trigger problem: Is this a bacterial infection?

[reefm]

Just came back from a 5-day work trip to find my trigger with these discolorations. It doesn't look like ich and no other fish has any sign of decease although my yellow tang is hiding which is also unusual.

He's 2-years old in a FOWLR 180 with no new additions other than a few pieces of dry rock a month ago (leftovers from my Reefer 350 build). He's eating pellets and frozen food (w/selcon) as usual but he's ignoring Nori, which is very odd. Tried garlic on the Nori and he's not going for it. Another first is that he's not letting the cleaning wrasse go near him.

Params haven't changed, PH 8.2, temp 78, SG 1.025, Alk 8.4, Ca 470, Mg 1440, 0 ammonia, no detectable nitrates/nitrites. Salifert/Red Sea test kits. GFO and skimmer were also working as expected when I came back.

Any ideas what this is and how to treat it? I don't have a QT at the moment but can setup a 20 or 46 if needed. thanks!

 

[Humblefish]

Yup, very well could be a bacterial infection. Assuming you've had him awhile, it's probably just a gram positive infection (good news) and triggers are tough (more good news). You have two in-tank treatment options:

1. Continue to soak his food in Selcon (to boost the immune system) and hope for the best.
2. A more aggressive approach would be to soak his food in Kanaplex (an antibiotic), using Seachem Focus to bind it to the food.

If the above suggestions do not work and he starts looking worse, I would QT and dose this trio of meds directly into the water column: Furan-2, Kanaplex and Seachem Metroplex.

 

[reefm]

great, thanks! I'll continue with Selcon for a while and prepare #2 in case things deteriorate but as you said triggers are generally indestructible.

 

[reefm]

I'm happy to report that the trigger made a full recovery, thanks for all the help!

All the discolorations are gone and he's acting normal (for a trigger...) again, he even re-arranged a couple of frags I had dropped in the past few days, despite them being glued on small rocks...

I treated him in the DT with Kanaplex/Focus for 4 days, with Selcon before and after that.