[rlcombs70]

I bought a mated pair of bluechin triggers. One day after I bought them, the male came down with ich. He has pulled through it. Two days later, the female quit eating. She stayed in the rocks but now is at the top of the tank on her side. Mostly her left side. Her right eye looked normal at first, but now it looks like glass and is bulging. She also looks yellow now. I have no idea what could be wrong with her. She never had the white spots on her. She is going on day five without eating. I have been adding vitamin c to the tank and putting garlic and zoe in their food. This is a 100 gallon tank with a 30 gallon sump. There is also a D&D protein skimmer. Temp is 78. Salinity is 1.024. Nitrates are 10ppm. Nitrites are 0. PH is 8.2. Ammonia is 0. I have one male bluechin, two female bluechins, an orange shoulder tang, two small clowns, two emerald crabs, a fire shrimp, and a skunk cleaner shrimp. She ate a little tonight. My boyfriend put food in a syringe and she ate that way. Her stomach also looks sunken in. She stays at the top all the time just like she is in the pictures. Can anyone tell from the posted pics what is wrong with her?

 

[mf2055]

I would at least try hyposalinity to treat them both. It would be best to put all your fish into a treatment tank and let your display go fishless for 7 weeks or so, but I doubt you want to do that. Hyposalinity down to 1.010-1.012 for the fish is the best way to fight ich IMO, the fish are stronger at lower salinity, easier for them to breathe. But you have to be very careful not to go any lower salt level than 1.010 and not to raise it too fast once ready to go back into the display. Best of luck. Hope your tank is big enough for them, they get a little large and like to roll things around a lot.

 

[rlcombs70]

My boyfriend wanted them. I thought about how large they get, and I also didn't want a mean fish! The guy at the fish store said the bluechins aren't as aggressive as most triggers and they are reef safe. I don't have a quarantine tank to put them in. I do think that would be a good investment. The guy also mentioned hypo salinity but my boyfriend is leery about dropping it too low because of the corals. She is in the rocks this morning and not hanging out at the top. Hopefully the hand feeding helped her some.

 

[mf2055]

Hyposalinity would be a really bad idea for corals and a mature reef tank. Most triggers are coral safe and somewhat invert safe... a lot of them will leave any invert in the tank before them alone for whatever reason. But most triggers I have seen will eventually start playing soccar with your rocks. Always annoying for a 4" fish to pick up an 8" rock and move it to the other end of the tank. Never seems possible to you see them do it. Which bluechin do you have the Xanthichthys auromarginatus "guilded trigger" or the other one?