I brought home a new puffer friend a couple of weeks ago and I think he's sick. He was hiding last night, and this morning when I turned on the aquarium light, he flashed or scratched his body on a plant leaf and the side of the aquarium. His color is dull. I think he has ich, althought there are no white spots on him (yet).
He is in a 10-gallon aquarium with a big log that covers most of the gravel in the tank. Before I left for work this morning I dosed him with Herbtana and added two tablespoons of salt to his water. The temperature of the water is about 82 normally since I live in Texas and it gets pretty hot in the house during the day even with the AC on. It goes down to about 80 overnight.
I will do a water change and clean the aquarium this evening. My question here is about cleaning... The log in the aquarium has many crevices and is partially hollow, and he lives in it. So how do I go about cleaning the tank as the first step in treating him? Do I have to take out his log to get to the gravel underneath, or is the gravel protected from ich cysts by the log? Do I have to clean the log? If so, wouldn't it stress him out big time to remove the log from the aquarium, especially if he is hunkered down in it?
The neons that are his tankmates aren't showing any signs of disease.
I really don't want to lose this puff since my first puff died about a month ago and I took it really hard.
Cleaning aquarium for ich outbreaks
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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JenJen19720
- Puffer Fry
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Pufferpunk
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T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Greenville, SC
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Re: Cleaning aquarium for ich outbreaks
Just lift the log & siphon under it. If not using a gravel cleaner/siphon, stir the substrate thoroughly & do an 80% WC.
What kind of puffer?
library/hospital/fwich/
What kind of puffer?
library/hospital/fwich/
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!"
-
JenJen19720
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 28
- Joined: Fri May 20, 2011 1:09 pm
- My Puffers: Carinotetraodon irrubesco (Red-tailed Puffer)
- Location (country): United States
Re: Cleaning aquarium for ich outbreaks
Hi Pufferpunk,
Thanks for the quick reply. He's a freshwater dwarf puffer, a Carinotetraodon irrubesco (red-eyed red-tailed puffer).
About the water change, you said to do an 80% but I'm concerned about the warning at the top of this page, which states: 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.
I gave him a 40% water change about 8 days ago. I normally do that once a week but just didn't have time this weekend. Should I still go for an 80% change anyway, even though he's not used to such a large change every time? I use RO water on him.
Pufferpunk, are there some diseases that are specific ONLY to freshwater puffers?
Thanks so much!
Thanks for the quick reply. He's a freshwater dwarf puffer, a Carinotetraodon irrubesco (red-eyed red-tailed puffer).
About the water change, you said to do an 80% but I'm concerned about the warning at the top of this page, which states: 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.
I gave him a 40% water change about 8 days ago. I normally do that once a week but just didn't have time this weekend. Should I still go for an 80% change anyway, even though he's not used to such a large change every time? I use RO water on him.
Pufferpunk, are there some diseases that are specific ONLY to freshwater puffers?
Thanks so much!
-
Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32979
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Puffers I have kept:
T lineatus
T miurus
A modestus
T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
C lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Greenville, SC
- Contact:
Re: Cleaning aquarium for ich outbreaks
Do 40% today & 40% tomorrow & then 80% every other day, until the ich cysts are gone. Continue treating with heat/salt for another 2 weeks while doing 50% weekly WC for him, cleaning the substrate with each partial.
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!"