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FAQs about Odonus niger Triggerfish Health
Related FAQs:
Odonus 1,
Odonus 2, & FAQs on:
Odonus Identification, Odonus Behavior,
Odonus Compatibility,
Odonus Selection,
Odonus Systems, Odonus Feeding,
Odonus Reproduction, &
Triggerfishes in General,
Triggerfish:
Identification,
Selection,
Selection 2,
Compatibility,
Behavior,
Systems,
Feeding,
Diseases,
Triggerfish Health 2, Reproduction,
Related Articles:
Odonus niger,
Triggerfish,
Balistoides Species,
Red Sea
Triggerfishes,
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Niger Trigger, hlth, env., no reading
10/2/2009
I have had a Niger Trigger for about 10 months and he has sopped eating
and was hiding in his favorite spot till last night. he has wedged
himself between rock and glass in the corner. the salinity is 1.021,
<Too low>
ammonia is .2
<Toxic>
(lowest reading) nitrite is 0, nitrate .40
<Too high>
. i did a 15% water change last night.i have been treated the tank with
Melafix. no new fish added . i have a blue damsel, dogface puffer, and a
snowflake eel. everyone else is eating fine and showing no signs of
stress. what can i do? show i get him out and treat him? help Sean
<... For one, run your writing through a spell checker before sending it
to us. For real, read on WWM re your toxic water situation and fix it.
Maybe start here:
http://wetwebmedia.com/marine/maintenance/maintindex.htm
Scroll down to the tray headed by the yellow bar. Bob Fenner>
Blue Niger Trigger glancing and rubbing itself-white spot on eye.
11/4/08
Hey guys, please help me! I have a Blue Niger
Trigger that was purchased and introduced to my home tank about 2 weeks
ago with a Dragon Wrasse as well-both came from the same tank in the pet
store. All tank conditions checked out, but the dragon wrasse died of a
bladder infection 4 days after being introduced and was removed right
away, I'm positive the wrasse had the issue before it's introduction.
<Were these in quarantine at all?>
The Trigger seemed fine and
active, after the loss of the dragon wrasse I introduced a lunar wrasse,
angler fish, and humu trigger 2 days after the dragon died.
<Whoa,
too much, too fast unless you have a massive tank.>
The Niger
Trigger, and all others have gotten along fine, except for the Niger
Trigger and Lunar Wrasse mixing it up a little during feedings. A week
ago I noticed a white spot form on the top part of the Niger Trigger's
eye, and a similar one on his tail. He continues to feed well and stay
active, but I catch him rubbing and glancing live rock every once in
awhile-not continuous by any means, but daily for sure around his
spotted eye area. The Niger Trigger has no other spots or sores of any
kind, and the spots haven't multiplied or showed up on the rest of his
body. I was thinking about trying the garlic remedy, due to none of the
other fish
showing any illness I'm reluctant to treat the water
harshly or the overall tank.
<Any treatment should be in a quarantine
tank anyhow.>
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!! Last but not
least, due you think the sick Dragon Wrasse had anything to due with the
Niger Trigger's issue?
<Possibly, did they show any of the same
signs?>
Please let me know you got this with a response to my e-mail
and I will update you on the situation.
<Hard to say without a
picture, do read through the disease FAQs on WWM. Between so many
large fish so fast, the fish showing no other signs and the
trigger/wrasse mixing it up, this is very likely environmental.>
Thanks, Ole.
<Welcome, Scott V.> Re: Blue Niger
Trigger glancing and rubbing itself-white spot on eye. 11/4/08
Thanks for the quick response!
<Very welcome!>
Since I e-mailed
in, The Blue Trigger has stopped rubbing and lost both of the white
spots.
<Great!>
Things have calmed down between the Blue Trigger
and Lunar Wrasse as well. I'm keeping a close eye on everyone and
so far so good. I didn't have the luxury of a quarantine tank, and
didn't realize the stress factors created by to many fish at once.
<Do consider investment it a QT, even 20-30 gallons can serve well as
fish are introduced.>
I will take both factors in consideration for
future dealings with my tank and it's occupants.
<Ahhh, good.>
Thanks for the info, Ole.
<Welcome, have fun, Scott V.
