The Puffer Forum

Well the porc still has ich. My fish don't have it anymore. I really don't feel comfortable using copper and I don't really know what hypo means. I am in the process of finding a qt tank for her. The ich goes from really bad to almost gone everday. I have read that porcs do keep ich for longer then other puffers but I don't know what to do, I don't think I'm experienced enough to use the copper.
T1gerbee is right Gizmo comes to the front of the tank and when I come over to look at her she stays there and then when she finds out I don't have food she hides behind a big rock and then just pokes her head up just enough to see if I'm still there and then goes back to hiding. I also found out Gizmo isn't a morning fish! I spent the night with my friend and I woke up to feed her and I turned on the light and she poked her head out of her cave and gave me the evil eye and went back in and when she found out I wasn't going to turn the light off she shot out of the cave and came right to the top so that I would know she was hungry!

While carefully controlled dosing of copper is one of the better options for persistent marine ich, if you want to try something MUCH more safe, this site sells flubendazole.
http://www.inkmkr.com/Fish/ItemsForSale.html
I've ordered from him and it mixes well with water IF you have the patience to make a slurry. You do that by taking the dose of flubendazole and putting it in a shot glass or other TINY cup, then adding just a few drops of water and mixing well with a toothpick or bamboo skewer. Add a tiny bit more water only if needed to form a THICK paste. Flubendazole is hydrophobic, so if you add any quantity of water at once, it will just float, this happens when mixing things like cocoa powder with water; my cooking is where I learned about a slurry. Once you have a thick paste, you add a few drops more of water, working it into a slightly thinner paste. Then a few drops more. Take your time, making sure your mixture is totally smooth at each step. After the slurry is VERY thin, keep stirring it and pour into into the filter output of the tank, it should make the water cloudy. This isn't safe for invertebrates, but if they are removed for the duration of treatment, should also help rid the main tank of any protozoan parasites.

i found hypo suprisingly easy... and i'd only been doing marine for two months when i first had to do it..

again, only in a quarentine tank and not rock/inverts safe...

but what i dd was start with a Q tank full and then just do a bucket (2 Gallon) water change daily with RO, which drops the salinity of the tank slowly over a few days... until the water reads 1.009 (hypo)

the fish never seem to have a problem with it, and once it hits 1.009 the cysts on the puffer will explode meaning your puffer will instantly be able to breathe better.. and will feel better..

WARNING.. as RO water has a naturally unstable Ph you must buffer it back up to 8.2 ph before adding it to the Q tank... (it's easy i promise..)


once you're at 1.009 you keep it there for 4- 6 weeks, water changing frequently to keep parameters perfect...

it has worked for two puffers that i got who had ich from the start...


so now you have two methods.. all you have to do is be brave..