The Puffer Forum

hey guys, as u know ive been fighting the dreaded ich monster for weeks now. All my tanks on the top floors of my house have ich. All tanks on the main level dont have anything....yet! I thought i might have seen a couple of white spots on my yellow belly dogface, as a precaution, should i start to drop the sg?

How many tanks do you have? And have there been any drastic temperature changes upstairs?

give us a complete tank run down... upstairs and down, including Q tanks so we can see what tanks are best to drop the SG (if any) ...

for example you may be able to put the dogface in Q tank and leave main tank fallow for 8 weeks, assuming you have no other fish in there...

ok, the temp is usually a bit cooler downstairs but the temps in the tanks pretty much remain constant. Tank rundown.. upstairs:
right now i have 2 qt tanks going one is a 20 and the other is a 10 gal. Both of those tanks have had the sg dropped and the temp is around 74. There is a 30 which is fallow now, a 40 which is holding all inverts for now and a 45 which only has in it now a cowrie and 2 urchins. Downstairs, 55 gal which is empty, 75 gal which houses the yellow belly and a dragon wrasse and a 125 empty. Then there is the 2 brackish tanks, a 20 and a 29, which hold a f8 and a gsp but they are fine, the 20 is downstairs and the 29 is upstairs. The yellow belly seemed fine,but his eyes today seem a bit cloudy. I dont want to lose anymore fish, i hate to even give u the count. I'm so frustrated!!!

Crazy!

Hang in there though, it'll be ok soon i'm sure..

what's a cowrie?

So, move all inverts/live rock into one of the fallow tanks and begin that 8 weeks stretch from when you added the last piece of rock... (annoying i know, but easier in the long run..)

then drop the dogface tank to 1.009 slowly over a day or two with the puffer and the wrasse in it...

not sure what you have in the other Q tanks, and you didnt mention what size the dogface tank was, but you *may* be able to combine all the fish in quarentine into the one big tank once it's at 1.009.. therefore only having one big tank to water change rather than having to work at three separate Q tanks...

maybe wait a day or two first though, as marine ich paranoia is something i also have and often it is just an air bubble or bit of sand.. rather than ich... but if it's eyes are definitely cloudy then go ahead and move all inverts/rock then drop the SG...

Where did the ich come from? Did you add a fish recently? Do you share equipment between tanks....?

Thanks so much for the help, my fiancee helped me with feeding one day and i think he not thinking about it, contaminated the tanks. Do u think a dogface and a yellow belly dogface can be in the same qt? I def want to combine all the qt's, i'm so tired of doing water changes, im also adding vitamins to the water, do u think that would help? Cowrie's are basically snails with really pretty shells. How are all your fishies doing?

don't know about the two dogfaces... had no experience of it, maybe someone else has.

My fishies are ok, ich free now, but i'm super paranoid and stare at every time bit of dust/dit/bubble on their fins for hours on end...

still miss ET, but i try not to think about it, and be grateful the rest are happy and healthy.


Let us know how you are getting on. I'd be suprised if shared feeding spread ich, i know technically it's possible, but not exactly probable. Do you share water between tanks? Or water change buckets?

We never share water change buckets, i have sat here and thought for hours on end what it could be and i have come up with the feeding and those algae clips, we have shared those between tanks but always washed them in hot water before we added them to any tank, it could have been that as well. Thanks for all the advice, i totally appreciate it!! Are u going to get another porc?

nah, going to concentrate on my stars and stripes without trying to force another big puffer into my life. ET was a rescue fish who needed lots of love which is why i got her, now she's gone i'll just let stars have the extra space.

hows the yellow dogface looking? Any more spots or is it just paranoia?

He actually looks better, thank god! Maybe it was my being paranoid all along, the mind can play terrible tricks!!! LOL Again, thanks for all your input and support, i appreciate it tons!!!! Its hard to find anyone thats really into their fish and care what actually happens to them!!! In fact, thats whats so great about this forum!

it's why i love this forum too.

glad dogface looking better, hope your others get through quarentine ok.

Thanks a ton, theyre doing really well. I feel so bad that theyre in these empty tanks. I hope they will forgive me!! LOL

they will forgive you because you are making them better. You can always add tough plastic tubes, or other hiding places that can be sterilized at the end...

just to give them some security.. will help them feel less exposed and less stressed.

i will get some plastic tubes today, i hope i can find one big enough for the dogfaces, wouldnt want them getting stuck!!! LOL

look at guttering pipes... they can't be bigger than that can they?