Re: Blue Niger Trigger Pop-Eye 11/10/08
Hey Scott, don't
want to become a question pest but you have been a real help with my
fish issues, and I have to take it back to my Blue Niger
Trigger!
<Okay.>
His eye had cleared up and all spots had cleared on the rest
of his body. Well he now has the same eye clouded over lightly and the
eye is slightly raised-the rest of his body is perfectly healthy. I'm
supposing this is a form of Bubble Eye?
<Pop-Eye, yes.>
Maybe
caused from the previous scrapping he was doing?
<Very most likely
this, general water quality, or the wrasse again.>
Most reports said
he would clear up by himself as long as water conditions were maintained
well-do you agree?
<It typically will.>
All other fish-Angler,
Lunar
Wrasse, and Humu Trigger are active and healthy-they all get
along in general except the Lunar and Blue Trigger still get into it
sometimes during feeding, is this an issue I should concern myself about
further?
<It very well could be the source of the trauma. Do they get
along fine when not feeding?>
As always, Thanks for any advice
given! Ole.
<Welcome, sounds like you have read on the condition
here. Scott V.> Re: Blue Niger Trigger Pop-Eye 11/10/08
Well, I feel like the boy who cries wolf!
<Heee, we all have those
times, up and down.>
My water quality checked out excellent today,
and the Blue Trigger's eye has almost cleared up completely and the
raising went down-he does have some fraying on his back tail fin and a
new srcatch by it as well-I'm sure due to him and the Wrasse having it
out at feeding time.
<No doubt.>
The two only seem to tangle at
feeding, when no food is present they don't seem to even pay attention
to each other at all.
<At least when you are looking!>
I plan on
keeping my eye on them, and if one has to go, it will be the Lunar
Wrasse! Although The Lunar is incredibly active and fun, got more
love towards my Blue Trigger in this case. Thanks again for all the help
Scott, Ole.
<Welcome my friend. Scott V.>
Re: Blue Niger Trigger glancing and rubbing itself-white spot
on eye. 3/26/09
Hi Scott, it's been awhile since I checked in, that's been a good thing
though.
<Ha, yes, if it's not broke....>
My saltwater tank has been doing well and staying problem free until
recently. Sadly enough I'm dealing with my Blue Niger Trigger again.
Recently he's started glancing himself again the last couple of days,
but there is no sign of Ich that I can tell of and I trust my eye on
that one. What else do you think my cause him to glance?
<I was just discussing this with Bob, his question is if anything is
being added to the water that may be irritating this fish? Even
something as innocent as a dechlorinator can cause irritation.>
All the tank mates have gotten along for months now, and I've kept up
with monthly water changes and level checks. All seems good and no other
fish are acting up or show any signs of infections or illness.
<Good.>
Back to my Blue Trigger, when I caught glancing last time and I reached
out to you his problems cleared up and he was back to normal. I guess I
don't want to over react to the situation if cases of glancing are a
fish's natural way of cleaning off pests, but of course I don't want to
let it go when I could have helped a situation early on. His eyes and
tails are completely clear and clean, besides a little roughing here and
there on his skin from the glancing, he seems very healthy appetite is
strong.
<Good.>
Any advice would be appreciated as always, I call my Trigger "old blue"
and by far he is my favorite fish, I would hate to lose him!
<Without any other symptoms it is just wait and see...unless you can pin
down some source of external irritation.>
A side question for you, I heard of this being done but highly
unrecomended, housing an Undulated Trigger with tankmates (other
Triggers,
Puffers, and Wrasses)?
<Well I think you answered your own question there! These are bad
dudes....even in a large tank.>
Thanks as always, Ole.
<Welcome Ole.>
Re: Blue Niger Trigger glancing and rubbing itself-white spot
on eye. 3/27/2009
Nothing is being added to the water, that wouldn't have been in the
system since he's been in the tank. At this point, he's still glancing
away but I still see no signs of skin parasites/abrasions/ich.
<Good.>
He's still very active and eating well at all times, I'll keep you
posted!
<Sounds good.>
Thanks as always, Ole.
