The Puffer Forum

Hi,
My husband has a 90 gallon saltwater tank. I recently had him purchase me 2 puffers, one saddle-back and one hawaiian puffer, approximately 3 inches long in size. So cute!!

Water parameters: Sorry, I know you said this is very important but he's just telling me they ph, nitrites, nitrates etc are all within their desired parameters.
Tank Size: 90 gallon
Inhabitants: 2 clown fish, 1 small blue hippo tang, 1 sailfin tang, 1 rabbitfish, 1 coral beauty, 1 clown trigger, 1 chocolate chip starfish, 1 red/green wrasse, 1 anemone PLUS my 2 puffers, saddle-back & hawaiian
Feeding: myson shrimp, krill, spectrum tera-plus A pellet food
Water Change Schedule: one a week, 10 gallons, using saltwater and RODI water
No products added
Changes in last week: added clown trigger, started feeding krill, have only had puffers for 2-3 weeks
How long set-up: 2 months, 30 days

Last night we realized that most of our fish seemed to have the beginnings of ich. We'd lost all our fish months and months ago in our other reef tank, NOT this tank, it's fish only so far except anemone. We took out Trigger, sailfin, clownfish, hippo tang, rabbit fish and coral beauty today and brought to our local store to have them quarantined and treated with copper.

But our guys at the store say that the Puffers can not be treated with copper, and that the Puffers carry ich in their intestines. That we can't have puffers with our other fish otherwise, when other fish get well and we put back in tank, even at 30-45 days, the Puffer will reinfect them with ich again. They say we basically can't have the Puffers. Is this true? I like my Puffers

Please help!

I think it may be from your tang, due to the addition of your puffers. I could be way off, but from tons of research, and hearing of people's experience, if you so much as sneeze at a blue hippo it catches ick. I decided to go with a yellow Hawaiian tang after I found that out. You will have to take everyone out of the tank, and let it lay fallow for 6-8 weeks in order to get rid of everything in there, as it's a reef tank with Live rock.

And all fish carry ich, it's a gill parasite. It is ok until the fish's immune system is lowered, then it can break out. If you have a reef tank, you will want to QT all new fish for a minimum of 6-8 weeks and treat for IPs, and other sickness and or parasites before introducing them in to the display tank. One sick fish added with out QT first can wipe out an entire tank. I have never experienced this yet, but I have met a few people who have and will never not QT again.

Sorry, I am going through the same situation for my tank, and after weeks of good feeding and stable water params and temp, nothing is helping. When I get back from my vacation, I am turning their old tank into a QT tank, and setting up my 90. Good luck!It's frustrating, but once they are healthy again, it's worth it.

but is the Puffer necessarily the problem? How to treat the Puffer for ich and still be able to put them all back together again in 6-8 weeks?

newpuffermom wrote:but is the Puffer necessarily the problem? How to treat the Puffer for ich and still be able to put them all back together again in 6-8 weeks?

You need to treat all the fish for ich now because they've all been exposed. I can't really give advice on how to cure it, because I don't know a whole lot about saltwater ich. Try researching ways to cure ich at Reefcentral.com

Well from my experince with saltwater ick. It can be extremely hard to rid of. I have lost marine fish in the past cause of it. I tryed everything from WC's, lights off, different meds, boosting their food and even used a uv. Well doing all of that, doing a bit of each helped out alot though. I always found that one thing that helped was boosting their food and had to add a uv, which killed the free swimming ick. Things finally started looking better. Boosting their immune systems, uv, WC's more often, helped out for me. Now that is how I finally bashed super ick. You can also med the food also. Here is a great link that could be very helpful.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/gene ... pagesid=78

Add beta glucan to their diet (any vitamin store or GNC) to boost their immune system. It may help, it has helped mine.

Not saying that the puffers are the problem, I think everyone was just a little stressed when you put them in, and if the tang gets stressed, it gets sick. For whatever reason, they are delicate fish. Also, if it's a 90 gallon, you may want to think of re-homing said blue tang because they *should* be in a tank at least 6 feet long for swimming purposes. They get super territorial if they don't enough swim room, and adding puffers, who are predators, is a recipe for disaster. You should only keep 1 tang in a tank that small, and you have a trigger, 2 tangs, a wrasse, 2 clowns and now puffers LOL. That's a lot of territorial fish in a small, 90 gallon tank.

