Trigger hitting against rocks

gillespiealesham · Mar 28, 2022

Hi, I apologize if I am not posting in the correct group. We have had a small saltwater tank with only clownfish for about 3 years, but upgraded to a 75 gallon tank several months ago. We added our first 2 fish about 2 weeks ago. One Is a 3 inch Bursa Trigger, and the other is a 10inch snowflake eel. We also added a file fish and urchin this weekend. Our trigger is pretty aggressively hitting herself on rock work and we noticed it the day after we added the filefish.

We just changed/tested the water and all was good. We are new to such a large tank, and these are new types of fish for us so we are a little lost.

is this normal? If not, what could it be? Do we pull her out and treat her in a separate tank? Pull out all of the fish and treat them?

we have never dealt with a sick fish, but I feel like this is going to be a lesson in quarantining new fish

GillMeister · Mar 28, 2022

Is it flashing or ramming the rock with its snout? Flashing could mean parasites but there are other reason's for flashing. Who really knows why they do what they do? It might be trying to show you how tough it is or it's decided it needs to establish dominance over that rock. Seriously. These are goofy fish.

gillespiealesham · Mar 28, 2022

Here’s a video of what she’s doing

Sharkbait19 · Mar 28, 2022

It could be territorial or disease related. Any other odd behaviors/appearances - faster breathing, swimming into flow, white spots?

gillespiealesham · Mar 28, 2022

What exactly is flashing? No white spots or anything we are able to see. She goes on her side and is hitting her gill area against the rocks. She’s swimming/eating fine. I posted a video as well but it’s awaiting approval. She has done a little twitch while swimming, but it’s only happened twice so I’m not sure if it’s related
Thank you for the replies!

vetteguy53081 · Mar 28, 2022

gillespiealesham said:
Hi, I apologize if I am not posting in the correct group. We have had a small saltwater tank with only clownfish for about 3 years, but upgraded to a 75 gallon tank several months ago. We added our first 2 fish about 2 weeks ago. One Is a 3 inch Bursa Trigger, and the other is a 10inch snowflake eel. We also added a file fish and urchin this weekend. Our trigger is pretty aggressively hitting herself on rock work and we noticed it the day after we added the filefish.

We just changed/tested the water and all was good. We are new to such a large tank, and these are new types of fish for us so we are a little lost.

is this normal? If not, what could it be? Do we pull her out and treat her in a separate tank? Pull out all of the fish and treat them?

we have never dealt with a sick fish, but I feel like this is going to be a lesson in quarantining new fish

Would be easier to assess with a video of at least 30 seconds
Can be re-scaping on its own or irritant

gillespiealesham · Mar 28, 2022

vetteguy53081 said:
Would be easier to assess with a video of at least 30 seconds
Can be re-scaping on its own or irritant

Here’s a longer video!

vetteguy53081 · Mar 28, 2022

gillespiealesham said:
Here’s a longer video!

Perfect. Its itching /scratching. At times displayed with ich but more common with flukes.
If you dont see dots, likely caused by Flukes. You can confirm flukes by giving this fish a freshwater dip in a CLEAN bucket of tap water for 5 minutes the same temperature as display tank. After this time, return trigger to tank and look on bottom of container used for what looks like sesame seeds or fish scales.
If you can see this- its flukes.

gillespiealesham · Mar 28, 2022

vetteguy53081 said:
Perfect. Its itching /scratching. At times displayed with ich but more common with flukes.
If you dont see dots, likely caused by Flukes. You can confirm flukes by giving this fish a freshwater dip in a CLEAN bucket of tap water for 5 minutes the same temperature as display tank. After this time, return trigger to tank and look on bottom of container used for what looks like sesame seeds or fish scales.
If you can see this- its flukes.

Thank you! We are doing the dip now, and will post an update here!

gillespiealesham · Mar 28, 2022

vetteguy53081 said:
Perfect. Its itching /scratching. At times displayed with ich but more common with flukes.
If you dont see dots, likely caused by Flukes. You can confirm flukes by giving this fish a freshwater dip in a CLEAN bucket of tap water for 5 minutes the same temperature as display tank. After this time, return trigger to tank and look on bottom of container used for what looks like sesame seeds or fish scales.
If you can see this- its flukes.

Okay, we think she has flukes. We do have a small bottle Prazipro. Do we set up a quarantine tank since we have the urchin and a snail?

vetteguy53081 · Mar 28, 2022

gillespiealesham said:
Okay, we think she has flukes. We do have a small bottle Prazipro. Do we set up a quarantine tank since we have the urchin and a snail?

Yes and add aeration as prazi will slightly reduce oxygen and appetite
Use for 8 days, water change day 9 and one more 8 day treatment

gillespiealesham · Mar 28, 2022

vetteguy53081 said:
Yes and add aeration as prazi will slightly reduce oxygen and appetite
Use for 8 days, water change day 9 and one more 8 day treatment

Do we treat only her, or do we treat all the fish in the tank?