Goodbye, my little friend...

[Agnate]

Okay, there's a little baby porc at my LFS that I'm considering getting. Unfortunately, the little cutie has marine ich. After looking him over, he seemed very perky and active, followed me around the tank, and his colours were nice (not sure if porcs change colours like our freshwater/brackish friends, though). Either way, his positive attitude and generally activity leads me to believe that's he might still be okay. His belly didn't look really sunken, so I don't think IPs have hit him hard yet, which is also good.

Luckily for him, I just moved my 2 Ceylon puffers into my 75 gallon marine tank (this afternoon, in fact), and now have my 55 gallon brackish tank (SG 1.010) still set up beside me. The porc is only about 3 inches (maybe less, as I always misjudge their size because their eyes are so huge!), and I figured I could help the little guy by throwing him into hypo with my brackish tank (after I remove all the substrate/decorations) and treat him there. I was going to need a QT anyways, so it's not a big deal if I keep it around for a few more months. The tank has TONS of filtration using the Fluval bio media (I forget the actual name) in a Eheim 2213 canister, Penguin 330 Biowheel (the two-biowheel version with the media baskets full of the Fluval bio media), and a Top Fin 30 full of the Fluval bio media.

I guess my question is, how should I acclimate him to the brackish tank? Do I just drip him over a couple hours, or should I do a quick-drip over an hour so that he's not in a bucket for too long? Here's what I understand of marine ich, so please correct me if things are wrong:

1) Put the tank into Hypo (already done, just have to lower it a tad so it's at 1.009)
2) Remove decorations and substrate.
3) Increase temperature to around 85 F (not a problem)
4) Add airstone to increase aeration (not a problem)
5) Change out the 25% water every day/second day and vacuum the bottom of the tank.
6) Treat the tank with Melafix and Pimafix for the damage ich causes.
7) Do not overfeed.

I avoid medications (other than Melafix and Pimafix, since they're more herbal anyways), so I don't plan on doing this unless I *absolutely* have to. Is there anything else I'm missing? I'd really like to give this guy a good home and help him get over his ich.

Oh... can I treat for IPs at the same time I'm treating for ich? I'd like to make sure I get them while he's still active and eating (I assume he's eating, at least). I want to get him tomorrow so that my 55 gallon isn't fallow for too long (thus killing the bacteria).

Thanks in advance!

[Pufferpunk]

Yes, you can treat for them both. Do not raise the temp. I assume you will drip the puffer down to the lower SG? What is it at now in the shop? Hopefully it's like most other shops & they keep it pretty low (1.016-18), otherwise I'm not sure how that stress will affect the puffer.

[Agnate]

Hmm, good call on the salinity at the shop. I'll have to check when I go there. Should I even bother trying if they keep the salinity higher? I'd like to help out the puffer, but I don't really have cash I can just toss out the window, especially if the stress does him in.

Yes, I planned to drip him, probably over a couple hours (I'd throw in some Prime, just to make sure his water was okay for the time being).

[Pufferpunk]

Maybe try to raise the SG a bit in the treatment tank to closer match the LFS tank. Add ammonia to keep the bacteria happy for a few days.

[Agnate]

So I shouldn't pick him up today and put him into the QT today? I don't mind waiting, but the fellah has quite a bit of ich, and the longer he stays there in a regular tank, the worse his condition is going to get. I guess I'm a bit confused, as I assumed I could drip him into a hypo tank, but I'm supposed to change his salinity slowly, I assume?

If I bring it up to about 1.012, which that be an acceptable change in salinity if the LFS keeps him at 1.016-1.018?

[Pufferpunk]

Yes, that should be fine. Did you find out what they are keeping his at?

[Agnate]

They keep them at 1.020.

[Pufferpunk]

Darn... your call then.

[Agnate]

Well, the little guy is only about 2.5 - 3 inches, so I brought the tank up to 1.020 (since it's a 55 gallon - bare bottom for quarantine purposes) and added a dosing of prime. I figure the large volume of water will make the cycling process unnoticeable to him, especially when I'm doing frequent water changes, so it shouldn't be a problem. Over the next couple of days, I'll be treating him for IPs, so I'll vacuum the bottom to remove the expelled worms and replace it with freshwater until it's down to 1.009. This way he can adjust slowly and whatnot. I added a small powerhead to agitate the surface, and hooked up an air line so that it's blowing micro bubbles everywhere (to aerate the water, obviously).

He's being dripped right now, and is swimming around the bucket, so I think he's impatient and wants to get in the tank!

Hopefully things will go well, as he seems pretty active and his stomach isn't very sunken, nor is he emaciated, so that will definitely help.

I'll keep you posted.

[Pufferpunk]

Sounds like a good plan. Congrats on your new puffer!

[Agnate]

Thanks! I just hope things work out well for him. Do porcs have a different kind of tooth or something? Mine kind of looks like it has buck teeth, in the sense that there's a gap in the middle of his mouth, and then it curves down on each side of his mouth. It's hard to explain, but my camera sucks, so I can't really take a picture.

He isn't showing a visible tooth, though, it's just his mouth has a funny shape, haha.

[Agnate]

So, I picked up the little porcy last night, and she survived the night. She didn't want to eat the scallop I had for her last night, so I tried a live cherry shrimp. She chased it a bit, but never ended up eating it. Today I saw her wedged between my biowheel intake and the wall, so I shut the power off and she just swam away. She's been kinda "floating" around, and by that, I mean she just lets the currents push her around and then swims somewhere else.

Should I be worried, or do Porcs have a habit of being generally lazy and wanting things to hold them in place?

Her belly isn't sunken at all, so I'm not too worried about the food situation right yet. Her colour also seems to be okay (I don't know if Porcs change their colours, though). I'm going to try dangling some shrimp soaked in garlic (if I can find some liquid garlic today) and see if I can get her to eat. She did nibble on the scallop, but didn't seem eager to actually eat the little piece.

I vacuumed the bottom today to pull up her poop and hopefully some ich cysts, and replaced that 10-15% of water with freshwater (so eventually she'll be in hypo).

I have a little AquaClear 301 powerhead at the water's surface to agitate and also to add some fine air bubbles for her. Should I swap that out for an airstone instead? I don't want to force a current on her if it's going to cause problems.

[Pufferpunk]

Just smash up a garlic clove & soak the food in that.

[Agnate]

Well, it's day 3, and he's still kickin'. He's definitely very weak, and has spent a lot of time sleeping/resting. He still doesn't want to eat, but he isn't skinny yet, so that's good. The tank is officially in hypo as of 7:30 am, so we'll see if his condition gets better or worse in the next couple days as the cysts begin to burst and I vacuum them out.

I tried squid tentacles and another piece of shrimp, both soaked in garlic, but he didn't seem interested in food. I won't force it on him, but I'll try it in the evening to see if he notices it, and hopefully he'll start eating soon so he can get some strength back into him.

I stopped dosing with Melafix, as I've been reading from Puffer Queen that it doesn't really help things much (since the water should be close-to-pristine anyways). I'm still using Pimafix, though, to minimize the possibility of fungal infections from the ich infestation.

As intended, I'll try to keep people posted. I still expect to wake up in the morning and find him passed away, but he's been surprising me with his big eyes and little smile!

[t1gerbee]

you've got to get the little porc eating, have you tried mysis? Mine was addicted to it originally and it took a long time to get her onto anything else...