish i had one now.

[stingeragent]

Honestly I wouldn't trust a mom and pop LFS either unless I was very well established with them. Just take a look at any random 10 newbie threads on here, and you'll see how their LFS told them they don't need live rock, or don't need to test for nitrates, or that mandarin fish will go great in your new 10 gallon tank.

[kevinaii]

I guess I'll feed the tank again in the morning and hope he comes out to chow. Like I said he's always eaten great, granted, it's been 2-3 days only.
And regardless I'll go get a saltwater test kit tomorrow too. Guess I can't wait to order one online & have it delivered?

My LFS seems ok. I think they'd sell me anything, yes, but their fish usually look pretty good... You're right though. Need to test on my own and go from there.

[stingeragent]

Definitely. Are they testing your salinity also? If so that's also no good. For instance refractometer's need to be calibrated with a specific testing solution, or the water you use in your tank before the salt is added. When I first started a salty tank, I calibrated my refactometer with good ol tap water because that's what I used at the time. (I've since switched to ro/di). It never occured to me to recalibrate it with the rodi water. Anyways, I upgraded tanks recently and used exclusively ro/di water and about 20% of the old tanks water, and all my corals looked super unhappy. My salinity looked good as I'd measured it all before I moved stuff into the new tank. I decided to recalibrate it with the ro/di water, and sure enough it was off by .03... So I thought it was 1.025, but it was actually 1.022. As many things in this hobby you need to check, it's best to do it yourself because at least then you know its right. (provided you remember to recalibrate if you change water source)... A lot the big chain stores can really be hit or miss on fish. I bought a bicolor angel from petco, ( I didn't have a QT at the time), and within 24 hrs it was dead. I also got a clownfish from them that I've had for over a year (didn't QT or medicate either but its the only fish in the tank), and hes been great the whole time. The best solution is to QT all new fish, because if something does come up even if they are the only fish in the tank, you can't medicate with liverock, sand, inverts, etc. Also just saw what you said about the snails, your trigger prolly got them. I put an emerald crab in my triggers tank once not really thinking about it, and within seconds the trigger was trying to devour him. Crab got moved out of that tank real quick.

[Salty Cracker]

What size tank?

[kevinaii]

I just checked my salinity now and I think it might be nearer 1.021 than the 1.024 I quoted above. I just now recalibrated my refractometer with store bought distilled. That's what I've always used. One of the lessons I've taken to heart is to never use the tap, so I don't, but I do use the distilled bottles (mostly from walgreens, "nice" brand distilled) to top off and to calibrate the refractometer. The 1 piece of testing equipment I do own.

I'm not quite sure how it got so low. I did a water change about a week ago (20%) and checked the salinity afterwards and it was right around 1.024. Have been topping off with the distilled in the interim. One change is that I put my glass top back on the tank after not using it for some time. Reason was that I wasn't sure if the trigger would jump.

Could the low salinity be the cause of his hiding? I'll bring it up as I can by topping off a gallon at a time with salt water.

The tank size is 55gallons.

PS - I do have a freshwater testing kit from my past life. That's a no-go here though, right?
Seems like the test kit i can most easily and quickly get my hands on is at a local petsmart called: API Saltwater Master Test Kit. Reviews on Amazon are mostly very positive....