Niger Trigger still hiding after two days..

[Electus unus]

Like the title says. Anyways. I acclimated this guy for a little over 7 hours. A lot of y'all are probably like "that's way too long" but I wanted to acclimate him good and slow because he went into a qt that's currently being treated with copper. There was an ichy looking tang in the tank with him :/

Anyways, he's been hiding in a piece of PVC since I left for work. Came back and he was in the tube but facing me at this point.. He's still like that several hours later.... When I FIRST put him in the tank, he just sorta sat in the sand and sat there motionless.
I'll try to get pictures of him if he ever decides to come out.

 

[Dmorty217]

Is he eating? If so this is normal and the trigger will probably never just be swimming around if you will in the QT because he doesn't feel secure. I have the same issue going on, I just put my saragassum I got yesterday into the QT and he just hides in a piece of PVC and only comes out to eat

 

[Electus unus]

I tapped on the tube a little to get him to come out, but yes, he has eaten. Not as much as I would expect, and surprisingly, he went for the formula 2 (veggie) over formula 1. I'm gonna try him on some mysis or brine shrimp. Anybody have some suggestions?

 

[Electus unus]

Update.

He's now hiding in a small gap between a couple pieces of PVC. He's just motionless.. I tried coaxing him out around feeding time, but he just ignored the mysis. Maybe krill on a feeder stick?

All's levels are 0. With the exception of copper, being around .4-5 all's other fish seem quite happy/eat regularly. I also had just given the tank a good cleaning(including all's hardware) prior to introducing him. He wasn't like this in the LFS, and they only had him for 3 days. Idk why he's so shy. He's the only "aggressive" fish in the tank

 

[CedzAquAddictio]

It's normal for fish to hide in QT on some occasions, but copper also suppresses appetite of some fish as well.

It's normally recommended to get a fish eating in QT since the surroundings are so different and the fish may be uncomfortable. After the fish is comfortable and eating well is when the medication can be administered with reduced stress to the fish...

 

[MrTuskfish]

I am a big fan of copper; but would never introduce any fish to the full dose at once. Copper should be raised gradually. By adding the Niger, you've altered the copper time table anyway; so I'd remove most the copper (carbon, Cuprisorb, WCs) . Then get all fish eating well before slowly increasing copper.

 

[Electus unus]

He's out and eating now. Found out he likes freeze dried krill ALOT! He's been mingling with the others.

Like I said, he had a very long acclimation process, and I brought him home in a 2.5gallon container filled with his tank at the LFS's water. Took over seven hours to drip over a 5 gallon bucket of tank water.

 

[Electus unus]

It's lights out and he's still not back in his hiding. I suppose he's accepted his surroundings. Lol

 

[Dmorty217]

With the QT being smaller then your DT and the fish being put into copper and it being a "new home" it will take a few days to fully come around. I just put my female Bellus that is the size of of a quarter into my 220g, so we will see how long it takes for me to see her again

 

[SwampyBill]

Slow down, get your ich problem solved & other fish treated first before adding more fish & anemones to the mix...& do research on the requirements of your intended fish list BEFORE purchasing...A 30 gal tank is way too small for a tang & esp. small for a Niger Triggerfish. Most tangs need a very minimum of 125 gal. long tank, & Niger triggers need minimum of 180 gal. Not sure how many fish you have besides the boxfish, keyhole angel, the clown pair, tang & trigger, but the last 4 alone can be aggressive & will likely cause problems in that overstocked 30 gal tank.

After your ich outbreak is dealt with, w/ tank remaining fallow for at least 90 days, you might consider re-homing the tang & trigger to larger aquariums; & let your 1 1/2 month old tank stabilize for a few more months before adding anymore livestock. Then, maybe add a lawnmower or midas blenny or some such peaceful fish w/ personality. btw, it's also widely suggested here that anemones need a stable tank at least 6 months old to thrive; & condy nems won't host clownfish, but they'll gladly eat them...

If you want long-term success in this awesome hobby, you should slow down & get your tank in sync. That 30 gal new tank is overworked w/ the bio-load of all those fish & the condy. Otherwise your livestock will continue to get sick & you'll continue throwing money down the drain, then get discouraged & quit. I've seen it happen far too many times over the yrs. & I too, was guilty of overstocking a new tank too quickly, fish got sick & died, etc; so I understand...btw, welcome to Reef Central. Good luck, I wish you much success.