Trigger with white patches. disease?

[Firefish]

Hi guys-
My 4" trigger (Chuckles) has just started showing these visible white patches within the last few days. Any advice would be much appreciated...

Water is in good shape. Zero NH3 & NO2... NO3 is around .5ppm - 5 gallon water changes every week for the past month or so (72 gallon tank) SG = 22 & temp stays around 78-80*

He's been in the tank for about 4 months. He eats everything I put in there (including the red plastic nori clip, which for some reason he doesn't like ) I feed him a couple of silver sides once per day.
He's breathing fine, swimming well and otherwise gets along well with the other fish.

[leebca]

There is some stressor at work. Usually it is either a nutritional, water quality, or space issue, or any combo.

When the fish's mucous layer weakens then this is the first level of response. What weakens the mucous coating are the above mentioned stressors.

Verify your water quality by performing an ammonia and nitrite test 1 hour after a 'large feeding.' I would further recommend not feeding silversides in those kinds of numbers but stick to saltwater whole organisms as much as possible. When you do feed, feed with supplemented vitamins and fats. The mucous layer quality and effectiveness depends upon proper nutrition.

Regarding space, verify that you have enough swimming space in the aquarium. The 72 is not enough space for fishes over 4" and not enough length for Tangs.

If stressors are corrected, the fish will heal on its own. If it goes on, the fish may show signs of this in between healing. However, it will have a shortened lifespan and one of the bouts may continue on to bacterial infection(s), Septecemia, and the like. If the areas enlarge, become discolored, reddened, or bleeding, remove the fish to a hospital tank and treat with an antibiotic.

[Firefish]

Thanks for the great info!
The water is in decent health, just a little nitrate. I use ro/di for changes and recently been changing 5 gallons per week. I also skim 16 out of 24 hours. I’ll be setting up a 125 tank upstairs in the lr soon so space should be much better. There is about 150 lbs of lr in the 72 bow, so there is not a lot of swim room there.

I have to admit, I’ve never kept a trigger before and I did some reading on them before buying… The lfs recommended silver sides and krill for their diet. Should I be feeding him something else?

I would further recommend not feeding silversides in those kinds of numbers but stick to saltwater whole organisms as much as possible.

What would you suggest I feed him...? What do you mean by "whole organisms"?


I love this trigger- very full of life & he’s a blast to watch eat… tears it up good!
Thanks again for the advice!

[leebca]

You're on the right track with krill. Try different brands, too. Other whole organisms -- hermit crabs (about the only value I've known them to actually have to the marine aquarist hobbyist), whole clam, saltwater damsels, etc. "Whole" means the whole organism (head, eyes, guts, etc., not just flesh like shrimp tails).

It's a long read, but you want to go through this:
Feeding Marine Fish and Fish Nutrition
You'll find other suggestions in the above post.

Make sure you test the water 1 hour after a heavy feeding to be sure water quality remains good at the 'worst' time. Is the pH being held steady? and in the right range?

[Firefish]

I do the water changes so often that I assume the ph is all set. I check it about once a month, I'll check it tonight when I get home. The silversides I feed him are whole, about the size of my little finger (2.5 - 3") So can I still feed these to him or are there better choices out there. I'll look into picking up some clams & hermits for him to eat also.

[leebca]

Check the Silversides package. Are they from the ocean or freshwater? All seafoods that are alive need to be either frozen solid first or quarantined if you want to feed them while they are alive. Don't forget that the seafood can bring with them fish diseases.

The 'whole foods' should be 'whole seafoods.'

[Firefish]

I have another question for you...
but first- The Silversides are from " Pro Salt" and labeled "Silver Sides Tropical Fish Food". On the back it just says " Genuine SilverSides". They are packaged in New Jersey. There's no mention whether or not they are fresh or salt

Ok, Here's the question...

I got home tonight and decided to do a little aqua-scaping to allow for more swim room. When I put my hands into the display tank I got a nasty shock under my thumb nail (because I was waxing a boat yesterday and tore the skin from under the nail- I hate it when I do that!) Anyway... every time I put my hand into the water I got that piercing pain under my nail, like someone shoving needles up under my nail So I started unplugging things one at a time and using my hand as a test subject for stray electricity (ya, that sucked!) Figures it was the last item in the tank I unplugged... a powerhead. After I unplugged it I got no more needles under my nail. So, ok... bad pump.

Could this be causing the Trigger to get these white patches on his body? All the other fish seem fine, even the Naso Tang.

Any how, I removed the pump, provided more swim area in the 72 bow and I'll be picking up a 125 gallon tank this weekend... so they should be pretty happy in a couple of weeks...

[leebca]

That is rare and I don't even mention grounding or electrical shortages anymore, but that is very likely the cause of the Trigger's problem.

Basically the Trigger is signaling a nutritional, space or water quality issue as I mentioned before. It used to be I'd put in 'environmental' instead of 'water quality' to include tank mate issues, grounding problems, etc., but they are either obvious or rare. I think you may have discovered the source. Avoid silversides for the time being and include vitamin and fat supplements to the fishes' foods and the Trigger should right itself if the bad pump was the source of the problem.

[Firefish]

Actually, the tang just started showing signs of stress tonight. Tiny white dots on her side, barely noticeable unless you look hard. I checked the water quality tonight after I fed them... every thing was in good order. Even the nitrates were almost zero. Hopefully removing that pump will improve conditions to the point where they start to heal. I hate when my fish are ill, it makes me ill worrying about them.

Thanks for all your help- you are the only one who answered my post and I really appreciate it.

[Firefish]

Just a quick update... trigger has just about all his color back and the tang looks good, no signs of stress as of tonight.

Thanks again for your help.

[leebca]