Hootie RIP

[Capt. Nemo]

Hello to my fellow marine brothers and sisters,

I lost a dear fish friend of mine this past weekend. My beloved porcuppine puffer passed away. Both my wife and I became very attached to and fond of the little guy. His name was Hootie and he was our first fish and first pet. He was 3 months old. Ich took his life. I am now struggling with deciding if I should even continue with the hobby and get a new fish. I felt like I failed him. What I dont understand is how he could have developed ich after being ich free for 3 months. I'm just new to the hobby so correct me if I am wrong, but I thought that a fish could only contract ich from another fish. He was the only fish in my tank for 3 months along with some snails and shrimp. Where did the ich come from? I'm really confused and at a loss. Thanks for your help in enightening me on this subject.

Gary

 

[Steven Pro]

There is a possibility that your fish had ich all along, just at a non-lethal level. Or, it could have been brought in with the snails and shrimp in water.

 

[Capt. Nemo]

Thanks Steve. While Hootie was being held for me at the LFS he had developed lympho. At least this was the diagnosis of the LFS. There were 2 or 3 white cottony spots on one of the puffer's fins. I did some research here and looked at some pics and it seemed to match up with this diagnosis. The LFS surgically removed the lympho. When I got him home the lympho would come and go. The same fin would be the affected area and it was nothing that would last very long. I usually would do a water change and it seemed to clear it up. It was last week when he seemed to have a white dusting that covered his body, and one of his eyes became clouded over. Either I was in denial, but I couldnt believe that this could be ich. His breathing became heavy and he started hanging out at the top of the tank. I was afraid at first to try hyposalinity due to my inexperience and I thought I might kill him with the hypo. I finally decided that this would be his best chance of surviving, but he only last a few hours in the hospital tank. Is it possible that the lympho was really ich all along? I'm almost certain that it was lympho. I do agree that its very possible that the ich could have been brought in by one of the snails or shrimp. I quarantined the puffer but not the inverts.

 

[Steven Pro]

The other possibility is that it had ich and Lymphocystis.