Is this longhorn cowfish poisoning my triggerfish?
- Thread starter gernby
- Start date
Sweeper13
New member
Found this on Liveaquaria.
Similar to other boxfish, the Cowfish Longhorn's skin is poisonous and, when threatened, it will release a toxin lethal to other tank members, including other Longhorns.
How are the other fish? The trigger could be getting stressed out. I had a Niger trigger doing fine and then just go the other way when I put a porc puffer in the tank. I would move Blue cheese to another tank, if not you may lose all, if it is poison GL
Similar to other boxfish, the Cowfish Longhorn's skin is poisonous and, when threatened, it will release a toxin lethal to other tank members, including other Longhorns.
How are the other fish? The trigger could be getting stressed out. I had a Niger trigger doing fine and then just go the other way when I put a porc puffer in the tank. I would move Blue cheese to another tank, if not you may lose all, if it is poison GL
humaguy
Premium Member
No, that is not happening.:dance:
What size is that tank?
You have a fairly large sized Rhinecanthus assasi, that, in your video, seems to be acting like a trigger does. Except, he seems quite frustrated and I would bet that is due to tank size.
http://blogs.thatpetplace.com/thatf...ecies-profile-long-horn-cowfish/#.WmTrXGCWzIU
https://naturespoisons.com/2015/08/13/cowfish-the-mutant-superheroes-of-the-ocean-pahutoxin/
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1552239
There is plenty of solid info around out there.
Good luck,
TK
What size is that tank?
You have a fairly large sized Rhinecanthus assasi, that, in your video, seems to be acting like a trigger does. Except, he seems quite frustrated and I would bet that is due to tank size.
http://blogs.thatpetplace.com/thatf...ecies-profile-long-horn-cowfish/#.WmTrXGCWzIU
https://naturespoisons.com/2015/08/13/cowfish-the-mutant-superheroes-of-the-ocean-pahutoxin/
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1552239
There is plenty of solid info around out there.
Good luck,
TK
lagatbezan
Active member
I'm not an expert but my guess would be that if the cowfish is releasing toxins, wouldn't it effect other fish in the tank as well and not just the one fish? are you running carbon in the tank? Hopefully that can take the toxins out of the system maybe?
was the new fish qt before adding it to the tank? if not its possible that maybe some parasite was brought in like flukes or ich.
was the new fish qt before adding it to the tank? if not its possible that maybe some parasite was brought in like flukes or ich.
McPuff
New member
The trigger's behavior seems pretty normal given the circumstances. That said, I would take the trigger out of the tank and either trade it in or sell it to another aquarist. It's too big for the tank and those guys like to swim. Assasi triggers are not super common so I doubt you'll have much trouble finding a new home for him.
Thanks for all of the replies! I apologize for not posting back for so long.
It took 9 days for him to die, and it was painful to watch. I agree with many posts above that it was probably due to tank size. It is a 90 gallon bow front, which I thought would be sufficient for a fish his size. He was probably the "heaviest" fish I've ever had, due to his thickness, but his height and length wasn't any bigger than several Tangs I had in a 105 gallon reef. Anyway, I should have done more research about Triggers before buying him. I've had reef tanks for about 20 years, but this is my first "fish only" tank (sitting next to a 180 gallon extreme bowfront reef).
The cowfish, liofish, and snowflake eel seem to be doing fine, but I did have a really bad outbreak of ich after the trigger. I wound up separating the 2 aquariums, which had been sharing a sump, so that I could run copper. The ich outbreak wound up taking out a couple of the fish in my reef also, and almost killed my oldest Tang (I've had it for 13 years). Thankfully, after separating the tanks, raising the water temp from ~72 deg F to ~80 deg F, and adding 3 cleaner shrimp, the reef fish all seem virtually ich-free.
It took 9 days for him to die, and it was painful to watch. I agree with many posts above that it was probably due to tank size. It is a 90 gallon bow front, which I thought would be sufficient for a fish his size. He was probably the "heaviest" fish I've ever had, due to his thickness, but his height and length wasn't any bigger than several Tangs I had in a 105 gallon reef. Anyway, I should have done more research about Triggers before buying him. I've had reef tanks for about 20 years, but this is my first "fish only" tank (sitting next to a 180 gallon extreme bowfront reef).
The cowfish, liofish, and snowflake eel seem to be doing fine, but I did have a really bad outbreak of ich after the trigger. I wound up separating the 2 aquariums, which had been sharing a sump, so that I could run copper. The ich outbreak wound up taking out a couple of the fish in my reef also, and almost killed my oldest Tang (I've had it for 13 years). Thankfully, after separating the tanks, raising the water temp from ~72 deg F to ~80 deg F, and adding 3 cleaner shrimp, the reef fish all seem virtually ich-free.
