The Puffer Forum

So, I came home to a not so nice surprise yesterday, my porcupine has white spots all over him. He is still eating like a pig, but has started to act really weird, but I think its because I scare the crapola out of him when I came downstairs this morning to check on him.

pH: test kit was old, bought a new one today, will post pH when I get home from work
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0

Feeding: I feed spirulina flakes for the anthias and chromis once a day. Then I feed a cube of brine shrimp, krill and grocery prawns. I recently started feeding the frozen prawns from the grocery store (maybe this is causing it?)

Water change: my DT is 143ish gallon, with a 80ish gallon sump. I do 10 gallons weekly, and 30 gallons monthly. I do however have to add 3 to 5 gallons every 2 days due to evaporation (very dry where i am)

Product: I add Prodibio clean (1 vial every 15 days) and Seachem Reef Complete (recommended dosage twice a week)

Changes: I added a Kole and Tomini tang into the tank 3 weeks ago, and I recently added the remainder of fish from my office tank: lawnmower blenny into the DT, yellowtail and flamehawk fish into the sump.

DT: was established about 3 or 4 months ago

I went to my LFS and picked up seachem garlic, cupramine, and this microbe-lift product (recommended by the LFS to treat the DT, while the puffer is in QT. Its a herbal .. all natural product)

My plan is to grab the porcupine and put it into a QT, is a 20g too small? Hes about 6 or 7 inches long. LFS says it will be ok, I do have a 33g stored away at my parents house.

Is there anything else you pros can suggest? The pufferpedia seems to be down right now, but I have spent most of my morning researching options.

Thanks all

I'm fairly certain Herbtana doesn't work, if that's the product you speak of. It says that it boosts the immune system of the fish so that the parasite with not have a suitable host and die off in the tank. That just doesn't really sound possible. Crypt is opportunistic and really just needs a fish host, I don't see how a strong immune system can ward off an external parasite.
I think you should go with hypo salinity, however, if one fish has it, they all probably have it. It would be futile to only treat one fish.

sevenyearnight wrote:I'm fairly certain Herbtana doesn't work, if that's the product you speak of. It says that it boosts the immune system of the fish so that the parasite with not have a suitable host and die off in the tank. That just doesn't really sound possible. Crypt is opportunistic and really just needs a fish host, I don't see how a strong immune system can ward off an external parasite.
I think you should go with hypo salinity, however, if one fish has it, they all probably have it. It would be futile to only treat one fish.

You are correct, I just came home and ALL of the fish have it, except the tangs. So I think they introduced it to my tank

I started the herbtana treatment, couldnt hurt. I am also going to buy a UV sterilizer tomorrow to see if that will help a little. The small corallife 9W UV is too small and the bulb is burnt out.

Some bad news, the porcupine and dogface is not eating now, I dipped the krill into garlic guard. When I came home the dogface was resting its belly on the mp40 powerhead, the porcupine was laying on the rocks. They are clearly the ones affect the most. I did throw a AQ110 sponge into the sump to cycle it for now in case it gets so bad I need to take out the puffers.

As for pH, its sitting around 8.2 to 8.4

since the whole tank is infected, I am going to see how this pans out, I do not have enough room to set up mulitple QT tanks to treat each with with Cupramine.

Any other suggestions is greatly appreciated. I read on another thread to dose Vitamin C, would I be able to add it now? If so, what product should I look for and the dosage instructions would be awesome.

Thanks

How often do you feed the puffers krill? That's a food that isn't ideal: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=29156&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

Here is a link to the C dosing: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=13501&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

Remember to not use any copper based medications on puffers.

sevenyearnight wrote:How often do you feed the puffers krill? That's a food that isn't ideal: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=29156&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

Here is a link to the C dosing: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=13501&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

Remember to not use any copper based medications on puffers.

Ive been feeding them hakari frozen krill since they were young. I thought it was the freeze dried krill that was bad. I have read on here and marinedepot (posts from puffer queen) that she uses cupramine, since the copper content isnt as lethal as other copper treatment.

Right now, I have decided to "bandaid" the solution by buying a UV sterilizer today. All fish is now showing signs of ich. I am going to get my 55g cleaned out, and pick up my empty 33g from my parents. I think its time to catch all the fish, separate them, and treat them all separately. This of course will take some time, so I will have to install the UV first.

My 55g still has 70LR and some sand in it, heater and powerhead. I was selling the LR on a local forum. Might be time to yank everything out and just clean it.

Good luck!

Absolutely try the VC. Ramp it up to 100ppm.

Thought I would give an update. I thought I would throw up a log.

I went with Herbtana to treat the tank since I have SPS and Zoas in the tank as well, all food was soaked in Seachem Garlic Guard:

Day 1:

All fish looked like they improved, ich was starting to dissapear on the wrasse, chromis, anthias, and there was no ich present on the tangs. The foxface still had visible signs of ich. The flamehawk (that I was planning on selling) and the yellow-tail are in the sump (donating to the LFS) showed improvement as well.

Ich was still on the porcupine, and the dogface was showing visible signs of ich. Everybody was eating except the puffers

Day 2:

Everybody is eating except the puffers. Ich is almost all gone on all the other fish, the worst of it was the dogface, he was clearly not impressed with the ich (scratching his body on the LR) I'll post a pic later, he decided to perch himself on the powerhead.

There was some see through slimy stuff floating around in the tank, some had a small white dot in it. I have no idea what this is, I used an old net to scoop it out of the tank, and used hot water to rinse out the net into my laundry sink. There was some of this on the foxface (dorsal fin)

Day 3:

Everybody is eating, and the dogface decided to eat today /happydance. Porcupine still not eating, ich has improved on his body. More active in the tank

Day 4:

Everybody is eating, except the porcupine, the ich on his body seems to returned, but not as bad as before

Day 5:

EVERYBODY is eating! Porcupine came around and ate.

Day 6:

Well find out when I get home tonight.

So far I believe the combination of Herbtana and the UV sterilizer really helped with treating the tank. I know it wont get rid of ich. But if I QT'd all the fish, it will stress them out too much, especially my puffers. For some reason, they are super shy and super moody. Also, the foxface and my dogface are new besties, they wont leave each others side.. they share the same cave by themselves, I wonder if thats the reason why the porcupine is so stressed.. he lost his best friend (dog face). I have a love triangle in my tank...

I would add vitamin C to the mix, at 100ppm: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=13501