Ich & IP?

[edmlfc1]

I guess the simple things confuse me.

[katty]

Oh yay! She's soo pretty! I'm glad it worked. The simple things can be the most confusing sometimes. I cant wait till Puffy gets that big! The bubbles in your tank are super pretty!

[edmlfc1]

That is actually a flexable bubble wand. You can twist it, turn it, bend it around things. It's really cool. You can even curl it up. I got her at about 2" that was 6 months ago. It don't take long for them to grow up.

[katty]

Neato! I feel the urge to go buy one now! Haha. I got Puffy 3 weeks ago at 2 inches. I think he's hanging around 2.5 to 3 inches now. Wow.. 6 months huh?

[puffertt77]

I saw your post! Now I'm excited for the video.

I cant help but wonder if all this treatment is maybe unnecessary? I see all the symptoms but Puffy is acting just fine. Puffy has ick spots that have been there for like 3 weeks now (weird, I know!) and his poo looks like ip... Puffy's overall attitude has been great though. He'll get annoyed during gravel vacs and try to attack the hose but hey, I doubt we'd like giant tubes stuck randomly into our homes either. He eats just fine, except for that week I was treating with Jungle Parasite Clear. He wasn't really interested in food and absolutely refused to eat food soaked in medication. He did take a couple of bites out of unmedicated food though. His appetite just wasnt that great but it seems like it was from the medication. Puffy has been eating great lately though. Most things I put in there are sucked up before they even hit the ground.

Here's a video I just got of him. He social but also tends to be a little camera shy.

Nice vid Katty

Hey looks like a very happy chappy

[edmlfc1]

Yeap! I got her at the end of Oct. 2008, just made 6 months a few days ago. After I got her worm free she just started gaining weight.

[katty]

You two have been through so much! She's one tough cookie. Kudos to both of you!!

[katty]

I just got back from the lfs and I picked up PraziPro, Pimfix (I figured it' be good to have some on hand), and Entice (just incase he starts rejecting the food like last time). As for the PraziPro, do I treat just the food or the entire tank as well? They didn't have any of the Gel-Tek products you recommended. Hopefully it'll work this time!

Thanks puffertt77! I missed your comment before. Sorry!

[edmlfc1]

With prazipro you would treat the entire tank. And he will probaly stop eating. Annabelle didn't eat when I used prazipro.

[katty]

Ahh. That worries me. Should I try to fatten him up for a couple of days before? And how long did you treat for? Thankd edmlfc1, you're the best! <3

[arlyn9391]

My poor little Puffy came with all sorts of problems that just wont seem to go away. I'm new to this so I am freaking out at everything possible. Haha.

I have several questions that I can't seem to find any info on. (I've read both articles in the library.) Puffy is a 2 inch Fahaka Puffer and also the only one in my 10 gallon tank. (Dont worry, I plan on getting a MUCH larger tank as soon as I move in a month or so.) Unfortunately, I don't have the API master test kit so I can't give any specific numbers but I tested the water with the Jungle test strips and everything is ideal and in the right range. (I plan on getting the API kit soon too.) I have been feeding him a mix of shrimp from the grocery store (cut up into small pieces) and bloodworms with vitamins/nutrients added to it. I also currently have pond snails and ghost shrimp in qt tanks I plan on feeding him soon. I do a 50% water change every 2 or 3 days. The things added to the water are aquarium salt, Parasite Clear, Aquasafe (water conditioner) and Melafix. A few days ago, I also treated the tank with Jungle's Parasite Clear as directed on the package (Remove carbon filter, add one tablet to each 10 U.S. gallons of aquarium water) but I used 1/2 a tablet instead of a full one. It says treatment can be repeated up to 2x with 48 hours between and a 25% water change (which I did, completing one full tablet). The ingredients include: praziquantel, diflubenzuron, metronidazole, and acriflavine. I also added a teaspoon of Melafix to the tank a couple days as well because I noticed a couple boo boos on his belly. The aquarium was up for a month before Puffy was introduced to the tank. I cycled the tank with 2 Mystery Snails and 3 African Dwarf Frogs which were all removed from the tank before Puffy was introduced. The Aquasafe also said that it introduces healthy bacteria to the tank as well as neutralizing potential chemicals. On a side note, the frogs died from what I believed was chytrid, a disease that does not harm fish and only affects frogs. That's pretty much all the background info I can think of!

