Puffers with ICH

[Jordon]

ok i woke up this afternoon and saw that my dogface puffer is cuvered in whitye spots along with a few spots on my 2 valentini puffers. I put in the proper amount of rid-ich but is there a good chance all my fish will die? I'm getting rid of the Dogface tomorrow (I believe hes the source of the problem).

 

 

PLEASE HELP!

[Six]

Hi Jordon-

 

Sorry to hear your friends are sick. There's usually a core reason why your fish are sick.

 

Could you give us some information on your tank?

 

Size?

Fish and their sizes?

do you have live rock?

filtration?

skimmer?

 

next, complete a few simple water tests, usually free at the nearest LFS:

pH

KH

nitrate

ammonia

nitrite (not toxic, but will enlighten us to other problems)

tank temperature

specific gravity ('SG')

 

how long has the tank been set up?

have you added any new fish?

what do you feed?

have you had any temperature changes in the tank?

 

we can help, just give us some more detailed info.

 

[Jordon]

45 gallon established tank for over a year.2 valentini puffer 1yr. old spotted toby 1yr. old, tamato clown 2 mounths old, Huma Huma Trigger 1 mounth old, Dogfaced puffer 5 days old. I believe hes the couse of the outbreak. Hes going to the lfs tomorrow.

 

is it likely my huma and other fish will die?

[Six]

your tank is a tad overstocked. its probably the stress of the environment that got them sick.

 

your lfs lets you take in sick fish? hrm. well if they let you, go for it. i'd suggest getting rid of 1 or two more.

 

if you can control the environment a little more, either get rid of some fish or really buckle down and keep the water quality looking pristine (which means water changes, filter cleanings, and strict feeding) oyu'll be OK. if not, you could have compounding issues with the other fish.

most people dont want to do that many water changes- with "dirty" fishes such as puffers and triggers its a lot of cleaning- so reducing the number of fish is best.

 

do you have a water test so i can tell you more?

[Jordon]

Are they going to die?

[Six]

if you dont reduce the number of fish and do some water changes, yes they could in a very short period of time.

 

unless of course you give me some water test results!

 

ich is a parasite. it infests stressed fish. it's always in the water it just matters if the fish's immune system is healthy enough to fight it off. yours are not and there has to be a reason why they are stressed. it's probably aggression from tankmates and lack of space or from the water quality.

 

without knowing the water quality, i can only tell you it's the former. but please, for the sake of the fish, go to the nearest pet/co, smart, mart -whatever!- and get the water tests listed above. without them we have no idea how bad the situation is.

[Jordon]

the problem i have is that my friend gave me his fish to take care of while he is away for a year and all of the fish are his, with exception to the huma huma and the dogface so i'm getting rid of the dogface and thats all because i cant get rid of his fish.

[DementedLullaby]

A trigger in a 45g isn't a very wise stocking choice IMO, same goes for the dog face. The others are fine.

[Jordon]

A trigger in a 45g isn't a very wise stocking choice IMO, same goes for the dog face. The others are fine.

 

 

The trigger is just a baby about 5 inches and is going to be moved into a larger tank and the dogface is going to the lfs tomorrow.

 

 

 

But now i have another problem! My fish are breathing vary rapidly and im not sure what the cause of this is. My tank is getting over ich and i had been putting in Rid-Ich for the last 2 days. I also just changed the water thinging that could help the filtration of the water, cleaned my live rock, and cleaned out the filter.

 

 

What is the problem?

[Six]

water sample?

[Jordon]

Well i finally got my tank back on track. I bought: Seachem Prime, Sea Buffer, Seachem Purgigen and TLC which is the equivalint of Biospira.

 

My tank couldnt't be happier : )