The Puffer Forum

I was so mad at the pet shop I went there today and told them he had also given my baby cichlids ick. They advised me to immediatly put chemicals treating ick in the tanks. Since i just moved the puffer to its own brakish tank and raised the temp I hope he will be okay I also bought some melafix and added to his tank becasue it said on the melafix not to water change for 7 days I also bought ammo chips to reduce the ammonia as the tank was not cycled and the puffer had to be removed from the big tank asap. Is all this okay? And my cichlids I have raised the temp to 86 degress and added aquarium salt in order to speed up the life cycle of the ick and hopfully kill it with the salt added ammo chips to it to cause all of the sudden the ammonia spiked in it and added melafix to it. All fishys are eating fine but you can tell they are stressed. Yesterday I cange 25% of both tanks and resalted the frsh water before adding any ammo chips or melafix. The puffer however this morn had a raised discolored spot on him and when i got home from work the spot looks kinds cotteny now. OHHHH please help me. i am frakin out. I got up every 2 hrs last night to check on all of them to make sure they were ok.

Do NOT use the ammo chips. Use Prime instead to declor the water and detoxify the ammonia and nitrites. Chemicals are NOT needed to treat ich, all you need is heat and salt (1-2 tablespoons per 5 gallons). Melafix is not for treating ich. It can help prevent problems from the would left when the parasite detatch from the fish but does nothing for the ich itself.

The pet shop ia the one how told me about the amonia chips. Prob cause they had a lack of anything elsa. I also bought jungle ammona tablets would this be better in a 911 sitiuation

Pet shops will tell you all sorts of things that are garbage. Ammonia tablets are just as bad as the ammonia chips. All you need is Prime. Anything else is going to interfere with the biological cycle and will end up killing your fish.

Do large water changes (80-90%) & re-add the Melafix after each WC.

I hate how lfs will do any thing for a sale including endangering your fish. I wonder if its ignorance or that they just dont care.

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