<Welcome, have a good one. Scott V.>
Odonus First Aid
<Hi, Mike D here>
Good morning everyone, I could use some help. I have a six month old Odonus
trigger, and it looks like he got a little to rambunctious in redecorating and
has a little piece of coral or shell stuck in his
chin,<Yep, this happens occasionally> it doesn't seem to bother him, but I am
concerned about it.<Sometimes that's bad, as it's surprisingly easy to make a
small problem into a large one because of human compulsions> Do
you have any suggestions about how to go about removing this-??<MY suggestion is
to wait until it does bother him, at which time he'll rub against a rock, a
piece of coral or the bottom and remove it himself. If you feel that you HAVE to
remove it, you can catch him in a net and simply pick the offending particle off
with a pair of tweezers. While trying to catch him, he'll likely show you the
wonderful way triggers dive into LR and LOCK themselves into place with that
TRIGGER FIN evolved for just that purpose. Use care of course, so that the fish
doesn't become severely injured fleeing from you, bringing me back to the point
about making a small problem into a large one.> Thank
you, John
Niger Trigger
Hello,
<Hi. You Got Justin>
I'm not sure who to contact or who to ask, I've been reviewing some of the
information your site has about Niger triggers, Anyways I have a 3/4 inch long
Niger trigger...and it seems to be hiding a lot during the day and laying around
(from what I've read so far this is normal)
<Yes and no.... Nigers normally swim very actively during the day and only hide
when they are stressed or are being picked on or are sick with something. I am
leaning toward the third.>
But, my concern is this; his eyes are REALLY glazed over. Everything else seems
to be fine, but I'm worried. All the chemical levels are correct, and all
of my other fish are completely fine. I have an angel, two clowns and a couple
damsels.
<Well it really only helps us to know the exact levels in the tank. Otherwise we
cant simply take your word for it.>
If you have any ideas...or know anything that might help him I would be very
thankful
~Chris
<Sure Well first I would catch the Niger and put it in its own Q/T tank for
observation. The cloudy eyes are usually a symptom of poor water quality. By Q/T
ing it you can help it by constantly having very high water quality and in case
it is ill with something else it prevents any more transfer into your main tank.
To help the fish for now go get some Epsom salt. Its sold at your grocery store.
Put in 1 TSP (teaspoon) per every 5 gallons to help relieve any excess water
pressure behind the eyes. Simply watch this fish and remove from q/t once the
eyes heal. If they wont after giving good water quality and the Epsom salts, you
might try a cloudy eye medication, but I really recommend this as a last resort.
>
<Justin (Jager)>
Trigger Won't Eat - 09/08/06
We also have a Niger trigger that has stopped eating 2 and a
half weeks ago and has gone to ground in the rocks.
<<Not a good sign>>
We have seen him several times during this period, he has no
external signs of damage, parasites, etc. Colour and markings look very
good, breathing is normal, eyes are bright and actively looking at his
surroundings.
<<Hmm...is this fish a recent acquisition? Perhaps this behavior is
a reaction to its environment>>
Tank has been established 10 years, 300 gallons, fish only all other
fish ok, water ok, all we have done so far is extra water changes (not sure
why) increase vitamins and essential elements we don't know what else to
try, so I have been looking on the fish net for help and/or advice.
Chris
<<Well Chris...I have observed similar behavior before in other
species (internal parasites I suspect)...unfortunately there's little you
can do once the fish stops eating. Do ensure your water quality is optimum,
and keep trying to induce/offer food to try to get the fish to feed...and do
a Google search of our site re "internal parasites". Regards, EricR>>
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Marks on Niger trigger face
12/22/08
My tank is a 210g Aqueon glass tank. I have a 55g sump and about 180 lbs
of live rock in the system, probably only about 40 lbs in the sump, the
rest in the main tank. I run the salinity at 1.025, temperature 78 and
with no measureable nitrites or ammonia. Nitrates range around between
20-60,
<Mmm, too high... I'd be looking into (reading on WWM, elsewhere) re
keeping this under 20 ppm
Here: http://wetwebmedia.com/nitratesmar.htm
and the linked files above>
depending on how recently I did a water change, which btw I do on a
weekly basis, every Sunday I do a 30 gallon water change. I figure
between the sump being about 2/3 full and the live rock displacing
water, I've probably got about 220 gallons of total water volume, so
that is around a 15% water change weekly.
