The Puffer Forum

Hey everyone, I'm new to the forum, and I could really use some help! About a week ago, I bought a spiny boxfish, acclimated him, and added him to the main tank (the main tank is 75 gallons and there are two other inhabitants: a niger trigger and a goby). A day or two later, white spots started forming on his fins (the lfs said it was ich), so we put him in a 20 gallon quarantine tank and yesterday started to medicated it with copper. At this point he doesn't seem to be getting worse, but I am not sure what else to do for him. Is there anything else I can do to help him get better, and is there anything I can add to the tank to make him less stressed? Also, is there a chance that this could be something other than ich? I did not provide tank parameters because he is not in the main tank anymore, but if it helps, ammonia and nitrite lvls = 0, and nitrates are almost 0 - I had the lfs test our water, and they said the puffer shouldn't have any problems. I am doing everything I can, but I am not sure if it is enough and could really use help!

You have to keep up massive water changes on the quarantine tank if you want to keep ammonia and nitrite under control. That's pretty much the main risk with the quarantine. However, the more pressing issue is getting rid of ALL the ich. If the puffer developed the spots while in the main tank, the main tank is carrying it, even if it's not obvious on the other fish. After he gets better, he may just get sick again when you put him back in the main tank.

Read the article on treating SW "ich" in our Library. Copper needs to be dosed very carefully & tested often or it can be deadly to your puffer. Copper treatment is only as a very last resort & shouldn't be necessary if you treat with hypo. ALL the fish need to go into hypo & the tank needs to be kept fallow for 8 weeks. You should have QTed the puffer.

Thanks for the input guys, I'll let you know how things are going....