I have a couple of friends that work at a very good LFS. They got a shipment of fish in and almost all of them had ich (never happened before). The poor GSP and figure 8s were probably the worse of all, they were covered in huge white spots. They treated the entire shipment and everyone except the puffers did great. the store is small so they only have 1 brackish tank. They made the decision to drain the tank to start fresh as they were getting no where with this ich. Needless to say the staff was very upset with the idea of "killing" 5 sick little puffers. Knowing I have puffers they called and offered them to me free of charge. I ended up cleaning out some of the fish I have and picked up the 2 GSP and 3 figure 8s. They are all doing really well, no spots on them for a few days now and all are alive, active and eating like little pigs. At this time they are all in the same tank at .007. I know the GSP need more salt and the figure 8s less but it was the best I could come up with in the time I had to get them, which was less then an hour and they were a half hour drive from my house.
My questions are any ideas as to how long I should keep them in this hospital tank before moving them to other tanks? and what is the best way to convert a fresh water tank into a brachish tank without throwing it in to a new cycle by killing all the exsisting bacteria?
puffers with ich
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.
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lovinpuffers
- Puffer Fry
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geronimo69
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Re: puffers with ich
Simply start the new tank at .007, using some of the filter media from your existing tank. Once established, you can start adjusting the salt.
"Don't tell fish stories where the people know you; but particularly, don't tell them where they know the fish."
Mark Twain
"Fish recognize a bad leader."
Conan O'Brien
Mark Twain
"Fish recognize a bad leader."
Conan O'Brien
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lovinpuffers
- Puffer Fry
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Re: puffers with ich
the tank I want to convert is an established tank that has been running for over a year with freshwater. I'm under the impression if I just change the water to .007 I'll kill all the healthy bacteria already present in the tank? Or did you mean just change the salt content then add filter media from the brackish tank they are in now?
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Pufferpunk
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Re: puffers with ich
The bacteria dies off & changes over to SW bacteria ~1.010, so a lot of your bacteria will die off. I suggest treating them at 1.002, as the ammonia/nitrite poisoning will be just as bad as the ich & that will be enough salt to combat it, along with the heat & large WC. The puffers should be housed separately.
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!"