Can you tell me what these marks are on the Niger in the pictures?
<Mechanical injuries... Nice pix>
I bought this Niger about 4 months ago now, he has always been really
healthy and seems to be doing well. I quarantined him in a 29g tank for
2 weeks, usually I do 4 weeks but it was so small for him I felt bad and
after 2 weeks of seeming good health, I transferred him to the display.
<Good. I would have as well>
Anyway, he has these small white marks on his face about halfway between
the gill plates and the mouth. About a week after I put him into the
display he started showing them. I thought he basically scratched
himself or something like that
<This is so>
and wasn't too worried about it. Then about a month later I see he has 4
marks close to his mouth and also some along his chin down by his
trigger.
Any idea what these could be and how I would treat for them?
<Really only good care, feeding... Should heal with time, improvement in
your water quality>
Thanks!
Grant
<Thank you for sharing. Bob Fenner>
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Re: Marks on Niger
trigger face 12/23/08
Good deal, thanks for alleviating my concern. I was pretty sure it was physical
trauma but it's so hard to tell, I don't have a lot of experience of fish self
abuse I guess.
<I have seen such "pitting" times before... does generally heal over in time>
Thanks for the compliment on the pictures, I recently bought a new camera and
have been having a blast. I'm going to Hawaii January 31st, I'm really
contemplating buying the underwater covering for it so I can get some fish
pictures :)
<Ahh! I encourage you to purchase the housing, try your hand here>
I attached a couple of my favorite pictures I've taken over the last week I've
had the camera. Feel free to use any of them you want, if you had a use for
them, it's the least I can do for the help you provide.
<Thank you for sharing... I esp. like the pic of the young Sohal>
I didn't want to bog down the email with lots of pictures, but here's a couple
links to the other noteworthy images, if you enjoyed the ones I attached you'll
like the ones I've linked to.
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i236/Recty/humu016.jpg
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i236/Recty/goldheart023.jpg
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i236/Recty/sohal012.jpg
My clown's chipped tooth!
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i236/Recty/clown016.jpg
I particularly like this feeding shot. I put a small Sohal tang into the mix a
couple months ago and started feeding Nori, I didn't realize how much the
triggers would dig into it. I cant even use the standard "Nemo" looking algae
clip, the clown trigger is such a brute he just rips it right out, so I have to
use my magnetic cleaning pad to hold the algae on. Anyway, I love
this shot :)
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i236/Recty/feeding002.jpg
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i236/Recty/Sohal009.jpg
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i236/Recty/humu012.jpg
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i236/Recty/goldheart020.jpg
Well anyway, you get the idea, I'm a proud fish papa ;)
Grant
<Thank you for sharing Grant. Bob Fenner>
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Re: Marks on
Niger trigger face 1/1/09
Any other thoughts on what this might be on the face of my Niger. We had
talked a week ago and both agreed it was just physical damage, but I'm
really starting to wonder. In this current picture, you can see the pits
are full of a white something and they definitely bump out from the skin
for a little bit. I'm having a hard time believing this is physical
damage, why would the center of the damage turn white and start
protruding?
<Sign of healing... did you have an urchin in this system?>
Any other guesses would be great, OR just being told that you still
think it is physical damage is great also :)
<I do still believe this is the latter>
For what it's worth, the Niger is still the picture of health otherwise.
His coloration is amazing, he swims actively and doesn't pace the tank
or seem bored. He eats well and just seems like a really healthy "happy"
fish, so I don't think the spots are harming him yet if they are
parasitical in nature.
I'm concerned though that if they are parasitical, they could eventually
take too much of a toll on him.
<I don't think these pits, damage are due to a parasite... Have
"skinned" quite a few triggers, for science and consumption... their
integuments are TOUGH!>
I'm not sure if I said this before in this set of emails, but I'm
treating the tank right now with hyposalinity as I've been having ich
problems. So if it is a parasite, I'm thinking it isn't one a FW dip
will kill off, as right now the tank has been at 1.009 for 2 weeks
straight. Although a FW dip is obviously stronger of a treatment than
1.009, but I would think over time the low salinity would kill most
stuff that is killed by FW.
