is this ich(or ick)??

[wish962]

I was reading about ich/ick in some posts, and someone mentioned that it looked like someone sprinkled salt on the fish... That reminded me of a close-up i took of my f8 a while back that i thought looked a bit unusual. There were faint white spots on his back (only on the back as far as i could see, i didn't see anything else unusual, but then again i'm no expert) and it mostly looked like the kind of dots you see when you look really closely at a picture in the newspaper... I didn't think much of it at the time, but now that i've read some of the pots in the forum, i'm worried about Pugu! (my f8 )

I got this picture one night after work when i caught him sleeping. I just took a look at him now and i didn't see anything on him. Could it just be a trick of the flash on my camera?

Also, if it IS ich, how do i treat it in brackish? I read about marine and freshwater ich, but will these methods work in my brackish tank without hurting my coral and live rock? There are no other fish in my tank, just some snails and a hermit crab that has somehow managed to stay alive without getting eaten. Tank is at normal brackish conditions (26 degrees Celcius, specific gravity 1.010 with a pH around 7.7 as per Cody Shoup's article in the library) Will the ich(if it's there) attach itself to the snails, coral or hermit? Since there are no other fish in the tank to attach itself to during the free swimming phase, wouldn't the ich just go away after a while?

What do you think? I'm really worried now, should i be worried??
Thank you very much for any advice!!:)

[wish962]

I've been looking at some other pictures i took that same night... The spots look yellow in most of the pictures... Could it just be his natural coloration...?

[Corvus]

It's his spines.

[Goonerman1]

Yep......DEFINITELY his Spines Nice looking fish

[Hilly]

As Goonerman and Corvus said, it's just his spines, nothing to worry about.

[wish962]

Oh Thank you sooooooo much!! That's a huge relief!! Whew!! I was starting to get worried! I had no idea that f8's had spines!
Thanks for the compliment Goonerman1

[Pufferpunk]

All puffers have spines.

[Nick]

Very healthy looking and brightly colored

[jake_vdb]

Also, if it IS ich, how do i treat it in brackish?

Just curious if anyone has ever seen ich in a brackish environment?

Seems impossible as freshwater ich is often treated with salt, and marine ich is treated with hypo salinity...