He currently has ich which I have been treating for about a week now but new cysts are still appearing. I currently have the tank at 80 degrees and I have 2 tablespoons of salt for every 5 gallons. The old cysts are still there and 2 new ones appeared today. The infestation isn't super bad but it isnt exactly pleasant either! Also, I've been conflicted on ip. After I had him for a couple of days, I noticed white chunks of poo at the bottom of the tank. Initially, I thought it was ip but after I looked at the pictures of white poo in the sticky in the general discussion and considering that I overfed him the day before, I decided that it was most likely undigested shrimp. I did, however, soak a piece of shrimp in Jungle Parasite Clear which he ate happily. His poo was black and normal the day after. I added the half tablet in order to help with the ich as well. On the other hand, today, I found whitish/orangish poo on the bottom of the tank that did resemble the poo in the pictures. Puffy's overall behavior hasn't really changed. He's still acting the same as the first day I got him, extremely curious and pretty active (with the exception of several lazy hours once in a while after I accidentally overfeed him). His color was extremely dark a couple days ago as well. It's back to normal now though.

So to sum it all up, my questions are: (I figured it'd be easier to list them rather than including them in all that!)
I've heard that Jungle Parasite Clear is light sensitive. Is this true?
Has anyone used this treatment before and does it work well?
Is it normal for ich cysts to still appear even though I've been doing treatment?
If Puffy poops stringy whitish/orangish stuff, does it mean he has already flushed out the ip or is it still affecting him?
Is it possible that the grocery store shrimp is giving him ip? (I've keep it frozen and feed it to him raw after thawing it in tank water.)
What causes the color change and why does he do it?
Is there anything else I can do to help him and heal him faster?

I'm sorry if these are all dumb questions! I'm totally new to all this. I plan on doing another 50% wc tonight and a gravel vac. I just want Puffy to be healthy! Thanks guys!

Thank you fro that post. And also thank you fro sharing with us the different questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems.




_________________
Scotsman Ice Machine

[edmlfc1]

Ahh. That worries me. Should I try to fatten him up for a couple of days before? And how long did you treat for? Thankd edmlfc1, you're the best! <3

Sorry I didn't get to you sooner. But no I wouldn't wait, as soon as the meds come in I would treat the puffer. Or as soon as you pick up the meds treat the puffer.
5 days is what I would do.

How's he looking now? Everything going ok so far?

[katty]

Hello! Sorry for the slow reply! I've been busy with school, moving, and all that junk. Bleh.

I havent started the treatment yet but I have the medication. The meds before killed off the beneficial bacteria in my tank (I think I might have had a mini cycle going) and the ammonia spiked a bit so I decided to hold off on the meds and take care of that first. I've been doing wc almost every night and I added some Safe Start to the tank just to be safe. Also, I wanted to give the little guy a break since I've been adding all this stuff to my tank ever since he's been in it.

The funny thing is, Puffy is looking perfectly fine. His ich is gone (I still have the hypo going though just to be safe) and he's still eating, his belly looks fine and not pinched at all. The only thing that points to ip is the white poo. His poo still looks awfully weird. The last one was partially white, partially black, sectioned into circles, held together and covered by white mucusy looking stuff. I'll try to get a pic. I'm still unsure about the ip but it cant hurt to deworm him just incase right? I planned on starting the treatment as soon as I get my tank established again.

[edmlfc1]

It sounds just like Annabelle's pooh when she had the tapeworm. The prazipro shouldn't have killed off your bacteria, it didn't do that to my tank. If you can find gel-tek ultra cure px, it works great. Soak it with freeze dried food, their regular food, or inject it into a worm a piece of shrimp etc. The stuff really works. You can get a syringe from the pharmacy to inject the food. The puffer will eat it, no problem, and it won't be like treating the whole tank. You will be treating just the puffer. Then do water changes while vaccuming the gravel really well to clean up the dead worms.

[katty]

Uh oh. That scares me! Do you think the color of his poo could have anything to do with what I'm feeding him? He eats shrimp on a regular basis and the poo color usually matches whatever I've fed him.

I haven't used the prazipro yet. It was the Jungle Parasite Clear that did that. I read that it'll kill off all bacteria. I might have to find some of that stuff you're talking about though! Lately, I've been doing gravel vacs every other day as well as a 1/3 water change. I'm just so unsure about treating him since he seems absolutely fine!