Thanks for any help you can provide.
<I'm not a fan of continuous hyposalinity as you'll see by perusing
WWM... this might be a cause of trouble here. Bob Fenner>
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Re: Marks on Niger trigger
face ~ 01/01/09
No urchins in the system, never have and probably never will, I've been
told most of the triggers or puffers will eventually bite all their
spines off and kill them, or just flip them over and kill them. I'm not
real thrilled about the idea of my fish being injured by the urchin
either, so I've never kept one.
<I see... and am glad to realize your knowledge here>
Well I'm going to keep going at this as the trigger just damaged itself
and is healing. It just seems weird to me because the white is
protruding from the area of damage and just doesn't look normal, but it
also doesn't look parasitic to me so I was just kind of at a loss for
what it could be. It simply doesn't look "normal" to me ;) Not normal
healing, not normal parasite, not normal anything, but we will see.
<Yes>
I'm not a real big fan of prolonged hyposalinity either and I read
extensively through your site before deciding on it as a method of
treatment. I basically don't have the time or resources to maintain all
the quarantine/hospital tanks I would need for removing all 7 fish from
the display and letting the main tank go fallow for 2-3 months. I'm in
an apartment, not my own home, so I don't have a garage or anything like
that, I'd just have to have tanks spread out all over or a big tub
somewhere, it wouldn't work out.
<I understand>
So I'm trying hypo. I'll probably only do it another week or two, giving
it a total of 1 month of hypo, then raise the salinity and see what
happens. The nice thing is my golden puffer, who was really showing lots
of ich, way more than the triggers, cleaned up and stopped showing ich
within a week of dropping the salinity. I'm hoping when I return back to
1.025 I'll have kicked the ich, but I guess we wont know for another
couple weeks.
<Yes>
I'm actually tempted to continue the hypo treatment for another month
and a half.
<May prove too hard on your livestock... damages the kidneys mostly>
I'm going to Hawaii at the end of January and wont be back until the
middle of February, so the guy I have who is going to be feeding my fish
and stuff would probably have a lot easier time of it if my fish weren't
dying of ich. If I leave the tank at 1.009 (I have auto top off so the
guy in charge while I'm gone wont have to try to maintain low salinity)
while I'm gone, then he doesn't have the be checking the fish for ich,
or trying to remove them to a hospital tank if they do have it. He
definitely isn't a fish person, but he is reliable so I'm trusting him
to be my feeder buddy.
<Good>
As long as I've got your ear... from what I remember reading on WWM, you
didn't like long term hypo as you felt it disturbed their sexual
reproduction organs and caused them to not ever develop, or something
along those lines.
<Mmm, must be someone else>
What exactly is long term? Are we talking more than a month?
More than a week? A day? Or anything more than just a FW dip?
<Months>
I've really got to get this ich kicked once and for all, it's
frustrating and the hypo has really been easy to maintain and it seems
to be doing good.
<As you state, "we shall see". Cheers, BobF>
Re: Marks on Niger trigger
face ~ 01/01/09
All right, well in 2 weeks I'll have ran the tank in hypo conditions for
a month total, I'll start raising the salinity then. My plan is to take
a week to go from 1.009 to 1.025. That isn't too quick is it?
<Is about right... i.e., can be done>
I read a lot about people saying not to raise salinity by more than .001
a day, but the problem I have with that is I get fish from the LFS in
tanks at 1.019 and my tank is usually 1.025, I drip acclimate them for
an hour and then put them into quarantine and they seem just fine, so
that is .006 raise in salinity over an hour and they seem fine. It seems
to me going by that logic that I could raise from 1.009 to 1.025 in a
week, right?
<Yes>
Thanks for all you do, by the way. I've learned a lot in my pursuit of
the hobby and most of it has been through your website. Most of my own
hands on knowledge I have wouldn't be possible without having had
followed the things you recommend on WWM, I really do appreciate what
you guys do. It's crazy, I don't know many, if ANY, other services I
could email on New Years and actually get an answer from, especially an
intelligent answer :) You and your crew's dedication helps keep me
dedicated and loving the hobby, so for
that, thanks Bob.
Grant
<Welcome my friend. BobF>
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