I think my SW porc. puff has ICH..but shows no symptoms?

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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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lasvegasgal
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I think my SW porc. puff has ICH..but shows no symptoms?

Post by lasvegasgal »

My puffy has had ich spots all over her fins for about 5 days now.. BUT she doesnt seem to be itching. She is eating a lot and acting 'normal'

I am treating with nosickfish.com ich meds and garlic extreme. Small snacks 3 times a day.

Could she be fighting off the ich or does the itching come later on?
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Post by PetPirate »

No symptoms? The ich on the body is good enough! She's not showing one of the symptoms. ;)

I would recommend moving the fish to quarantine and treating with hyposalinity. nosickfish.com has a questionable reputation IME, and garlic is - at the very best - completely unproven.
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Post by Puffer Queen »

The parasite will live in the tank and be a continual source of stress. Without proper treatment - the parasites will continue to live in the display tank and can/will cause reinfection.

Treatment includes copper OR hyposalinity in a separate tank of ALL fish. The display tank needs to be fallow (NO fish) for at least 4-6 weeks so the parasite will die off. The parasite needs a fish host to continue its life cycle. Check out the sticky in the hospital forum on saltwater ich.
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Post by lasvegasgal »

I went fallow for a month about a month ago and I got the ich again. I am looking into hypo on the main tank with all of the fish still in the tank. I don't have a QT.

What do u think?
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Post by Puffer Queen »

Treating with hyposalinity in the display tank is not advised as it will kill off the microfauna of live rock and substrate/sand. It will kill inverts and corals.

Hyposalinity must be maintained at 1.009 - swings from water changes or evaporation will affect the outcome.

The tank has to be free from ALL fish for the entire time period.

The fish that are removed need to be treated for the parasites in a separate tank - just removing the fish and placing in a separate tank, allows the parasite to live on the fish and when reintroduced to the display tank, the parasite is reintroduced.

Using nets or equipment from other tanks can spread or recontaminate as does splashes from nearby tank or water under fingernails.

Best of luck.
Kelly
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Post by PetPirate »

^^ What she said.

Definitely no hypo on the main tank. It would be a practical guarantee of ongoing disaster.
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