TriggerFish help

[dawguy]

My red tail triggerfish have had a weird issue that I need some help with. About a month ago, it lost appetite and locked itself in a cave for a few days. Didn't come out for anything. I knew it couldnt' stay in there forever, so I moved all the rock work and got him out into a hospital tank. It had a hard time swimming, keeping its balance. I have since treated it with different medication and it started eating, still pretty shy and hides a lot. After about a couple weeks noticed that it had a bit of red internal swelling near the stomach area. Thought it was and infection of some kind, so gave him another round of bacterial medication. This morning I found a piece of feces that was rock hard, it was so hard that it didn't break apart and i couldn't even suck it up with a turkey baster. Has anyone ever run into this situation where a fish produces rock hard feces?

 

[user 26995]

What are you feeding it?
What medications has it been treated with?

 

[dawguy]

Frozen brine, mysis, krill, and nori.
it has been treated with prazipro, maracyn 2, and furan 2.

 

[user 26995]

see if you can find anything here.


Fish Fecal Disorders

 

[user 26995]

well I dont think thats going to be of any real help.
It says THE MARINE FISH DISEASE SECTION IS CURRENTLY UNDER CONSTRUCTION

 

[user 26995]

Hopefully it was just a side affect of the meds and with good feeding it will correct itself. If you find more info, let us know. It will be helpful for everyone.

 

[dawguy]

Thanks for the link, lots of helpful info there. I'll definitely update this as I go. He still have that red swelling, hard to get a picture as he likes to lock himself in the PVC pipe. Does come out to eat, but waits till I'm out of the room to come out. Will see how this progress....

 

[NC2WA]

dawguy,

sounds like worms...how long did u treat with prazipro? if not a full week, then I would treat the tank with it for 5 days ..i believe that is what the bottle says.

 

[Maxx]

Triggers are generally pretty aggressive eaters and not finicky....I know Lee Jungle used to sell a pellet that had a de wormer in it....Lee recommended it here several times in the past....

Might try looking for it.
ETA - just looked for it...doesn't appear that they still make it.

 

[dawguy]

dawguy,

sounds like worms...how long did u treat with prazipro? if not a full week, then I would treat the tank with it for 5 days ..i believe that is what the bottle says.

I had the prazipro in there for a full week.

 

[NC2WA]

then shouldnt be worms or flukes....

 

[Rea17]

It seems to me that the fish might have an internal blockage, causing lack of appetite, hard feces, and the swollen red area. I don't know of anything else you can do at this point except wait and hope it works itself out. If you can provide a picture that would be helpful.

 

[dawguy]

Here's a picture of the swollen area. Sorry for the blurriness.

 

[dawguy]

Update, he's still in quarantine but doing better. Swimming around all the time and eating like a pig again. But I got a couple of better pictures of the swollen area, it is no longer red at all but there is some kind of bump/growth. Any ideas what it is? a tumor perhaps?

 

[Rea17]

That's great that he's eating well!

In your pictures, it appears to be a lesion, is that correct? I'd recommend treating the fish with a broad spectrum antibiotic. I've seen other species develop these lumps that rupture, and the best we can do is prevent infection and facilitate healing.

 

[dawguy]

Yes, correct. That yellowish growth that almost looks like a big zit! It does appear to be slowly being pushed out of its body or building up to the rupture.

 

[NC2WA]

Something like maracyn II ?

 

[Rea17]

Something like maracyn II ?

Maracyn II is good, but slow acting. I like Furan-2 for most situations.

It doesn't look like this trigger is in immediate jeopardy at this point, Maracyn would work fine if that's what is available. Just keep an eye on it and let us know how things progress.

 

[Aquanaut]

Likely Lymphocyst infection brought on by stress. Can lead to secondary infection. Might take awhile to go away even after meds

 

[BEAU_RN]

Sounds like he had a bowel obstruction. The rock hard feces it passed, the round of meds you gave along with not it eating for a while surely helped that obstruction clear up. Definitely agree on some type of broad spectrum abx for extra prophylactic coverage. Glad things are working out! Awesome trigger!