The Puffer Forum

Penicillin doesn't treat ich, I don't believe. There''s a sticky and/or article on treating saltwater ich.

OK thanks I'll check up on that.
Also I just moved her into a 20 Long and I can barely see any spots on her fins now just a few on her tail compared too quite a few on all of them. Is it possible it could have been the cysts again? Either way I'm still going to treat for ich.

Its possible, but ich also has a life cycle where it falls off the fish into the substrate where it propagates. And it can live unseen in the gills.

The quarantine is bare bottom so I guess that helps a little.
Will doing a hyposalinity treatmeant stress her out? Also would the tank get recycled due to the change in salinity? Also do you think using meds are an ok alternative instead?

Hyposalinity may be stressful on a fish, but they should be fine long term. I would just leave the lights off during the treatment.

If the puffer does have ich, you really shouldn't treat ich in the display tank, decreasing the salinity will most likely kill off any benificial bacteria in the tank, hence ending the cycle. I would use a bare bottom tank with only maybe a small plastic cave or something for the fish to hide in. You really only need filtration for water movement, it's going to be hard to keep the tank cycled with the huge salinity change. If you don't already have one, you'll need a well-calibrated refractometer so you know the S.G. is at exactly 1.009. You should reduce feedings and keep up with large daily water changes to keep the toxins in check.

IIRC, the fish needs to be treated in a separate hospital tank and the display tank must go fallow in order for the ich present there to die and not repropagate once the fish is reintroduced.

What's the pennicilin for? Hyposalinity is recommended for ich. See the article on this in our Library.

Penicillin does NOT treat ich. Penicillin is an antibiotic. Ich is an external parasite which needs an antiparasitic treatment. Penicillin is not a good antibiotic for any of the saltwater bacteria infections. On some ocassions, secondary bacterial infections can occur after or during a parasitic infection/infestation.

The overuse and misuse of penicillin in both human and animal medicine has caused bacteria that are resistant to this antibiotic as well as many others.

I didn't use pennicilin I just had it lying around. I used this medicine called quick cure, since I felt sort of uneasy about the hypo salinity thing. She's doing much better though.
Thanks for the help everyone.

What is Quick Ich?
Did you use it in a bath or medicated the tank?

I medicated the quarantine tank. This is the medicine. http://www.aquariumguys.com/quickcure1.html

The only proven method to kill ich is to use copper. Use Seachems Cupramine which is a chelated copper and is safer than ionic copper. Hyposalinity does not work. Of course you can only use it in a FO aquarium without inverts. Vortex Diatom filters also help in the fight against ich as they filter out the parasite. Use the Cupramine with a Sechem copper test kit only and monitor it daily.

Rumors you may hear.....

1. Cupramine will kill your biological filtration: UNTRUE
2. Puffers cannot handle copper: UNTRUE
3. Ich cannot be treated in the main tank: UNTRUE

I killed off Ich more times than I can remember. It has never returned (always brought in by a new fish each episode).

JET

Thanks for that but Shelby's better, now I just got to get her on a better diet.

Are SW ghost shrimps good for her on occasion? I bought a few last night and gave most of them to her and she loved it.

They aren't very nutritional unless you gut load them (feed them first), but they'll certianly give her something fun to chase around.

Glad her ich is better.

Copper is not going in my tanks if I can help it. No sense in risking it if there are other, more safe, methods.