Porcupine Puffer with Ich?

[jawaiianmon]

We've had this puffer for about a year and it has been a voracious eater up until about a month ago when it stopped eating. It's favorite food is frozen table shrimp, but we varied its diet with clams on the halfshell, crabs, and the occasional snail.

The tank is a six foot 125 with a 55 gallon sump. There is a good amount of rock in the DT, but there are no other fish in the tank. Nitrates have been high, but I have brought them down to around 30 with water changes.

The puffer isn't breathing heavy and it is very active (and interactive) around the tank. I recently noticed small white specks on its fins, but I cannot find anything on the rest of it. I've taken many pictures and zoomed in on them fairly close, but only the fins have the specks. One other odd thing I've noticed is the puffer's vision doesn't seem to be as sharp lately. It can spot us when we are watching it, so it swims back and forth for us, but sometimes the puffer doesn't seem to notice rockwork or the tank glass and will bump into it. I notice no fogging or discoloration of the puffer's eyes- just the normal blue speckles.

My LFS suggested flukes might be the cause of the appetite change when I spoke with him a few weeks ago, so I dosed PraziPro last Friday and was going to dose round two tomorrow or Friday. I have Cupramine and Copper Power on hand. I have an API copper test and today I received a Hanna copper checker.

I have been reading porcupine puffer ich treatment posts for a week now, but I thought I would ask the forum for advice before I proceed. This puffer does not like being netted or removed from its tank, and I will be leaving the tank fallow to rid it of ich, so my preference is to place the puffer in a QT, slowly ramp up Cupramine or Copper Power to a therapeutic level, and allow the puffer to remain in there for 30 days. After that, if there are no signs of ich, I would monitor the puffer until the fallow tank is ready for the fish to return home.

Any thoughts regarding Cupramine vs Copper Power, and would you please check out the attached photos to see if you concur that it is ich on the puffer's fins?

Thank you.

[/url]IMG_7456 by Rob Fischer, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url]IMG_7454 by Rob Fischer, on Flickr[/IMG]

 

[Dmorty217]

A spot or two only on the fins isn’t ich. Finish the PP treatment and see if anything changes. What was the last wet thing you added to the tank?

 

[jawaiianmon]

I added a "bumpy red and black starfish" a few months before the puffer stopped eating. The starfish and the puffer ignore each other. The nitrates were high around that time, but water changes have brought them down to around 30. Since the hunger strike I've added snails and blue leg hermits to clean the tank and possibly entice the puffer to eat.

I tried to feed the puffer krill and clams today and yesterday, but it didn't seem to be able to see them and wouldn't eat them when I gently nudged them against its mouth.


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[Sweeper13]

Like Dortmy said finish the PP. Keep an eye on him if it is ich, then move to qt. I have a dogface puffer that bumps into rock work, but still eats. All my other fish in the same tank are fine. Porcs do get stressed out. Is there another fish in the tank that's harassing him?

 

[jawaiianmon]

This is the only fish in a 125. Porcupine, starfish, snails, tiny blue leg crabs, and live rock. There's a 55 gallon sump with a skimmer and macroalgae.

I'll continue to monitor. Thank you.


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[Dmorty217]

Ich won’t come in on a starfish since the cyst stage can’t develop into a “cyst” (tomont) on something that is alive ie starfish, coral, hermit but can on a frag plug or hermit shell.

 

[jawaiianmon]

Ich won't come in on a starfish since the cyst stage can't develop into a "œcyst" (tomont) on something that is alive ie starfish, coral, hermit but can on a frag plug or hermit shell.

Yes, I am aware.


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