Have a trigger with some sort of problem

[Cody2115]

Pineapple Trigger randomly started to swim erratically, showing stress colors, was eating while doing this and now he stopped. Been happening for about a week. He was Qt'd along with all other fish. All fish were also bought from Diver Dens, think they also qt the fish?
He is the dominate fish in the tank, no one even comes close to him. Water parameters are all good. Tank was setup with dry rook form BRS and sand was Nature's Ocean Bio-Active Reef Sand and Reef Substrate. Tank was cycled for 3 weeks using live bacteria as well as some damsels, had a nitrite spike (not sure how this happens or what caused it) week prior to him doing this but got it under control.

Pulled all fish out of tank and are in a QT treating with Pima/Melafix now.


Have a non related question but might be able to kill 2 birds with one stone. Are the Petsmart decorations safe for qt ie: http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2752279&f=PAD/psNotAvailInUS/No ??

 

[humaguy]

dd does qt their fish but they must go thru an additional qt procedure when we get them...a qt should not have any lr or ls...just a few pieces of pvc for the fish to call home...prazipro and cupramine are the meds most used...careful with cupramine and dwarf angels, might want to avoid dwarfs for a while...
I would bet your tank isn't fully cycled yet...what other fish are in there?

 

[Cody2115]

In size order biggest to smallest

Bumblebee Grouper (I know he gets massive)
Pinktail Trigger
Pineapple Trigger
Convict Tang
Blueline Trigger
2 Damsels



Tank was fully cycled with damsels/live bacteria(bio spira from liveaquaria) for a month, then added each fish 2 weeks apart

My triggers never seemed to used pvc and then I couldn't find a piece big enough for my grouper so I figured I would try the petsmart things. They are plastic just not sure if they leach any toxins in saltwater or anything.

 

[humaguy]

how big is the qt and the dt?

 

[Cody2115]

Qt is only a 40g Dt is 100g

 

[Cody2115]

Fish sizes right now are all under 4inch except for the grouper hes 6inch

 

[humaguy]

too many messy eaters in small tank that was probably not fully cycled is the recipe for disaster...I doubt such a new tank can handle that bioload...

 

[MrTuskfish]

If you added all of these fish to a 3 week-old tank (it sounds like it) ; that is going to cause a certain ammonia spike. Fish should be added slowly, especially in a new tank. You added some live bacteria: IMO, only Bio-Prira or Dr. Tims work. there are a zillion bacteria-in-a bottle products; but most don't work, for several reasons. What are "good" parameters? with your situation, we could be of more help with exact numbers.

After reading everything twice, I still don't know why the fish are in the QT. What do you expect the Prima-Fix and Mela-Fix to do? They really don't do anything, IMO and from what I've read/heard. .

 

[Cody2115]

If you added all of these fish to a 3 week-old tank (it sounds like it) ; that is going to cause a certain ammonia spike. Fish should be added slowly, especially in a new tank. You added some live bacteria: IMO, only Bio-Prira or Dr. Tims work. there are a zillion bacteria-in-a bottle products; but most don't work, for several reasons. What are "good" parameters? with your situation, we could be of more help with exact numbers.

After reading everything twice, I still don't know why the fish are in the QT. What do you expect the Prima-Fix and Mela-Fix to do? They really don't do anything, IMO and from what I've read/heard. .

Parameters:
Sg: 1.020
Ph: 8.0
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0 (before this started it spiked off the scale but nothing else did, ammonia stayed zero ph stayed at 8.0 and nitrate never went above 20)
Nitrate:20
Phosphate: 0
Copper: 0

 

[Cody2115]

Inspecting the fish all today have notice some white "smudges" on the pineapple and pinktails fins. Doesn't look to be ich, and it's only on the top fins. Would u reccomend putting them back in the Dt and using praipro?

 

[Cody2115]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2178086 looks exactly what they have.

 

[Cody2115]

Any ideas on how to treat it?

 

[MrTuskfish]

I don't know what the "smudges" are. I doubt that they are anything to worry about. I'd just keep pristine water, a good diet and some added vitamins. I think it will return to normal in time. Don't throw meds at it, you don't really know what it is. This is especially trure for (IMO & IME) worthless meds that claim to do everything----like Prima-Fix & Mela-Fix.