Ich on spotted Congo puffer?

[Stephen Zawacki]

Hey hall so I noticed that my spotted Congo puffer had a white spot on his head, top fin and side, he seems fine but what should I do I put ich x in the tank today, is there anything else or is it not even ich? 

[TheSwissAquarist]

Could be a fungus? @mountaintoppufferkeeper

[Stephen Zawacki]

Yeah could be I don’t know that why I started treating with ich x just in case also should I crank the temp up the tank he is currently in is 78 degrees this is a qt tank. Also should I continue to feed him while treating?
 

Edited December 11, 2022 by Stephen Zawacki

[mountaintoppufferkeeper]

Thanks @TheSwissAquarist.  Im not a meds expert but I normally do a water change first and would try the med that was most likely to solve the issue. Seem like your plan is what I would do i just follow the bottle dorections if I am actively treating. But again I am not an expert on the meds so i just go that route. 

If I feed during meds Iw will err on the side of caution and do light feedings. Meds can throw off my beneficial bacteria and its harder for me to maintain my water quality balance. It can swing quickly up here in the med situation and drastically swing if I am not careful.  I am a bit more dilligent in monitoring water quality and puffer behaviors in both QT med situations as a result. 

 

 

[Stephen Zawacki]

Ok thank you so, I understand you said your not a med expert but your info was really helpful, since I am treating with ich x should I just do that med or is there any you would recommend in addition or just do one?

[DeadStang]

So I am a total newbie at this (I vetoed getting a fish tank but my daughter spend her own money and came home with one, anyway)...after a disastrous beginning, with nitrite and ammonia elevations and stressing the fish horribly (I trusted her to do research and do the testing, etc. that was required as I did not want to add fish to the mix of houseplants, cats, dogs, work, life!), we ended up with Ich -- big surprise, right?

Anyway, I did a boatload of research and used Nox-Ich because it was what was readily available. I found that to treat Ich, one can salt the tank, raise the temperature, and chemically treat. My fish store told me never to raise the temperature AND do chemicals together, but you can salt the tank and use chemicals, or do the salt and raise the temperature. 

[Don't ask my why we have 2 tanks now in the span of 2 months -- that's another story.] Because I had a loach and a pleco in 1 tank, I treated that one with just the chemicals (Nox-Ich). The other tank had snails but "hardier" fish, so I salted and used the product as I was willing to sacrifice the snails. No temperature increase in either tank. The product told me to keep treating on a cycling schedule until I didn't see Ich on the fish any longer, but I determined that the minimum treatment period should be 2 weeks, which should cover the life cycle of the parasite at 76-78 degrees. Every treatment day (my products says 3 days on treatment, 1 day off, then repeat, repeat, until I don't see lesions on the fish), I did a 1/2-1/3 water change 1st, then treated the tank. 2 weeks ended last Thursday and my tanks appear clear.

We realized there was a problem in the delicate, unsalted tank way too late in the disease progression and the fishies were heavily affected. I had a 75% mortality in that tank, but the remaining fish appeared clear -- I treated that tank the full 2 weeks to be safe. In the salted tank, I was too much of a newbie to realize that, after salting, if I was going to take 25% water out each day I treated, I needed to add 25% salt back to the new water so it was only salted once, initially (perhaps that's my my snails all made it?). Anyway, I had a hideously affected blue cichlid in that tank and he lived and cleared the parasite within 10 days or so, but I also treated that tank the full 2 weeks. It hasn't been many days since I stopped treatment, but that tank seems to be doing well and I don't see any new lesions developing on these fish and have stopped treatment.

I did feed my fish all thru the treatment period. One apparent predictor of how the fish were doing was whether they would actually eat. Those that did eat didn't die, which I guess just means they felt well enough to eat. Those that wouldn't eat ended up dying.

I know it's a different product with different directions, but I would think the treatment interval should be similar?

 

[Colu]

With ich you want to treat for three days after you see the last spots and add a small amount of aquarium salt 1 table spoon for 5 gallons it will add essential electrolytes as ich causes massive electrolyte loss 

[Stephen Zawacki]

Ok thank you, although isn’t salt bad for puffers since they are scaless?

[Colu]

On 12/13/2022 at 5:52 PM, Stephen Zawacki said:

Ok thank you, although isn’t salt bad for puffers since they are scaless?

In small amounts it's fine 

Edited December 14, 2022 by Colu

[Stephen Zawacki]

Ok thank you