What the heck happened to my trigger?

[michika]

Your description is very good. I'm leaning towards infection, and maybe you want to treat with an antibiotic. Certain fungal infections on fish tend to me more raised and fluffy in appearance which isn't what you are describing in the least.

Do you know what the previous owner fed it? If I were you I'd add in that extra airstone, and probably start treatment with an antibiotic. In the mean time I'd maybe try clams on the half shell, nori on stick (my triggers in the past loved this), maybe live ghost shrimp. Its also possible that the fish just isn't hungry because of the infection.

Your doing all the right things, and I really hope this pulls through for you.

This is from liveaquaria about fungal infections in marine fish; "Most fungal infections have a characteristic white fluffy appearance and are commonly known as 'cotton wool disease.' As the fungal infections worsen, they may take on a gray or even red appearance." Since this only happened in about a week I'm doubting its fungal. (link)

[seanoman]

thanks for the encouragement michika! It does sound like an infection more and more now. Is there a particular type of antibiotic that would be best for treating it? I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that it's still ok when we get home and we can start treating it. I will keep trying with the clams and nori like you suggested and add an airstone and see how it goes. Also, the fish is currently being housed in our salt water mixing tank, which is a 75 gallon tank but is only about half full right now. I have an empty 10 gallon that I could quickly set up, would that be horribly small for it? I don't really want to contaminate that tank if I don't have too.