HELP! My trigger has popeye!

[Fitz4fish]

Ok, I am a realtive newbie to this arena, so please don't knock me down too much. I have made a couple costly mistakes but Im learning!
I have a 150 gal FOWLER tank (well two small pieces of coral). I recently have aquired a Blue Jaw Triggerfish. I only have a few other/non agressive fish in there.
Now, I only know the behavior of a trigger only from what I read. I do not have a quarentine tank yet. (see opening sentence). When I first added the trig to my tank I was so suprised at how active he was. Swimming all around and thru a large bubble stream I have. That lasted 2 days. Then for a whole week I couldn't find him (I saw him but never ever came out of hiding) I NEVER saw him eat. It wasnt until a few days ago where I slightly saw him and noticed his eye was filmed over and starting to swell. Only one eye though. Even though 3 weeks later I have yet to see him eat, yesterday he was out swimming around, looking pretty healthy adide from his eye. I am under the assumption that the activity in my house might take some adjusting to, thats the reson he's been hiding. And I noticed alot of empty shells of snails/crabs on the floor of the tank. Am I safe to assume thats what he is eating and if so, what else should i try to give him. And for the eye? I've been giving water changes and all the readings have been normal (ph, nitrate ect)
Please, any advice will be helpful!
(Oh, and I am only saying popeye because thats what I read online, but no other signs of parasites)
Fitz4fish!

 

[wrassefan]

popeye is prob an infection....QT and use saltwater maracyn or maracynII. Keep aeration up and have plenty of hiding places...no lights needed

 

[Fitz4fish]

Ok, back to my original problem, I only have a 5 gallon QT tank I set up only a week ago. I transfered some water over, but I don't think its cycled at all. Does it need to be? Is 5 gallons big enough? Trigger is about 4 inches.
Or should I treat my entire 150 tank? I only have 3 pieces of small coral, would it affect them?
Is he hiding because of the light?
Thanks for your help!

 

[SaltCreep]

Get Olive Oil and Wimpy to pry it's jaws apart and maybe it will release poor Popeye....or you could just give him the can o' spinach.....



Ok OK I'm sorry.... I could not resist because the thread title sounded funny.


A trigger fish that you have NEVER seen eat is probably not going to live for too long.

While I am not personaly familiar with the Blue Jaw variety, triggerfish in general should eat like pigs.

I think the stress of catching him and then stuffing him into a 5 gallon quarantine tank could make he situation worse.


If I were you I would keep him in the big tank, make sure it is a steady 80 degrees in there, and hope to entice him to eat with a chunk of shrimp ( maybe medicated).

 

[wrassefan]

go out and get a 15gal rubbermaid from Walmart or something. Take all the water from your current tank. Put in a hang on filter without carbon or a powerhead for flow. Add a heater...no substrate..and a couple of pieces of pvc elbows for hiding.

How old is your tank? ..sounds kinda new which might be your issues. As Saltcreep said...not good if trigger is not eating.

 

[Cardiak]

I've been told by other reefers that running an air stone in saltwater fish tanks can make the fish sick. Now whether there is any truth to that claim, I really couldn’t tell ya. There is someone else on the board (reefkeeper2) that just recently bought a pair of blue throat triggers he may be able to give you advice on how to keep them happy. I know they are supposed to be the shy guys in the trigger family, maby he just hasn’t warmed up to you being the food supplier yet. Anyways GL

 

[Fitz4fish]

Here is why I am perplexed. To take him out and QT him in another tank is added stress to a fish I have not seen eat. I have lots of good hiding places so getting would be probably stressful to the other fish too. Right?
But as I said, yesterday when there was no activity in my home, I was on the couch watching football, he came out and swam around alot.
As for the eating, I have found alot of empty shells in the tank - he would be the only carnivore in the tank. Is he eating them? I do not see signs of listlessness in him.
Is it possible or is it harmful to medicate the entire 150 gallon tank?

 

[Fitz4fish]

By the way, thank you all for your help!
I am really enjoying this hobby (8 months) and this site is fantastic!
Does it matter I'm a Giants fan??

 

[Cardiak]

BTW what food are you trying to feed him/her? You should go read up on what you plan to medicate. Some medications can safely be added to your display and can remain in the tank with out bothering the fish long term, while most of the medications should be done seperately so they dont stay in your system forever. If I was you I would just play it safe and medicate seperately...

 

[Fitz4fish]

I was looking at the maracynII. I have feed him a seperate feeding of frozen silversides and shrimp. I heard fresh scallops might be ok, so Ill give it a whirl. I don't think I can medicate seperately for fear I may stress the other fish by moving everything around. Or am I mistaken?

 

[Scott]

Does it matter I'm a Giants fan??

It didn't until you mentioned it.

 

[wrassefan]

for one thing...it will take alot of meds to treat a 150...plus I would not want a ton of meds in my display even if I was able to remove all the corals and inverts....as I said, popeye is an infection....chances of the popeye clearing up without meds is slim. I've had angels recover from popeye treating with maracyn and maracyn II.

 

[Cardiak]

I was looking at the maracynII. I have feed him a seperate feeding of frozen silversides and shrimp. I heard fresh scallops might be ok, so Ill give it a whirl. I don't think I can medicate seperately for fear I may stress the other fish by moving everything around. Or am I mistaken?

Maby you should get a bottle of plankton, the freeze dried, refrigerated and try feeding it to him. The blue throat eat plankton in the wild so you should try getting him started on that. You should also pick up a bag of live brine shrimp at your local LFS as well, they only cost a dollar or two. Just about any finicky eating fish will at least try the brine when they are swimming around. Your fish obviously hasnt taken to the larger prepared frozen foods you are offering so you will have to wean him onto it. Start small with the plankton and live brine shrimp and once he starts downing those you can eventually toss in larger foods for him to try.

And yes, if you have to catch and move a fish it will stress them out alot. But its better then medicating an entire 150 gallon tank and the rest of its inhabitants and I just read you are keeping coral in this tank so its not a FOWLR. I dont know anything about maracynII but I know most fish meds do not mix with inverts/corals so you could very well lose your hermits/corals/shrimps/snails ect..

 

[Fitz4fish]

Good stuff, I will get some brine tonight. I was afraid that medicating may hurt the little coral that I have.
Woonsocket RI?? Home of CVS! I was there last month. Pretty area.
Thanks everyone for the advice!

 

[Cardiak]

Woonsocket RI?? Home of CVS! I was there last month. Pretty area.


Its ok, you dont have to lie

 

[ReeferMedic]

Without reading through this whole thread, if popeye is the only concern, ime it will go away on it's own in a couple of weeks. As long as it's eating, I would leave it where it is and let it heal.