Clown Trigger Lifeless

puccie1 · May 14, 2026

Can anyone give me a pretty good guess what's wrong with my clown trigger that I have had for about 5years, he is lifeless basically lays on bottom or stands upside down in corner. Really have seen him eat in several weeks no physical signs of parasite on him treating tank now for Fluke. Any advice please let me know here is 2 pics. I know put meds in food but he doesn't eat! Thanks

W31Olds · May 14, 2026

Can you post a couple more pics? If I had to guess he ate something hard and it's stuck. Jay may have some ideas to try. I'm sure you don't want to lose a nice 5-year-old beauty like that.
@Jay Hemdal

vetteguy53081 · May 14, 2026

puccie1 said:
Can anyone give me a pretty good guess what's wrong with my clown trigger that I have had for about 5years, he is lifeless basically lays on bottom or stands upside down in corner. Really have seen him eat in several weeks no physical signs of parasite on him treating tank now for Fluke. Any advice please let me know here is 2 pics. I know put meds in food but he doesn't eat! Thanks

Top down pics are often difficult to assess. Please provide video under bright white lighting, no blues to best determine?
Is fish breathing normal or labored?

Jay Hemdal · May 15, 2026

puccie1 said:
Can anyone give me a pretty good guess what's wrong with my clown trigger that I have had for about 5years, he is lifeless basically lays on bottom or stands upside down in corner. Really have seen him eat in several weeks no physical signs of parasite on him treating tank now for Fluke. Any advice please let me know here is 2 pics. I know put meds in food but he doesn't eat! Thanks

Sorry, I was offline for the night.....

How is it this morning?

puccie1 · May 15, 2026

Jay Hemdal said:
Sorry, I was offline for the night.....

How is it this morning?

trying to find him he hides into the rocks sideways, Ill post some more pic's once I located him I appreciate your time trying to help me like always!!!!! Carl

puccie1 · May 15, 2026

puccie1 said:
trying to find him he hides into the rocks sideways, Ill post some more pic's once I located him I appreciate your time trying to help me like always!!!!! Carl

here's sa couple of pic's he doesn't swim around much

puccie1 · May 15, 2026

puccie1 said:
here's sa couple of pic's he doesn't swim around much

Question some told me to try Levamisole what do you believe? Thanks

Jay Hemdal · May 15, 2026

puccie1 said:
Question some told me to try Levamisole what do you believe? Thanks

What basis did they give for suggesting levamisole? That treats nematodes. I don’t see anything to suggest that this fish has nematodes. Those are typically seen in newly acquired fish. I think they are just guessing wildly.

Can you post a video of the trigger? That might tell me more than just still pictures do.

puccie1 · May 15, 2026

Jay Hemdal said:
What basis did they give for suggesting levamisole? That treats nematodes. I don’t see anything to suggest that this fish has nematodes. Those are typically seen in newly acquired fish. I think they are just guessing wildly.

Can you post a video of the trigger? That might tell me more than just still pictures do.

really I don't know why they told me levamisole a friend of mine. Ill get a video when he comes out again he's back into the rocks Thank you

sgdnycct · May 15, 2026

Might help if you turn lights off in the room and/or try different angles with the camera so there’s less reflection in the picture from the glass.

puccie1 · May 15, 2026

sgdnycct said:
Might help if you turn lights off in the room and/or try different angles with the camera so there’s less reflection in the picture from the glass.

the way the tank sits due to it 12 ft long is back into the corner and really only shot is from front view

puccie1 · May 15, 2026

puccie1 said:
really I don't know why they told me levamisole a friend of mine. Ill get a video when he comes out again he's back into the rocks Thank you

Here are the only video I can get he's been in same place for 5 hours

Jay Hemdal · May 16, 2026

puccie1 said:
Here are the only video I can get he's been in same place for 5 hours

Well, it isn't breathing heavy/fast, so that rules out gill disease. The skin and fins look clear, so that rules out external parasites. The eyes are protruding, that can signify an internal osmotic issue. In turn, that is related to kidney or liver disfunction.

I don't think the prognosis is good here because I don't see any treatable issues, sorry.

puccie1 · May 16, 2026

Jay Hemdal said:
Well, it isn't breathing heavy/fast, so that rules out gill disease. The skin and fins look clear, so that rules out external parasites. The eyes are protruding, that can signify an internal osmotic issue. In turn, that is related to kidney or liver disfunction.

I don't think the prognosis is good here because I don't see any treatable issues, sorry.

First I want to thank you for all the time you put into my questions in the past several years, you are truly an asset to this site! Reference Trigger and some of the fish I have lost in last 6 months, been ones I have had for years, the point you made about internal damage ? Your probably 100% right as you were aware I been battling parasites since I started this hobby ( as you know from past posts I placed), some til this day are mind boggling, so I think all the times I used copper power along with praziquantel and formalin a couple of times probably cause the internal damage to my older fish. The new ones seem to be fine only old ones seem affected.
Can you please answer one more question I know it's redundant proably but here it go's. I'm in my 5th day of praziquantel in DT, (used DMSO to mix) should I do a water change of 20% or just add the 7th day dosage(can I do it earlier second dose) and wait 3 days then do a water change of 40%. Does it really make a difference if I wait to do water change and yes mix Prazi with a nylon soak this time. Thinks again for you time and knowledge-CARL

Jay Hemdal · May 16, 2026

puccie1 said:
First I want to thank you for all the time you put into my questions in the past several years, you are truly an asset to this site! Reference Trigger and some of the fish I have lost in last 6 months, been ones I have had for years, the point you made about internal damage ? Your probably 100% right as you were aware I been battling parasites since I started this hobby ( as you know from past posts I placed), some til this day are mind boggling, so I think all the times I used copper power along with praziquantel and formalin a couple of times probably cause the internal damage to my older fish. The new ones seem to be fine only old ones seem affected.
Can you please answer one more question I know it's redundant proably but here it go's. I'm in my 5th day of praziquantel in DT, (used DMSO to mix) should I do a water change of 20% or just add the 7th day dosage(can I do it earlier second dose) and wait 3 days then do a water change of 40%. Does it really make a difference if I wait to do water change and yes mix Prazi with a nylon soak this time. Thinks again for you time and knowledge-CARL

As you know, I'd avoid the DMSO, no real studies on using that as a solvent for prazi. DMSO can carry chemicals through some skin barrier, I don't trust it. I would do a 20%+ water change before redosing any prazi treatment that uses a solvent like this.

puccie1 · Jun 23, 2026

Jay Hemdal said:
Well, it isn't breathing heavy/fast, so that rules out gill disease. The skin and fins look clear, so that rules out external parasites. The eyes are protruding, that can signify an internal osmotic issue. In turn, that is related to kidney or liver disfunction.

I don't think the prognosis is good here because I don't see any treatable issues, sorry.

Jay just to let you know The clown trigger made a recovery and is doing a lot better eating and swimming around. Again I can't thank you enough for your time in answering my questions (knowing that they are redundant a lot of time)
Thanks you Carl

Jay Hemdal · Jun 23, 2026

puccie1 said:
Jay just to let you know The clown trigger made a recovery and is doing a lot better eating and swimming around. Again I can't thank you enough for your time in answering my questions (knowing that they are redundant a lot of time)
Thanks you Carl

So - do you think the prazi helped, or was it something else?