Treating a puffer with ich

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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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gagned
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Treating a puffer with ich

Post by gagned »

Hey All -

About two weeks ago, I acquired a new puffer. I think he's a Fingerprint Toby [C. compressa] although I'm not 100% sure and have included a photo for help on identifying him (he was only listed as a spotted puffer when I purchased him). Right now, he's the only fish in a 20 gallon tank which also has live rock/live sand.

Yesterday, I noticed he has several white spots on all of his fins and to my (untrained) eye it looks like he may have ich. I have not seen him scratching though.

My question is, should I move him to my quarantine tank and begin treating him with Cupramine or should I wait it out and make sure that he definitely has ich? I've heard mixed things regarding copper treatments with puffers (I do have a copper testing kit and have had to treat other fish with Cupramine in the past), but was wondering if there was anything special that needed to be done to treat a puffer.

Another option I was considering was moving one of my neon gobies over to his tank (they've done wonders in my non-puffer tank). My only concern is that my puffer may try to eat the goby. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again!

DanImage
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Post by Pufferpunk »

Cute fellow! Pleasew read the sticky on this at the top of this forum. There are FW & SW treatments offered.
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!"
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Post by Phaedrus »

http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9
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lisalisa

Post by lisalisa »

Either a compressa or solandri. A few more pics may help. He does have the some of the markings of my solandri.
Either way he looks pretty beat up, poor thing.
Read that linked article.
IME, solandris (if it is one) are nasty little things, and I wouldn't trust it with your gobies.
What are your plans for upgrading? It's really incredible the improvement in behavior in these guys (they grow to ~5", btw) when they are housed in a larger tank. I find this for all the tobies I have kept/do keep.
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gagned
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Post by gagned »

Thanks for the info. I will slowly drop the salinity in the tank and see if that helps and I'll do daily water changes to remove as much of the parasite out of the water column as possible. I already feed him food soaked in zoe and garlic so it doesn't sound like I need to change his diet. With some luck, I'll get him feeling better in no time.

Lisa,

I'll post some better (and more clear) pictures tonight when I get home. In regards to upgrading, I was planning on eventually moving him to a 30 gallon (I originally intended to put him in my 75, but he started nipping at the other fish so I temporarily housed him in the 20). What's one more aquarium, right?

Thanks again...

Dan
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lisalisa

Post by lisalisa »

Hehe, ya I know what you mean. I'm picking up a 30-gallon tonight (for free!) for a puffer that just couldn't play nice...my solandri actually!
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gagned
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Post by gagned »

Lisa -

You can't go wrong with a free 30 gallon tank (I'm jealous)! I may need to get a second job just to support my fish habit! :D

Below are three better photos of the puffer. I'm still leaning more toward C. Compressa, but then again, my puffer knowledge is kinda limited.

Image

Image

Image

I'm still not sure if he has ich. I wasn't able to get a close enough picture of the spots (the puffer has a fear of the camera and I was lucky to get these pictures). I've begun lowering the salinity though just to be on the safe side.

Thanks again,

Dan
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Pufferpunk
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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
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Post by Pufferpunk »

Doesn't look very "ichy". Maybe just a FW dip for now.
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!"
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gagned
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Post by gagned »

Yeah, I'm starting to agree with you, Pufferpunk - I don't think it is ich. I think I've just been a little paranoid - I had a huge ich outbreak in my 55 gallon a few months back and it was an absolute nightmare. I was lucky though... I only lost one fish (a hippo tang) before I finally got it under control.

I think the puffer has just been a little stressed lately - I put him in a 75 gallon, but had to move him because he wouldn't play nice with the current tank inhabitants. I temporarily housed him in a 10 gallon quarantine tank until I could get the 20 gallon up and running. He's now in the 20 gallon, and I will eventually have to move him to a 30. He's had a rough few weeks.

I'm not sure what the spots are (they really do look like ich), but they're not getting any worse, and he doesn't seem to be uncomfortable (if anything, he actually seems quite happy). I'll give the little guy a FW dip tonight and see what happens. He's really going to hate me for a few days...

Thanks again,
Dan
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