The Puffer Forum

Ok, so we have Qt'd him from the QT...by himself now. He seems very stressed about the tank size. I hope treatment does not take too long. I am using Nitrofurazone in the form of API Furan-2. Not sure how good this stuff is but its all I could find from your list.

His tail had actually cleared up quite a lot in the first few hours I moved him into his QT. Maybe the new water? Anyways, thanks for all your help PufferQueen, you have been great!

Hopefully this will all go well...

Oh and he is still in hypo as well...My boyfriend and I were just thinking that maybe he should have been put back in full marine conditions before treatment though. Is both hypo and the Furan-2 too harsh on him. So far he seems ok. He just can't swim around very much in the tiny tank.

Well he is almost through 2 full days of treatment now and seems to be doing ok. The black on his tail has almost all gone. I think he is very stressed about the small tank though. He only swims when I come to the tank to see him. Otherwise, he just lays around...its pretty sad.

The medication says its a 4 day treatment. I am thinking I should treat a bit longer though. It does say its safe to repeat if necessary.

What should I be doing before he goes back into the bigger QT with the other fish? I assumed a huge water change on that tank but anything else?

Have you started rasing the SG on QT?

TriniGirl wrote:Well he is almost through 2 full days of treatment now and seems to be doing ok. The black on his tail has almost all gone. I think he is very stressed about the small tank though. He only swims when I come to the tank to see him. Otherwise, he just lays around...its pretty sad.

What size tank is he in and what are you using for filtration?

The medication says its a 4 day treatment. I am thinking I should treat a bit longer though. It does say its safe to repeat if necessary.

Antibiotic therapy should be for at least 7 - 10 days in order to eradicate the bacteria and prevent drug resistant strains.

What should I be doing before he goes back into the bigger QT with the other fish? I assumed a huge water change on that tank but anything else?

How long have the other fish been in QT? If you add the puffer back to the other QT, the quarantine period starts over....everytime something new is added, all fish start over at day one of quarantine.

TriniGirl wrote:Oh and he is still in hypo as well...My boyfriend and I were just thinking that maybe he should have been put back in full marine conditions before treatment though. Is both hypo and the Furan-2 too harsh on him. So far he seems ok. He just can't swim around very much in the tiny tank.

What is your current salinity?

He was in a 90G QT with the other fish for a mild case of ich. Salinity was dropped to 1.009 using a refractometer. He had a little bit of this black stuff on his tail before hyposalinity but it got worse as you know, so I separated him from the others and began treating him. He went into the new Qt tank at the same salinity. So he is at 1.009. We thought that maybe it should have been raised before treating him with antibiotics but were not sure, so we left it alone.

The new QT tank is filtered with a HOB filter with a sponge from the main tank...I do not think it will do much though because of the lower salinity, so I have been watching the ammonia, nitrites, nitrates close. I have also used amquel a few times to be safe. The meds say to do a water change every two days, so I just did one. I was hoping to do water changes everyday but I guess it removes too much medication?

He still has a few spots of ich. I think he will have to go back into the 90G QT and start all over again after this.

TriniGirl wrote:He was in a 90G QT with the other fish for a mild case of ich. Salinity was dropped to 1.009 using a refractometer. He had a little bit of this black stuff on his tail before hyposalinity but it got worse as you know, so I separated him from the others and began treating him. He went into the new Qt tank at the same salinity. So he is at 1.009. We thought that maybe it should have been raised before treating him with antibiotics but were not sure, so we left it alone.

When medicating a tank at a lower salinity - depending on the medication - may have to decrease the saltwater dose or increase the freshwater dose - in other words - give the dose between the two.

The new QT tank is filtered with a HOB filter with a sponge from the main tank...

Was the filter fully cycled?

I do not think it will do much though because of the lower salinity, so I have been watching the ammonia, nitrites, nitrates close. I have also used amquel a few times to be safe.

This can affect results from certain test kits/brands.

The meds say to do a water change every two days, so I just did one. I was hoping to do water changes everyday but I guess it removes too much medication?

So you are not checking water parameters daily? Are you dosing the medications daily? Most antibiotics are pretty much "useless" after a couple hours in saltwater. Antibiotics quickly degrade when exposed to air, light, elevated temperatures and certain pH. This is the reason I prefer to treat with baths versus treating the whole tank - saves the biological filter as well is cheaper to medicate via a bath versus a tank.

He still has a few spots of ich. I think he will have to go back into the 90G QT and start all over again after this.

Can you post a pic of the spots in question? Have the spots been in the same spot all the time? How long have you been treating with hyposalinity.

The spots have been there for about two weeks now. Fell off already and a few have returned. I have dealt with ich once before and this looks just like it. The hypo has been for 7 days now. The ich I believe infected them when we moved homes and they were stressed. I am not so sure I can get a picture of the spots because I only have a camera phone. I will try though.

How do you do the medication baths? Would it be too late to get him back into the other QT and then do the baths instead. He seems to be getting pretty stressed and is very cramped.

We have been testing water params a few times a day so far.

Thanks for all your help, I really appreciate it!

Oh and yes, filter was fully cycled. It was lowered slowly with the fish in hypo but I thought the bacteria may have died off in the salinity change.

Anyone have any advice on how to do the baths? How many are usually needed? Ect.

Thanks!

Daily baths for 7 - 10 days.

Add whatever dose is for 10 gallons to 1 gallon.....if the directions say 1 capsule to 10 gallons, add 1 capsule to one gallon.....so for 2 gallons, add 2 and so on......

Place the fish/puffer in the bath - make sure there is good aeration. Leave for 1 hour and return to good water quality in a QT.

TriniGirl wrote:Oh and yes, filter was fully cycled. It was lowered slowly with the fish in hypo but I thought the bacteria may have died off in the salinity change.

What was lowered slowly ? - the salinity ?

When you refer to bacteria - are you referring to the nitrifying bacteria?

Yes salinity was lowered for Hypo and I assumed that most of the nitrifying bacteria would have died off the sponge from the main tank.

I have been doing twice daily water changes on the sick puffers QT tank because I was getting a little bit of ammonia. He is still very stressed in the little 33G and I think I should move him back to the 90G QT and do baths instead. Only problem then, is catching him everyday, he really freaks out when I put any containers in the tank to catch him with. Still might be less stressful for him in the long run though.