Puffer and Ich

[felipe]

My puffer has white ich all over his body and fins. I got a formalin bath prepared and dipped him. He immediatly puffed up, so I put him back in the display tank. I don't have a QT tank.
It has been half an hour and he is still puffed up. Do I put him back in the formalin bath?
Please help. I don't want him to die.
Thanks,
Felipe

 

[seannmelly]

Originally Posted by Felipe
My puffer has white ich all over his body and fins. I got a formalin bath prepared and dipped him. He immediatly puffed up, so I put him back in the display tank. I don't have a QT tank.
It has been half an hour and he is still puffed up. Do I put him back in the formalin bath?
Please help. I don't want him to die.
Thanks,
Felipe
I hope you didn't take him out of water and expose him to air :scared: . If you did, there's a good chance that he has ingested air and might die. It's not good to take puffers out of the water ESPECIALLY when they are puffed up

 

[felipe]

Can I squeeze him lightly and get the air out?

 

[seannmelly]

Originally Posted by Felipe
Can I squeeze him lightly and get the air out?
If you want I guess. But I wouldn't there's not much you can do. Deff don't dip him again he is stressed enough. I have seen a puffer taken out of the water when he's puffed up and he is still living today. But I have seen puffers die from being taken out of the water. Them puffing up in general isn't good. Sometimes they can't get the air out of themselves and die simply b/c they don't know how to deflate

 

[felipe]

He deflated and is swimming fine now. However he still has ich, and I don't want him to die from that. What can I do?
Thanks,
Felipe

 

[seannmelly]

Originally Posted by Felipe
He deflated and is swimming fine now. However he still has ich, and I don't want him to die from that. What can I do?
Thanks,
Felipe
Tomarrow if all is well w/ him(he's still swimming around and happy) go ahead and dip him again. Try to do it in something big enough where it wont stress him out like a 10 gallon tank. When you take him out of you're tank DO NOT take him out of the water. Use like a cool whip container or tupperware container. When u use formulin make sure u use an air stone for oxygen to make the dip effective.

 

[felipe]

Sean,
thanks for all the help.
I did a formalin bath in freshwater on a 5 gallon bucket with only 1 galon of water in it. I wanted to keep him there for 2-3 minutes max, but took him out immediately after he puffed up.
If I don't treat the ich, will he certainly die? Or can he recover all by himself?
Also, to be perfectly honest, i am not 100% sure if it is ich. it definately looks like it, white spots the size of a salt grain all over his body and fins, but I remember him looking like that about a month ago.
Felipe

 

[seannmelly]

Originally Posted by Felipe
Sean,
thanks for all the help.
I did a formalin bath in freshwater on a 5 gallon bucket with only 1 galon of water in it. I wanted to keep him there for 2-3 minutes max, but took him out immediately after he puffed up.
If I don't treat the ich, will he certainly die? Or can he recover all by himself?
Also, to be perfectly honest, i am not 100% sure if it is ich. it definately looks like it, white spots the size of a salt grain all over his body and fins, but I remember him looking like that about a month ago.
Felipe
If you don't treat the ich, he can get a secondary infection. They develope an extra slime coat that makes them look like they have a white film on then and their eyes can get cloudy white. It is also can be a syptom of a parasite. If there are white things on him that look like grains of salt, then it is ich. Most of the time, if you can sucessfully treat a puffer and he gets over ich he should be fine. What are your water paramaters?? Size of tank? How long do you keep your lights on and other livestock?
Melly

 

[felipe]

Tank is 55
Parameters
Amonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10
pH 8.1
Salinity 1.023
Water temp: 80
Livestock:
1 Tomato Clown
1 Long nose puffer
1 Clown Goby
1 Red Weaver Sandperch
1 Mexican turbo Snail
1 Turbo snail
1 Tiger Cowrie Snail
1 Coral Banded Shrimp
1 Sally Light Foot Crab
1 Serpent Starfish
1 Emerald Crab
1 Tonga Fighting conch
Various blue legged hermits
Various red legged hermits
1 Sand sifting star
1 Arrow Crab
Corals
Xenia
Green Zoos
Orange Zoos
Mushrooms
Plants
Chaeto brillo pad algae
Caulerpa plant
Money plant
I had a big parasitic infectio that killed 6 out of the 9 fish I had about 3 weeks ago. The 3 fish i have now are what is left of that infection. The clown goby I added 3 days ago - not knowing I had ich.
Felipe

