The Puffer Forum

A quick update on my situation:

I bought a GSP a couple of weeks ago and had him in my 20g tank. I originally thought it was a 10g tank until I went shopping for a bigger tank and realized its a 20g tank. The new tank I was going to purchase was going to be setup as a FOWLR. I priced out all the equipment I would need and decided to hold off. Since the 20g was still too small for a GSP I brought him back to the LFS and got a F8 instead. The F8 has a couple of nip marks on him and after taking a closer look he appears to have ich. I already increased the temp in my tank to 83 but I'm not sure if I should add regular salt or not. The salinity in my tank is currently @ 0.004 using Instant Ocean. Aside from that he is very active and has been eating. I tried to get a picture but I couldn't get a good shot that shows the ich as he's not used to me yet and gets a little skittish.

Tank Parameters:
pH-7.6
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-10
Ammonia-0
Salinity-0.004

I don't see ich on that fish. Are you sure it's not his tiny spines you are seeing?

Ich needs to be treated at 86 degrees. Also, when you're posting your SG, it must start with a 1 not 0 or your levels are <FW. 1.004.

Pufferpunk wrote:I don't see ich on that fish. Are you sure it's not his tiny spines you are seeing?

Ich needs to be treated at 86 degrees. Also, when you're posting your SG, it must start with a 1 not 0 or your levels are <FW. 1.004.

Thanks for the quick response PP!

These definitely don't look like his tiny spines. I can see his spines and these are larger. They look like grains of sand on him. These spots also have moved from yesterday to today. I will continue to increase the temp in my tank I just wanted to bring it up slowly as I don't want to shock him. What about adding salt or not?

I will also try and get some better pics. I've tried searching but I can't find a definite answer on whether to add salt or not to a bw tank.

Marine salt will work instead of regular salt. Read the treatment article in our library.

Thanks again. I will let you guys know how it turns out.

Hope he pulls through. That fish has nice color and markings.

As per RTR:
"86F will kill FW Ich w/o meds. It has great difficulty handling temps over 80F and 85F is apparently the absolute cap of its tolerance. It really is a temperate disease.

With salt or meds, 80F and above speeds things up, but is not absolutely required. High temps are not absolutely required when other agents are being used against the disease. The O2 stress on some fish is too great for high temps. Fish w/heavy infestations may suffocate at 85+F due to the reduced gill function from the parasites."

I wonder if that is sand stuck to the slime coat. Notice that there are no spots on the fins?

J-P wrote:I wonder if that is sand stuck to the slime coat. Notice that there are no spots on the fins?

There are a couple that I mentioned in my post above. I just can't get them in the pics. How often would ich move? It seems that these spots move around pretty often. More than once a day.

Has he been rubbing against things or "flashing" at all?
As for Ich movement, I have no idea... maybe one of the higher ups can answer that one.

Are you doing the large water changes necessary to remove the free-swimming cysts?

Ich parasites do not change location on the fish. they attach and stay there until that part of the cycle is done and they drop off.

But do remember that Ich is primarily a gill parasite - that is where the most parasites are found and we cannot see them there on living fish.

J-P- I haven't noticed him flashing or rubbing at all. I watched him for a good 20-30mins straight last night to make sure I wasn't missing it.

PP- I did a 50% WC yesterday which always includes vacuuming. I will do another one tomorrow.

RTR- Thanks for the feedback. From what PP posted about the ich's temperature threshold they shouldn't be able to survive at the current 86 degrees right? If thats the case its been 2 days with the temp at 86 and there are a couple of spots on him that haven't moved.

I plan to keep the temperature up at 86 and performing 50% WC every other day. I also have my air stone going to boost the oxygen levels.

Correct, Ich cannot reproduce at high temp.

Like nitrification bacteria, Ich has no dormant stage. But being a temperate water parasite, its growth rate is directly related to the water temp. In cool water it is very, very slow with its cycle time in weeks. The minimum cycle time is approx. 3 days in the upper 70s to 80F.