Ich? Hole in the head? Fungus?

[12345]

So my poor punter is not eating and has white spots. Not sure if it is ich or something else. I have read that puffers are really sensitive to meds. But I have a good amount of meds on hand for other fish, but not sure what to use with a puffer. I have raised the temp and added salt at 1tsp/gal.

Please advise.

[Pufferpunk]

library/hospital/fwich/

[fahucker]

How is ich caused? or any steps to help prevent it?

[Salmon]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe its usually from the introduction of new tank mates and such. Which is why you typically should QT stuff before adding it to the desired tank. Because Ich can spread pretty easily.

[fahucker]

Gotcha! I will be sure to do that!

[Pufferpunk]

Or he already had it & it got a hold him because of stress--like a cold.

[fahucker]

Ahhh I see. So stress can bring it on then?

[Pufferpunk]

In addition to all sorts of diseases.

[Srkoe]

Definitely looks like ICH. Is is me, or does he look a bit thin? Maybe I just have a fat Fahaka. He would also appreciate sand. But don't worry about that until you take care of the ICH . I used either Rid Ich or Ich Attack (which ever is the organic one) on my Fahaka as a last resort when heat/salt didn't work. I got great results.

[12345]

Thanks for all the replies and advices. I used rid ich as per direction. The ich looks a little better today, but she is not. She is sitting at the bottom with a slimy yellow poop. Is that bacterial infection?

I slowly increased her temp to 86 in a 8 hr span as well as added a air bubbled yesterday. But i just gave her another Water change and i am plaaning to slowly drop the temp down to 82. Not sure if its the temp and/or the meds thats stressing her out. But i figured it is one less thiing that may stress her out. There are no other tank mate in with her.

I hope it's not a losing battle.

[Pufferpunk]

It may be, if you continue using meds on your puffer. Why didn't you follow the directions in my article?

[sevenyearnight]

Only herbal ich attack (Brown in color and stinky) has been used safely. Srkoe was talking about that one, not Rid Ich, that's not puffer safe. Don't use a harsh chemical based medication.

*The salt method suggested and linked is the safest way, and effective.

When the temperature is high, the water holds less oxygen, medication depletes oxygen levels, and scaleless fish like puffers cannot tolerate many medications, as is, so I imagine your puffer is feeling pretty stressed right now. Do some water changes something fierce to get that rid ich out of the water, and continue using the bubbler. Considering the weakened state, I'd drop the temp down as you've planned. Even with a bubbler, with the weakened state and ich damaged gills, at 86° the puffer may just be unable to uptake enough oxygen.

[12345]

Lowered the temp, used activated carbon and did a light wc earlier this evening. Going to bed now. She'll prob pass by tomorrow morning.

Thanks everyone, I'll give you guys an update in the morning.

[Pufferpunk]

You might be surprised in the morning. Don't forget to add the salt.

[Reaperpilot2014]

I agree with what SYN said about Ich Attack. I have had a lot of success with it in the past, and it doesn't cause harm to the puffer like copper or formalin based medications would. They don't have scales or normal gills, and so conventional ich treatments are generally very harmful to them.

As for what PP said about it catching on like a cold, I did some research early this morning (talked to a friend/bit of internet) and discovered that ich is not only an external/gill parasite, but can also be present in the tissue and organs of fish, especially the heart and liver. This was news to me, but explains a lot.