I have 3 dwarf puffer fish and 2 weeks ago I discovered one of them had 3 white spots on his face. I discovered it was ich and proceeded with the treatment recommended on the bottle as well as slowly increasing the temperature to 29°/30° C to speed up the life cycle of the ich to increase the chances of getting rid of it. The other two puffers have not been infected and we could see a visible reduction in the ich and almost gone completely. Today however we have discovered more spots on the same puffer fish. We are unsure whether to continue the same treatment regime or if we should look for something more aggressive in treating it. There was a minor water change done during the treatment in order to remove debris etc and we are worried that possibly the small water change will have reduced the strength of the medicine in the water as the water conditioners bind heavy metals and I think protozin is a copper based medicine and I am worried that this has reduced the strength of the treatment and allowed to parasite to reappear.
Tank size: 10 gallons
Water para: 0 amm, 0 Nitrite, pH 7.2/4, nitrates 5ppm.
Temp: 29.5
2 air stones in the tank to keep oxygen levels up with increased tank temperate.
The puffer is still eating well and only behaviour changes noticed was him rubbing himself off plants to scratch himself. We have also been using the full dose in the tank at the recommendation of the chemist at waterlife (protozin suppliers).
White spot disease (Ich) on puffer after 2 weeks of Protozin treatment
Forum rules
Read this before posting!!
Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.
1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.
2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.
3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)
4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.
5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.
We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.
While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.
Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
Read this before posting!!
Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.
1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.
2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.
3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)
4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.
5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.
We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.
While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.
Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
-
cheetara80
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 4
- Joined: Sat Oct 19, 2019 9:47 am
- Location (country): Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
-
Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32773
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Filbert, the 12" T lineatus
Punkster, the 4" red T miurus
Mongo, the 4" A modestus
2 T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
Also kept:
lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Chicago
- Contact:
Re: White spot disease (Ich) on puffer after 2 weeks of Protozin treatment
![[welcome]](./images/smilies/welcome.gif "welcome")
Did you add salt? 1tbsp/10g is recommended. Table salt is fine. Also, you must do large WC (80%, while stirring the substrate thoroughly) every other day, to remove free-swimming cysts. Treatment lasts 21 days. No meds necessary.
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=28113
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
-
cheetara80
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 4
- Joined: Sat Oct 19, 2019 9:47 am
- Location (country): Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
Re: White spot disease (Ich) on puffer after 2 weeks of Protozin treatment
I can't add salt as the puffers are freshwater, sorry I should have mentioned that in the specs. He seems healthy enough other than the scratching we thought we had it just about gone but we got up today to find new New ones in him so we are worried as it's been two weeks of treatment and raised temp to try and get rid of them.
-
Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32773
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Filbert, the 12" T lineatus
Punkster, the 4" red T miurus
Mongo, the 4" A modestus
2 T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
Also kept:
lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Chicago
- Contact:
Re: White spot disease (Ich) on puffer after 2 weeks of Protozin treatment
I am well aware of what those puffers are & I am telling you this amount of salt for medicinal purposes is fine. 
Ich is a gill disease. What you are seeing on the body is the "overflow" of the fully infested gills. Most ich meds are toxic to puffers.
Ich is a gill disease. What you are seeing on the body is the "overflow" of the fully infested gills. Most ich meds are toxic to puffers.You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
-
cheetara80
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 4
- Joined: Sat Oct 19, 2019 9:47 am
- Location (country): Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
Re: White spot disease (Ich) on puffer after 2 weeks of Protozin treatment
That's great 
I will say to my partner so we can get started on that treatment. We have only had them a few months and we are new to aquarium keeping so I think we are panicking as we have been doing everything we can to get rid of it. We had been feeding them live bloodworms and live brine shrimp and we think that's how they got in there. I have a snail tank for breeding bladder and ramshorn snails for them. We are thinking of breeding our own brine shrimp for them to reduce the risk of this happening again. There are 3 puffers in the tank but only one of them is infected. He does seem healthy othwrwise
I will say to my partner so we can get started on that treatment. We have only had them a few months and we are new to aquarium keeping so I think we are panicking as we have been doing everything we can to get rid of it. We had been feeding them live bloodworms and live brine shrimp and we think that's how they got in there. I have a snail tank for breeding bladder and ramshorn snails for them. We are thinking of breeding our own brine shrimp for them to reduce the risk of this happening again. There are 3 puffers in the tank but only one of them is infected. He does seem healthy othwrwise-
Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32773
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Filbert, the 12" T lineatus
Punkster, the 4" red T miurus
Mongo, the 4" A modestus
2 T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
Also kept:
lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Chicago
- Contact:
Re: White spot disease (Ich) on puffer after 2 weeks of Protozin treatment
Considering they will only eat shails the size of their eye, it's close to impossible to buy snails for them. Breeding is the only way to get them that tiny. You can also try freeze-dried plankton & small pieces of people shrimp.
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
-
cheetara80
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 4
- Joined: Sat Oct 19, 2019 9:47 am
- Location (country): Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
Re: White spot disease (Ich) on puffer after 2 weeks of Protozin treatment
I have been breeding bladder snails and ramshorn for them, we are going to buy a brine shrimp hatchery and bed or own brine shrimp, I think once we are free of ich it will be the safest way to go to prevent further outbreaks. Thank you so much for your help 