Again, treat everyone and let the tank lay fallow. Unless you set up a brand new tank, and put the treated fish in the tank, there is no "proven" way to get rid of it in the display tank unless it lies fallow.

goldielocke76 wrote:Add beta glucan to their diet (any vitamin store or GNC) to boost their immune system. It may help, it has helped mine.

Not saying that the puffers are the problem, I think everyone was just a little stressed when you put them in, and if the tang gets stressed, it gets sick. For whatever reason, they are delicate fish. Also, if it's a 90 gallon, you may want to think of re-homing said blue tang because they *should* be in a tank at least 6 feet long for swimming purposes. They get super territorial if they don't enough swim room, and adding puffers, who are predators, is a recipe for disaster. You should only keep 1 tang in a tank that small, and you have a trigger, 2 tangs, a wrasse, 2 clowns and now puffers LOL. That's a lot of territorial fish in a small, 90 gallon tank.

Again, treat everyone and let the tank lay fallow. Unless you set up a brand new tank, and put the treated fish in the tank, there is no "proven" way to get rid of it in the display tank unless it lies fallow.

+1



But I also added a uv to my tank with better success and cut back on the bio load also seemed to help. Sorry that I did not add state that. Oh and almost forgot Marine Vitamin C also boosts their immune system. You can add it with the muti-vitamins and also add it to the tank.

FADE2BLACK_1973 wrote:

goldielocke76 wrote:Add beta glucan to their diet (any vitamin store or GNC) to boost their immune system. It may help, it has helped mine.

Not saying that the puffers are the problem, I think everyone was just a little stressed when you put them in, and if the tang gets stressed, it gets sick. For whatever reason, they are delicate fish. Also, if it's a 90 gallon, you may want to think of re-homing said blue tang because they *should* be in a tank at least 6 feet long for swimming purposes. They get super territorial if they don't enough swim room, and adding puffers, who are predators, is a recipe for disaster. You should only keep 1 tang in a tank that small, and you have a trigger, 2 tangs, a wrasse, 2 clowns and now puffers LOL. That's a lot of territorial fish in a small, 90 gallon tank.

Again, treat everyone and let the tank lay fallow. Unless you set up a brand new tank, and put the treated fish in the tank, there is no "proven" way to get rid of it in the display tank unless it lies fallow.

+1



But I also added a uv to my tank with better success and cut back on the bio load also seemed to help. Sorry that I did not add state that. Oh and almost forgot Marine Vitamin C also boosts their immune system. You can add it with the muti-vitamins and also add it to the tank.

There's mixed thoughts and feelings about this in the reef world. If she has a reef tank, the UV sterilizer could potentially kill off microorganisms that the corals live off of. There hasn't been anything that says someone needs it, or that it causes unnecessary harm. However, it does sterilize, but it does not discriminate against which is the good stuff to keep, and the bad stuff to kill.

No matter what she puts on there, fact is, that clown trigger is labeled AGGRESSIVE per LiveAquaria and gets 1' 8". That is NOT including the two tangs, which could potentially grow up to a foot or more. Just the two tangs over stocks the tank IMO. They get super aggressive/territorial to other fish and each other the bigger they get, in the smaller the tank.

Sorry, this has been my life for the last two months. I lost my green spot, got ich in my tank, and all in the middle of an upgrade. So now I am going for a reef tank, and have done tons and tons of research on everything under the sun for the last 2-3 months. I still don't know everything, I have tons to learn, but I do know that there is no fix all for ich in a SW tank, and a trigger, 2 tangs, 2 puffers, 2 clowns and a wrasse is a no no. They would need ideally 250 gallons in an 8 foot long tank, and then you MIGHT not see aggression.

Just to let you know, that nem will be eaten by the chocochip starfish.

Look at my thread on dosing with vitamin C in the SW section. I have cured Crypt with this. Ich is a FW disease & does not occur in SW fish.

I agree--your tank will be overstocked, when those fish are mature.

Thank you all so much. I am passing info on to the tank boss. Luckily this is not a reef tank. We have smaller reef tank.

