Picasso Trigger Flipping Out!!!!!!! HELP

[Stars360]

Hey guys i have had an ongoing problem for some time now. since i have gotton my trigger he will reb on the sand a lot so i went to my lfs and they told me to use copper (i wish i would of known of this forum then and about how bad copper was..but anyways) i did the 14 day treatment of copper and he was fine for about a month or so, then he did it again so i did another 14day treatment and he was fine for another month or so then it happend again so i treated again, and yet again he is rubbing...what is going on...

My tank is a 55g amiracle wet/dry, penguin 330, and aquatronics 8w uv steralizer. the inhabitants are a yellow tang, snowflake morray eel, two tomato clownfish, three domino damsels, two beu gregory damsels, and a panther grouper that is moving on up to my friends 350g tank...:( so what could be the problem of this thanks

brian

p.s. amonia...0
nitrites.....0
nitrates....0
ph 8.2
salinity....1.025
temp 78-80

[FMarini]

Hi:
If i may...let me adddress two things here...
1) whatever your describing as rubbing in the sand. Seems to me this is a normal habit of these fish, especially when theres loose sand and they are digging (or looking for worms and crawlie critters which live in the sand. So if it were me, unless i see tell tale signs of disease. Treating the tank w/ copper(or any med) is just asking for trouble.
Second, your tank is woefully overloaded. Unless everyfish in this tank is under 3", you have a tank load for a 300gall tank. I would suggest to you that might consider reducing this load, and this in turn may alleviate any future possibilites of trouble. Like poor water quality.
I find it hard to believe w/ this amount of fish in a 55 gal that you don't have sky high nitrate levels. If this is new tank (under 6months) then its certainly possible, but if you feed meaty foods often its also asking for trouble.
So unless you see any outward signs of disease on this fish, don't treat the tank
frank

[Stars360]

ok, let me tell you this... i know it is a big bioload that is why i am getting rid of some fish in the near future, such as the grouper...the grouper is a good 5"

the trigger is like 2.5" all of the damsels are like 1-2" and the eel is big, and the tang is like 3" i got them all relitavly small...:)

what he is doing does not look like normal behavior to me...he rubs and rubs the lenght of the tank and he rubs against corals to. it also looks to me like he is only rubbing on one side...if i can i will take a picture of it, and post it... so you can see what i am talking about..

p.s. the tank has been up and running since august...

[billsreef]

Do you see any spots on the trigger anywhere? Or is it exhibiting faster than normal breathing?

BTW 2 weeks treatment with copper is not enough to eliminate the cysts from marine ick, it takes a good solid 4 weeks minimum. BTW with this type of tank set up hyposalinity would be a better bet for ick. But we really need to ascertain just what is the problem and is really a problem before discussing treatment options. And yes that picture would be a great help.

[Stars360]

ok, i will borrow my sisters camera tonight and hopefully ( i cant believe i am saying this) he will do the rubbing again. then i can take a couple of pictures of him doing it and you can tell me what you think....also how do we rule out things to assertain what is going on...thanks again i apreciate it...


brian

[billsreef]

Try and get some good close up shots if possible, from both sides of the fish.

In terms of looking for disease symptoms, look for spots, ragged or torn fins, red streaks in fins or red splotches on body, upraised scales, rapid or overly slow and labored breathing, dusty appearance to fish, cloudy looking slime coat. Theres probably a few other things, but 1am my brain is starting to slow down and tell me to get some sleep.

[Stars360]

something is wrong w/ the camera so i will get the pics up a.s.a.p. but i have checked the fish and he looks healthy, no spots, no labored breathing..nothing... i just dont know

[FMarini]

Hi:
so no visble signs of disease?/// well this might bode well for my thought of it being a normal territorial action of this fish. I say this cuz I had a niger trigger(yes i know a very different trigger than your picasso), who actually rubbed his body along the rockwork and around what he thought was his territory. He did it often and did it in full view of the other fish. My feeling was that this was like a lion who marks his territory, and he was saying mine here, mine here etc.He did this for month. I never saw bumps, lumps, spots, torn fins, nothing..... I never really associated it w/ any disease and he lived fine for a year (until he turned violent and out he went).
Maybe your experiencing this as well. Otherwise i have no answers
frank

[Stars360]

That is interesting frank... but i dont know... he does it in full view as did yours... but he does it right up front of the glass and he usually does it for lets say half of the tank one time the full lenght of the tank the next then the other side... there is no pattern.. i dont know... i will try and get the pictures up as soon as the camera gets fixed, oh yea i also found out i can take a movie w/ this camera... how do i post a movie up.. to show you guys exactally what happens instead of a picture.... thanks for all of the help

brian

[billsreef]

Movies, cool.
I don't know much about putting movies on the web, you might want to post that question to the lounge where I'm sure someone will be able to help with that.