Spiny box puffer has ick

[musipilot]

I noticed my spiny box puffer with a large amount of white spots over his fins, all of them. I have placed him in my hospital tank that is pre-prepared, same temp as main tank, and salinity at 1.020. I'm planning on dropping the salinity .002 per day until I achieve 1.009. I'm curious as to how long I should expect him to be in there, and any other comments you guys may have. Thanks.

 

[musipilot]

I'm going for the 72...I set up a schedule to do it. I do have a hyper-accurate refractometer. Thanks for your time. Wish him luck!

 

[beth]

To answer your question, expect the treated fish to be in the treatment tank for at least a month. BTW, all fish exposed to the ick will need to be treated, not just the one with symptoms.
Start counting off 3-4 wks after all signs of ick have disappeared from the fish. At the end of this time, if all is well, begin raising your specific gravity over the course of 5-7 days back to normal. If all is well, then I would leave the fish in the hospital for another 3-6 days just for caution.

 

[musipilot]

Ok...Beth's reply has prompted some questions...do I treat them one by one? After the puffer comes back into the main tank, do I put the other occupants in there one by one? Its only a 10 gallon hosp tank, so they all can't go in there at once...

 

[musipilot]

Ah...okay...that should make for some interesting feeding times Thanks everyone for your responses.