Picasso Triggerfish - Freaking out.

The fish keeps freaking out, breathing heavy, if I reach in there and touch him he literally swims around in circles extremely fast.

Brain trauma?

 

One possibility why fish would be breathing heavily could be because there is a lack of sufficient oxygen in the aquarium water. Or they are stressed. Parasites on the gills can cause this, improper aeration can, too.. Another cause for heavy breathing in fish could be a build-up of nitrites or nitrates in the water. In high enough amounts, it could be toxic to fish. Or something is up with your salinity?

 

Judging by your other posts, your fish had ammonia burn, IMO. If you can see it on their skin, their gills are much worse. Not sure if this particular trigger was in your tank during the crash, but stop touching it.

 

Really? Ammonia was never up above 0.50 ppm. Hmm... Could my test kit be faulty? Yes it was and has been in my tank during that crash. This sucks hope I don't need to put him down.

 

Also... It's a 105 total gallon system with a sump... One fish. Doubt oxygen is a issue. I'm stumped on this. Head trauma research has shown to be compliant with what he's doing.

 

Ammonia burn. A reading of .5 is not good, and that is just one point in time. You've described all the symptoms of it yourself. Your trigger could be partially blind. Trigger's eyes are very sensitive to ammonia.

 

You mean a 75 gallon tank with a 30 gallon sump?

 

is that the only fish acting ill???

 

That's the only fish to act ill! The only change after weeks of having all the fish before the crash was added base rock that was in a box I ordered from reef cleaners and sat for 2 months, maybe a disturbance in the sand bed released something? The Picasso made it through fine, then 3 days later he acted wacky.

 

Yes thanks for correcting me