DamienHanna
New member
I have a problem with my big clown trigger, Homer. A few weeks back he just stopped eating and spent a lot of time hiding in his cave and showed no interest in being out and about like he usually does.
I have had him for about 2 years and he's about 6 inches long. He lives in a very uncrowded 300G FOWLR (96x30x24) with a few tangs, a picasso trigger and some green chromis. He always eat like a pig and stands his ground with the more agressive tangs in the tank no problem. Definitely a boss fish, very active and unafraid of me or any of my activities in the tank.
I know that triggers sometimes just get into a funk/depression and mope about for a while so I expected him to snap out of it in a few days and get back to normal. He didn't. He didn't eat anything at all for a week so I decided to move him to my 100G refugium where I could target feed him and observe. He was pretty easy to catch and seemed very weak so I let him settle for a day and started hand feed chopped shrimp, scallops, clams and silversides. He gradually started to eat more and I was encouraged. I fed him three or four times a day and each time he took more food and seemed to grow stronger. However, he didn't move around at all and flopped down on the sand bed after taking food. I made a small rock cave for him and leave the refuge lights off (but still bright from ambient light) but he seems to spend most of his time on the bottom outside the cave lying up against the wall of the refuge. He's not breathing heavily or showing signs of distress but he totally immobile until I come along for the next feeding whereupon he struggles up to the surface, gobble some food and flops back down. This has been going on for a week and a half now and I'm not seeing much improvement.
His eyesight seems off (he misses the food a lot and gets my finger) and he seems to be having trouble maintaining attitude/postion within the water column - almost as if his swim bladder is not working. He comes up to the surface in a vertical manner and eats in this position before flopping back down onto the sand. At first I thought he was just weak from lack of food but he's not improving at all.
I'm beginng to suspect he has some kind of neurological problem or a swim bladder issue. If that is the case then I know he's pretty much doomed but would like opinions from other trigger experts or folks who might have seem similar behavior.
Water params are excellent (this system is plumbed into my reef) with solid Ph, nitrates < 5ppm and all reef minerals within spec. I change 20% of my water every month even though the quality is usually excellent. I have excellent circulation (over 10,000gph on this 300G alone) and water is well oxygenated.
At this point I need to make a decision as to whether Homer is better off going to the big aquarium in the sky or whether I should persevere and see if he improves. If he's done then I don't want to prolong his misery...
Advice appreciated.
--Damien
I have had him for about 2 years and he's about 6 inches long. He lives in a very uncrowded 300G FOWLR (96x30x24) with a few tangs, a picasso trigger and some green chromis. He always eat like a pig and stands his ground with the more agressive tangs in the tank no problem. Definitely a boss fish, very active and unafraid of me or any of my activities in the tank.
I know that triggers sometimes just get into a funk/depression and mope about for a while so I expected him to snap out of it in a few days and get back to normal. He didn't. He didn't eat anything at all for a week so I decided to move him to my 100G refugium where I could target feed him and observe. He was pretty easy to catch and seemed very weak so I let him settle for a day and started hand feed chopped shrimp, scallops, clams and silversides. He gradually started to eat more and I was encouraged. I fed him three or four times a day and each time he took more food and seemed to grow stronger. However, he didn't move around at all and flopped down on the sand bed after taking food. I made a small rock cave for him and leave the refuge lights off (but still bright from ambient light) but he seems to spend most of his time on the bottom outside the cave lying up against the wall of the refuge. He's not breathing heavily or showing signs of distress but he totally immobile until I come along for the next feeding whereupon he struggles up to the surface, gobble some food and flops back down. This has been going on for a week and a half now and I'm not seeing much improvement.
His eyesight seems off (he misses the food a lot and gets my finger) and he seems to be having trouble maintaining attitude/postion within the water column - almost as if his swim bladder is not working. He comes up to the surface in a vertical manner and eats in this position before flopping back down onto the sand. At first I thought he was just weak from lack of food but he's not improving at all.
I'm beginng to suspect he has some kind of neurological problem or a swim bladder issue. If that is the case then I know he's pretty much doomed but would like opinions from other trigger experts or folks who might have seem similar behavior.
Water params are excellent (this system is plumbed into my reef) with solid Ph, nitrates < 5ppm and all reef minerals within spec. I change 20% of my water every month even though the quality is usually excellent. I have excellent circulation (over 10,000gph on this 300G alone) and water is well oxygenated.
At this point I need to make a decision as to whether Homer is better off going to the big aquarium in the sky or whether I should persevere and see if he improves. If he's done then I don't want to prolong his misery...
Advice appreciated.
--Damien
I guess I should add an RIP to that. Something injured his side...I looked one day and he had a pretty good sized slash. He never did recover, and I have no idea what did it, unless my tang got him with his spurs. I've never seen any aggression like that however.