 

[felipe]

Oh, and I keep my lights on ( 192W odyssea PC) about 14 hours/day.
Felipe

 

[seannmelly]

Originally Posted by Felipe
Oh, and I keep my lights on ( 192W odyssea PC) about 14 hours/day.
Felipe
That is prolly it right there. In my old 90 gallon tank, I had a parasite outbreak that killed ALL of my fish and we have a UV sterilizer. We used formulin and they died the next day. I was asked how long we kept our lights on, and it was just about as long as you keep yours on and they said that could have been it. Your fish need to sleep. With the lights on all the time, they can get stressed out from not being able to sleep. When a fish is stressed, it makes them get parasites and infections easier b/c its always in the water it's just a matter of time until a fish gets stressed and weak enough for it to be attacked by a parasite.
You can keep your actinics on for 10-12 hours and your suns 6-8 hours tops. That should help in the long run.
If it's the sharp nose puffer, I've noticed they get upset and puff up rather easily. When we get shipments in at work, just dumping them in the tanks makes them puff up

 

[felipe]

Yes, it is the sahrp nose puffer.
The way my lights are set up, I can only turn both bulbs on at the same time.
Do I have to slowly lower the amount of lights starting tomorow or can i cut it down immediately?
For the next few days, would it help to keep them only on for 6 hours total?
Thanks much,
Felipe

 

[seannmelly]

Originally Posted by Felipe
Yes, it is the sahrp nose puffer.
The way my lights are set up, I can only turn both bulbs on at the same time.
Do I have to slowly lower the amount of lights starting tomorow or can i cut it down immediately?
For the next few days, would it help to keep them only on for 6 hours total?
Thanks much,
Felipe
Deff cut down the amount of time your lights are on. I'm not saying it's going to miraculously cure your puffer but it could be the source of your problems now and 3 weeks ago when you said you had an outbreak. IT will help in the long run but it's not going to cure ich. If they are both on the same switch 7 hours tops. Put it on a timer so you dont have to worry about it. I know that u love seeing stuff in ur tank but, ur fishies need to sleep!!! Treat ur puffer if he seems like he's still doing ok aside from ich and cut back on the lights

 

[felipe]

I will make sure the lights are only on 7 hs. tops from now on.
How can I dip him again without taking him completely out of the water? Even if I use a container to get him out and onto the formalin bath, how can I get him out of there without exposing him to air and at the same time not using the formalin bath water?
If he puffs up in the formalin, do I immediately remove him?
Thanks,
Felipe

 

[seannmelly]

Originally Posted by Felipe
I will make sure the lights are only on 7 hs. tops from now on.
How can I dip him again without taking him completely out of the water? Even if I use a container to get him out and onto the formalin bath, how can I get him out of there without exposing him to air and at the same time not using the formalin bath water?
If he puffs up in the formalin, do I immediately remove him?
Thanks,
Felipe
When I dipped my puffer, I used 2 containers. I had one w/ tank water and the other i scooped the puffer out of the dip w/. You kinda gotta get him to the edge ur pooring into the container w/ tank water and pour him in w/ the smallest amount of dip water as you can. It can get tricky. If you feel u put too much dip water in w/ the container w/ the tank water fill another container w/ tank water and do the same thing. I don't know if i would try dipping him again if he puffed up the first time though...you can try it. Another method is a freshwater dip. Use freshwater, same temp and ph as your tank water. Use an air stone for circulation and oxygen. SEarch the forum for other threads w/ freshwater dips or call ur lfs. When we dip ours, they lay down at first b/c their gills are adjusting to the different pressure the freshwater puts on them compared to the saltwater. they get up swim around. i wouldnt do it for that long. 15 min tops. If you are fairly new to formulin bath or freshwater dip, consult ur lfs and they may give you some help.
Anyone that has more experience dipping than I please respond and help