Please heed the stocking level advise. When grown your tank will be grossly overstocked, your fish will be stunted with many health issues. Clowns and puffers don't mix. Puffers and puffers don't mix either. I don't want to sound harsh but it's the truth

So do you guys just have a tank with a Puffer in it, that's it?

If you had 90 gallon fish only tank, what would you have in it? Just curious It's so hard when the fish seem so little to not keep adding. I promise, will heed the advice!

Happy Memorial Day!

newpuffermom wrote:So do you guys just have a tank with a Puffer in it, that's it?

If you had 90 gallon fish only tank, what would you have in it? Just curious It's so hard when the fish seem so little to not keep adding. I promise, will heed the advice!

Happy Memorial Day!

Most people here just keep puffers by themselves, yes, because it's what's best for them.

In a 90G FOWLR (fish only with live rock) there's quite a bit you can do. However, what you need to do is research EVERYTHING very carefully before deciding to purchase it. If I had a 90 gallon myself, I'd keep some CUC (clean up crew) and two false perculas, because I think they're super adorable. Obviously, you can have more than that, but you need to make sure you're not overstocking your tank.

Many of us have puffer only tanks. Some bigger than 90g. When the personality shines through you will see. Some puffers allow friends, others do not. A 90 would be a great home for 2 gsp. You could try a juvi gsp and a Ceylon as this often works.

goldielocke76 wrote:

FADE2BLACK_1973 wrote:

goldielocke76 wrote:Add beta glucan to their diet (any vitamin store or GNC) to boost their immune system. It may help, it has helped mine.

Not saying that the puffers are the problem, I think everyone was just a little stressed when you put them in, and if the tang gets stressed, it gets sick. For whatever reason, they are delicate fish. Also, if it's a 90 gallon, you may want to think of re-homing said blue tang because they *should* be in a tank at least 6 feet long for swimming purposes. They get super territorial if they don't enough swim room, and adding puffers, who are predators, is a recipe for disaster. You should only keep 1 tang in a tank that small, and you have a trigger, 2 tangs, a wrasse, 2 clowns and now puffers LOL. That's a lot of territorial fish in a small, 90 gallon tank.

Again, treat everyone and let the tank lay fallow. Unless you set up a brand new tank, and put the treated fish in the tank, there is no "proven" way to get rid of it in the display tank unless it lies fallow.

+1



But I also added a uv to my tank with better success and cut back on the bio load also seemed to help. Sorry that I did not add state that. Oh and almost forgot Marine Vitamin C also boosts their immune system. You can add it with the muti-vitamins and also add it to the tank.

There's mixed thoughts and feelings about this in the reef world. If she has a reef tank, the UV sterilizer could potentially kill off microorganisms that the corals live off of. There hasn't been anything that says someone needs it, or that it causes unnecessary harm. However, it does sterilize, but it does not discriminate against which is the good stuff to keep, and the bad stuff to kill.

No matter what she puts on there, fact is, that clown trigger is labeled AGGRESSIVE per LiveAquaria and gets 1' 8". That is NOT including the two tangs, which could potentially grow up to a foot or more. Just the two tangs over stocks the tank IMO. They get super aggressive/territorial to other fish and each other the bigger they get, in the smaller the tank.

Sorry, this has been my life for the last two months. I lost my green spot, got ich in my tank, and all in the middle of an upgrade. So now I am going for a reef tank, and have done tons and tons of research on everything under the sun for the last 2-3 months. I still don't know everything, I have tons to learn, but I do know that there is no fix all for ich in a SW tank, and a trigger, 2 tangs, 2 puffers, 2 clowns and a wrasse is a no no. They would need ideally 250 gallons in an 8 foot long tank, and then you MIGHT not see aggression.

She said it was not a reef tank and with a puffer and a trigger I would hope it was ot a reef tank anyways. After losing fish from marine ick (sorry PP for calling it that) and tryed everything possible and nothing really helped until the uv was added. Easier to treat super ick by killing out the free swimming stages with a uv rather then dosing the tank with a bunch of chemicals. Now that is harder on a tank rather then adding a uv temperory. Then you can work on getting eveything back in order. Shes not wantin to lose the fishes. And yeah tangs and puffers are ick magnets. She also needs to cut the bio load back by removing most of those fishes.