Skinny Blue Throat Trigger
 

My male blue throat trigger has gotten quite skinny in the past while. He's eating frozen foods and right now I've been feeding 2-3 times a day. All my other fish are fat and healthy. They did have worms a few months ago, I treated and they cleared up, but he didn't appear to have them.

How do I get him to fatten up? There's been a few times he's gotten stuck to a power head when feeding, but he's either pulled himself off, or I've helped. He's normally an active swimmer, but he's now mostly hanging out in the rocks, except when feeding. Help!!

I would catch him and put him in QT
Just so that he does not have to compete for food and is left alone and not hiding. Recuperating
In QT I would treat him for worms again with prazipro just in case he did have some left.

I get concerned with catching sick fish that I will end up stressing them more and killing them....that said, I do have a 10 gl tank, live rock in my sump and some spare equipment I could set up.

Unfortunately, it's going to be a few days before I can, as I need a new sw mixing container, my mom had to put her 20 yr old horse down today so heading out to help her, plus I have a sick dog who's going into the vet today. Figures s$&/t hits the fan last day of holidays.....

I don't want to lose this guy, so hopefully I can get what I need tomorrow, get water mixing and have a qt set up by tuesday evening. For now I will keep up the feedings, he does seem a bit stronger and staying away from the power heads...

Prazipro is your friend. If and when you decide to QT the fish; perhaps supplement the feedings with a vitamin supplement such as Selcon as well. Good luck.

To stress a fish less, when you catch him, usher him into a container with the net, ie ice cream pail. Should be easy, if he is weak and gets stuck on the powerhead.
He will be less stressed when he is in QT by himself.

Always use Selcon and pureed garlic mixed in every second batch of frozen.

Great suggestion. Watching him today, he stays in the rocks simply because he gets pushed around in the flow. This guy isn't well....

Had to leave the dog at the vet too. He will be ok....pick up later tonight....

oh boy
Your plate is full
Good luck with everything

Coralgurl,

Sorry your fish is having a hard time. Sounds like she's kind of weak right now. I would not move her and add more stress unless there is aggro in the tank like a fish picking on her. Maybe move the flow higher to keep her from getting pushed around so much. Sounds like parasitic worms. This has happened to my blue powder tang in the past. Three feedings a day sounds like an awful lot. Why so much?

I would just soak all food for 10-15 minutes in intestinal worm medication. There's a bunch of them on the market. Sounds like you've already used them. One person told me it takes three weeks to get rid of them completely but don't think you need that long. More like 1-2 weeks.

johnny

Noone is picking on him. I've dosed the tank with Prazipro and keeping an eye on things. Last time I treated it took a couple of dosings to rid them of the worms. Problem I found is the tangs pooped them out, then went behind each other and ate them. I would try to scoop the worms out, but not always successful.

I've been overfeeding just trying to get him to fatten up. Now that I am back at work, its down to 2 - morning and evening. He's right in there for feeding with everyone, chases the food down.

I haven't had a chance to get out to get the additional Brute can or set up the QT tank. As he's eating everything I put in the tank, hopefully with treatment, he'll fatten back up. My sailfin was quite sick as well before and she now looks awesome again!

I've now completed 2 doses of Prazipro in my tank and did not relocate my trigger to a qt. He is already doing much better, is stronger and not getting stuck to the powerheads at feeding time. I "think" he looks to be thickening up a bit, but that will take time I'm sure. He's much more active again so I think he's made a positive turn.

On that note, my yellow tang crapped out a lot of worms too last night. As he's doing this, he turns and eats them.....freakin gross!! How am I supposed to rid the tank of these things if the fish just gobble them up again???? I thought he had a nice fat belly, but after that poop (it was a big one), his stomach area almost looked "pinched".

I'm going to complete a third treatment next week.