Sick Trigger

[pwoller]

I need help identifying this health condition.

Blue Jawed trigger has normal appitite, has small spots on his body, look like little dust particles, eyes somewhat cloudy, one fin has some damage. My first thought was ich but want to be sure.

Water:
78 degrees
1.022 sg
ph 7.8-8.4
kh 300 ppm
nitrite 0-.5ppm
nitrate 40 ppm
8 hrs of lite
protein skimmer, still tweaking it to get rid of the microbubles
penguin bio filter
housed with dwarf lion, goby, 2 damsels
Ive had the trigger for 2 weeks

I decribed the conditions at a fish store and gave them a water sample they recomended 25 percent water change and started me on Kent Calcium buffer because I told them it seemed worse in the morning, they also recomended treating the fish for ich. I dont have a quarinten tank so before I treated the whole tank I wanted more recomendations.

Thanks

[coral reefer]

I'm almost certain that ich is what your Trigger has! Try lowering your Salinity level gradually, but steady to around 1.015 oe so. That will help to rid your tank of ich.
Their are certain medications that you could try for ich! A product called Ich-attack may work!! It is 100% organic and treats ich, fungus,protozoans and dinoflagellates. Geekdafied was the one who told me about this new product...maybe it will work!!! It is by Kordon.

[Tangster]

O.K does the stuff look like powered sugar or regular sugar granules ? is the dusting all over or in the large specks more concentrated in spots. From the dusting you describe if its a powder rather then larger specks then its sound more like velvet or oodenium.. You will need to get some maracyin 1 in the system ASAP or it will be dead in a few days Mardel Labs makes it the saltwater is better but if all you can find is the F/water then take that its will do just lacks the B-12 to help pep it up a bit.. The cloudy eye makes me lean more to the oodenium as its an internal bacterial infection that move out as it progresses from the Gills and internal organs. As a rule by time we see it , Then it been working on them for a few days thats why we tend to think they die quickly in a few day but its been a week or more really.

[pwoller]

It looks like powder sugar. Another thing I noticed is that the 2 damsels have very poor color, fin breakage, and some of the same powder sugar looking stuff on them to. One of them is spending a lot of time in front of the power head. It is now all over the trigger and he isn't eating. Not looking good at all. Please help.

[amcarrig]

Originally Posted by Tangster

You will need to get some maracyin 1 in the system ASAP or it will be dead in a few days Mardel Labs makes it the saltwater is better but if all you can find is the F/water then take that its will do just lacks the B-12 to help pep it up a bit.

I would follow this advice as it sounds more like marine velvet than ich. Can you post a picture of the fish?

[pwoller]

Please see the pictures that are attached to the original thread.

The trigger is looking bad now, has the white powdery stuff all over his body, I would say its more like powdered sugar than granular. The 2 damsels are also starting to get the spots on them too, their color is bad, fins shreded and one of is spending alot of time in front of the power head.

I dont know what to do, please help.

[milesm4]

If you can add a UV sterilizer it won't help with this infection but it will help kill other bacteria problems in the future.

[TheDuck]

Sounds like what I had... Damn, I don't wish this on anyone. I lost two fish and still doing weekly water changes....

See Ok...crossing fingers for a little help.

[amcarrig]

Originally Posted by pwoller

I dont know what to do, please help.

Treat with Maracyn as indicated earlier.

[dragonflylures]

I had an ich outbreak on my trigger, yellow tang, coral beauty, threadfin and 2 clownfish -- I treated with Kordon Ich Attack for 3 weeks and did water changes -- lost the threadfin to bubble eye a secondary condition to the ich and then lost the 2 clown fish. A month later the coral beauty is looking much better and the fins are repairing themselves, the tang looks 100% and the trigger looks really good on the body but just a touch of cloudiness on the eyes from the infection -- don't know they'll ever clear up. I did get a cleaner shrimp and he cleans the trigger and coral beauty regularly while the yellow tang tries to get cleaned by the coral banded shrimp (just dumb I guess). I quit doing treatments after 3 1/2 weeks and didn't seem to help.

The big difference I have found that seemed to work was switching from tap water to RO/DI (a unit I LOVE from airwaterice), adding a 25 gallon sump, and adding cheato in the sump which has brought all my water parameters to perfect levels since all 3 were done in the same week.

I spent about 100 bucks in treatments, lost 70 dollars in fish and saved 70 dollars in fish --- infections of any kind suck bad.