The Puffer Forum

Sg 1.026
PH 8.2
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 0
Ammonia 0
20 Long all glass tank with T5 light,AC50 and MJ1200
Live Stock: Zebra Blenny(not aggressive,not a harasser),various softies,hermit crabs and some surviving nerite snails
Feeding 1 X a day rotating between nerite snails,shrimp and hermit crabs.

I have never dosed anything,I just use natural SW and use carbon.

Just started the 20L,transferred all LR,LS,Water,Coral and livestock from 7 gallon to the 20 L 3 days ago.

The 7 was setup for 4 months,the puffer has been in there since he was extremely small.
Have experienced temperature swings after setting up the 20(just moved from a cool place to a hot place),
have been dealing with the temp swings,I'm actively fixing the problem(ice for now,fans are on the way)

The puffer Canthigaster jactator,got ick(3 spots on the fins) from the temp swings and the stress of being moved.
The blenny (the only fish other than the puffer I've ever had) has been in both tanks as long as the puffer.
Since I haven't added a fish ever,I'm not sure how he got the ick in the first place.

I've thought of the idea of taking the 20 to hypo SG(and move my coral to the 7)
but I'm wondering what it would do to my LR since he needs it so he doesn't get a cycle.
Or will a 1.5 inch puffer cause a 20 gallon to get all out of whack,if I do large water changes ?
(since I'll be taking all of my good LR out,I'd leave all the base)
Will hypo salinity cure the ick he has and stop the ick's life cycle?
I'd love to save my puffer and am hoping you guys can help me out.

I know very little about ich, but I just wanted to say good luck!

I recently have just come out of hypo with my marine tank, As i see it in hypo the crypt can survive and you effectively remove all of it in your system by staying in hypo through all its stages of life. I didn't have a large enough tank to remove the puffers, so i removed all the live rock and crabs and then hypo'd the tank and did water changes every other day. Because of dropping the salinity quickly all the beneficial bacteria would have died off anyway. i would say your best bet would be to remove the rock and hypo the tank, keep doing the water changes though, as you said it will cause a cycle.
Hopefully other people will be able to add more advice soon for you.

He still has the 3 spots,is hiding out instead of exploring but ate my garlic soaked snail like normal.
I'm keeping the temp at a steady 80F,I'll load up on 15 gallons of SW and am going to unfortunately get my 7 back up.
Kinda a backwards step since I was turning the 20 into a reef not a FOWLER or QT.
Over what period of time should I change the SG of the tank to 1.10?
I'll keep it there for 3 weeks ,that should be long enough I think but I'm not sure.
Kinda funny the only way I could have gotten ick was from the SW since I take water that is near a reef.

I think it is recomended to keep it in hypo for 8 weeks, i dropped the salinity down over a few days with really big water changes

The sg needs to be at 1.009 for 8 weeks. No less than 8 weeks and no higher than 1.009 or hypo won't do you any good. Have your read the article about saltwater ich in the library? It tells you all about it.

Here's the article:
library/hospital/swich/

Make sure you check your sg everyday. You must be persistant. You only want to do this once.

I'm not sure I'd go all that route with just 3 spots. Might not even be Crypt (SW ich). I've seen a few spots like that come & go on my fish sometimes.

Man I'd like to move him to a QT not my display,since this will delay my addition of coral of 3 months .
I have a refractrometer that will help,but I'm thinking about moving him to my 7 and do tons of water changes.
(and sacrifice some LR to lesson any sort of cycle that happens)
I'll check the SG daily,do tri-weekly water changes until I get a soft cycle over with and take care of this guy.

Have you red the article on this in our Library? Step by step instructions in there.

I was working on the post and posted after you posted
I've read your article,almost of the articles on the forum.
I'm feeling very positive about the puffer since two of the spots disappeared,
he only had them for 3 days(although the tank is 85F,getting a fan soon)

I've started to do 3 small garlic soaked feedings a day instead of one large feeding,
and I'm thinking for the long run it's better since I home for most of the time(I'm a grad working on CLEP

I'm giving him the best food,the best water params and the best care I can give him,
and nice he is acting perfectly normal(minus the afternoon pacing)
I'm all for just waiting and hoping for the best.

This is unrelated but my LFS gave(they give them away) me a small mini book with this forum's info on puffers,
they are crediting the forum and the authors. She said people always ask about the puffers so she decided to print some of them up.

That's great about your fish, and about the printouts!