The Puffer Forum

The epsom salt will not hurt your water or the puffer at all, I would add.

Ah poor little dude is really having a time of it huh.

I believe you can use both types of salt (aquarium and epsom) at the same time with no problem.

As far as the cory cats go, my only worry is IF the larger fish at some point tries to eat one, it can be a death sentance. Cories have a very sharp, very strong spine in their dorsal fin that is designed to stick in the throat of fish that dry to eat them. Of course, a puffer generally doesn't swallow whole, they crunch, chew, spit out, crunch, swallow LOL.

I started with the aquarium salt tonight.

Did the 50% wc and a good gravel vacuuming. I noticed some puffer poo in there while it was cleaning. Dosed the tank 1 tbs per 5 gallons, so that's 9 tbs. Turned up the heat to oooh, 84 or so, but didn't add an airstone. I thought I had 2 air pumps, but I guess the BF threw them out since they looked like possible fire hazards. I wish he would have told me that he threw them out when I was running errands today!

I will get the airstone in there tomorrow, to give him a little extra air.

We noticed him flashing a bit, and he's been trying to eat the substrate. Poor thing.

His vision hasn't improved at all, in fact, I almost wonder if it's gotten worse. He's been swimming with his nose in the gravel a lot lately. When we feed him, it takes us at least 5 minutes for him to notice the food. He smells it, but, once again, tries to eat the substrate before he can 'find' his food.


A quick question: how easily is ich transferred from tank to tank? My brackish tank won't be affected, right? How about the IPs? can those be transferred from fresh to brackish? I'm already using separate siphons, but I just realized that I'm using the same buckets for water changes. Did I just infect my sweet, round little ceylon?

lilgirlkat wrote: A quick question: how easily is ich transferred from tank to tank? My brackish tank won't be affected, right? How about the IPs? can those be transferred from fresh to brackish? I'm already using separate siphons, but I just realized that I'm using the same buckets for water changes. Did I just infect my sweet, round little ceylon?

You do have to watch that you don't use any of your equipment from one tank to the other (with the ich anyways not sure about ip's).

even fresh to brackish?

lilgirlkat wrote:even fresh to brackish?

Ahhh fresh to brackish shouldn't cross over sorry about that, again don't know about the ip's but should be safe with the ich.

just a little update..

I'm thinking about changing ET's name to Stevie Wonder... or possibly Ray Charles as I'm pretty sure he's blind.

I've FINALLY seen him poo.. and it's not white or stringy or anything that looks like it might have IPs in it.

We're only on day 3 of ich treatment, but he seems to be ok with it. I have the temps up to 86 and have done 2 50% wc, along with a good vacuuming of the gravel.

He's still eating about 2 clams a day and is quite active. However, I've noticed that he swims with his nose hitting the gravel a lot. Is this odd? I thought maybe he was doing it since he seems to be blind, but I'm not sure about that anymore. Any ideas?

He could still be weak from everything that's happening to him. Me and Annabelle had a hard time in the beginning also. You just have to stay on top of things. Your doing a great job. Btw: I have a friend that has a school of blind fish. They have adapted and are doing well. If he is blind he will adapt.
And yes I have used epsom salt, aquarium salt and treated for IP's all at the same time with no ill effects.

With what he's been through, I don't know if this fish will ever be completely "normal".

Puffers don't have swim bladders though, so at least you don't have to worry about that being the cause of the weird swimming.

I was wondering if they had swimbladders.. my ceylon likes to hang out.. crooked. I call him Mr. Crooked lately.

I'm gonna give another round of IP treatments. I treated him Saturday - Thursday (today) with Gel-tek. His poo was blackish brown, but I just found some more white stringy stuff.

How long should I wait to treat again, and how long of a go can I treat him?

With Annabelle I think I treated almost 3 weeks between Gel-Tek and Prazipro. She had the IP's so bad I had to treat longer than recommended. I really don't think it will hurt to treat again. I would treat no less than 5 days.

sweet. I'm going to get a syringe today. I'm sure he's been eating the geltek, but I want to make completely sure.

just another bit of updates.

He's doing well. His ich is subsiding rather nicely. He's always active and constantly swimming around. If he is blind, I don't think he's COMPLETELY blind. He is doing a lot better about not running into the glass at full speed. Instead of holding his food right in front of him, we're just dropping it in and letting him find it. It takes him quite some time, but he always finds it.

With his lack of vision, his tank has become quite the breeding grounds for snails, which raises a question. I know snails won't "get" ich, but they can carry it, correct? and -- they can be carriers for IPs, right? I'm just wondering how bad of an idea it would be to feed these snails to my other puffs. I haven't yet out of fear of infecting all my puffs with IPs.


oh -- and he's gaining weight and growing. He's probably got about an inch to an inch and a half of length already!

I believe snails can carry ich, but if you rinse them off in tank water a few times, I think you'll be okay. They can carry IPs, yes. One week of QT should be enough time - if a snail is still alive and healthy by the end of the QT period, then he should be fine to feed.

That's great that he's growing!

Its more that the parasite might happen to be in the water or stuck to their shell.. The likely hood is probably pretty low but since you are currently treating for ich, and the cysts are probably falling to the floor of the tank, it might be a bit of a higher chance now than any other time (just a guess on my part).

I think after you are done treating, it will be nice and safe, but for now maybe either quarentine them for a week or just wait until all signs of ich are gone.