The Puffer Forum

Alright, I have a 40 gallon tank with 6 dwarf puffers in there. 3 of them have sunken stomachs so I'm going to treat them all for internal parasites.

I just went out and bought parasite clear. I just want to double make sure with everyone if my method is correct:

I dose 4 tabs (premixed in a cup) since I have 40 gallons, then I pour it into the 40 gallon. Then I wait 2 days later, I do a 75% water change? The package says 25% but some people on this forum like Nick says 50-75%? I then add another 4 tabs (again premixed) into the water again and two days later do a water change and thats it right?

Also, I also recall an advice telling me to turn off the filter for 1-2 hours after dosing? Do I need to? No carbon in my filter.

Also, for the ones that are not infected, adding the dose won't hurt or weaken them right? Just double checking.

I just want to dose the whole thing just incase.

If you don't have any carbon than leave it on. The reason why they tell you to turn it off as carbon will soak op the chemicals.

You can, and should, treat the fish that appear unaffected. Even if they don't show signs of it, if they're living with wormy fish, then there is a very high chance that they'll have picked up some worms as well.

Okay, thanks.

Is this the right dosage method though:

I dose 4 tabs (premixed in a cup) since I have 40 gallons, then I pour it into the 40 gallon. Then I wait 2 days later, I do a 75% water change? The package says 25% but some people on this forum like Nick says 50-75%? I then add another 4 tabs (again premixed) into the water again and two days later do a water change and thats it right?

?

Mmmhmmm.

Actually, internal parasites should be treated internally. Soak their food in the med & feeed 2x/day for a week, with the medicated food.

Oh, what about that other question before I dose:

Will this harm or weaken my other puffers that might be healthy? They are pretty small baby sized dwarf puffers.

Oh yeah, after feeding, I noticed that a lot of them have a fat belly but eventually in an hour, they go back looking just round again and lose the bulge in their stomach area. That's okay right? I just have to worry about them getting thin, sunken stomachs again?

I think the majority of them were just hungry, but I think maybe one or two have IPs? A lot of them look good now.

All the fish have been living together, leaving them all open to transfer the parasite to each other.

Will this harm or weaken my other puffers that might be healthy? They are pretty small baby sized dwarf puffers.

So, what about the question?

Guess I should just dose the whole tank then right?

I just want to make sure because I think 5 out of 6 puffer looks great, I don't want to risk harming or killing 5 others in order to save one.

It is perfectly fine to treat a healthy puffer for IPs, expecially since there is a good chance they might be infected.

As Pufferpunk said before, its generally better and more effective to treat the food, not the water.

With any fish that has IP's, you run a risk of them getting sick or dying when you deworm them. If they have a very high load of parasites, and the dewormer kills them, the die off might poison the fish's system. Usually they do just fine, and the fish that die from the treatment were very likely so far gone they wouldn't have survived anyways (just slowly starved to death), so IMO its better to treat than just wait and see.

Bellies getting sunken an hour after eating is a good sign of IP's.. generally they should stay nicely rounded for quite some time.