The Puffer Forum

Hi everyone, I recently got a new porcupine puffer (around 4-5”) around two weeks ago and he’s been eating from day 1 (we’re feeding him mainly small shrimp as he won’t try anything else). He’s super shy which I’m a bit concerned about as he’s always hiding in his caves that I made for him and only comes out to eat. I think he’s developed ich as he has spots all over his body but he’s still eating well. What can I do to help him be less shy and manage the ich? We’re not able to set up a QT tank and go fallow as we don’t have available tanks and systems to run one so I’m trying to feed them often and try to boost their immune system so they can maybe overcome it themselves.

The first week he was bullied by my purple tang so I decided to separate them and put the tang in timeout but even then he still doesn’t swim out. But his colors did get brighter after the separation.

What can I do to help him overcome ich and maybe get him more confident in the tank?

Tank is 150gallons (60-24-24”), there are two clownfish, one small blue tang and one purple tang. We have two toadstool leather corals and a small Kenya tree. Ammonia and nitrite is 0 but nitrate is 20 and phosphate is 0.1. We just did a water change a few days ago. Thank you so much for your help!!

Might as well treat the entire tank with the SW form of Ich-x.
Do you have lots of caves & swim-thrus for him to hide out in? In all my years of scuba diving, I rarely saw them out in the open during the daytime.

Yes we do i made him a few cave areas for him to rest in, maybe he’s just a shy puffer?

Give him time to know that he is safe & I think you'll have your very own wet puppy in no time!

Maybe this will help you bond: https://www.pufferfishenthusiastsworldw ... ngtraining

Thank you so so much for your help!!