HELP! What is on my porcupine puffer?

[Herefishyfishfishy]

I’ve had this porcupine puffer for about 6 months. In my reef tank I have 4 other fish that do not seem to be affected. I noticed these spots on my puffer 2 weeks ago. I thought it was Ich so I started treating the DT with Kick-Ich as it was recommended by our local fish store. He is still eating but is scratching on rocks still. I treated as stated on the bottle. Is this not Ich? Is it Velvet? He does not appear to have any slime on him.
Should mention I do not have a QT and I know I can’t use copper in my DT because of the rocks and coral.

 

[Herefishyfishfishy]

Here is another picture

 

[vetteguy53081]

This is crypto irritants- ich
Puffers do not do well under cupramine or string copper
Your best treatment will be copper power in a quarantine setting treating at therapeutic level 2.25-2.5 at 80 degrees and monitoring the levels with a reliable copper test kit such as Hanna- no api brand and doing this a Full 30 days
I also recommend adding an airstone for added oxygen and leaving display tank fishless for 45-60 days to allow other cysts and tromonts to go through their life cycle without a host and die off

 

[rmorris_14]

This is crypto irritants- ich
Puffers do not do well under cupramine or string copper
Your best treatment will be copper power in a quarantine setting treating at therapeutic level 2.25-2.5 at 89 degrees and monitoring the levels with a reliable copper test kit such as Hanna- no api brand and doing this a Full 30 days
I also recommend adding an airstone for added oxygen and leaving display tank fishless for 45-60 days to allow other cysts and tromonts to go through their life cycle without a host and die off

I think that temp might be a typo?

 

[MnFish1]

I think that temp might be a typo?

The Type is a typo Keep the temperature where it's at. (assumedly about 78 degrees)

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I’ve had this porcupine puffer for about 6 months. In my reef tank I have 4 other fish that do not seem to be affected. I noticed these spots on my puffer 2 weeks ago. I thought it was Ich so I started treating the DT with Kick-Ich as it was recommended by our local fish store. He is still eating but is scratching on rocks still. I treated as stated on the bottle. Is this not Ich? Is it Velvet? He does not appear to have any slime on him.
Should mention I do not have a QT and I know I can’t use copper in my DT because of the rocks and coral.

The spots on the body AND the fins points to it being marine ich. Velvet would cause rapid breathing and not feeding.
Kick Ich doesn't work for a lot of people. It apparently contains Nitroimidazole which is related to metronidazole. Trouble is, the dose is unknown, so I can't compare it to doses in my references for metronidazole. That said, metro doesn't work well for marine ich either.

Your best options are not the easy ones: copper or hyposalinity in a treatment tank for all fish, then let your display go fallow for 60 days or so.

Jay

 

[vetteguy53081]

I think that temp might be a typo?

80 degrees- fixed. FYI- I hate phone spell correct features

 

[Herefishyfishfishy]

The spots on the body AND the fins points to it being marine ich. Velvet would cause rapid breathing and not feeding.
Kick Ich doesn't work for a lot of people. It apparently contains Nitroimidazole which is related to metronidazole. Trouble is, the dose is unknown, so I can't compare it to doses in my references for metronidazole. That said, metro doesn't work well for marine ich either.

Your best options are not the easy ones: copper or hyposalinity in a treatment tank for all fish, then let your display go fallow for 60 days or so.

Jay

Thank you for the info! Could you recommend a copper treatment brand?

 

[Herefishyfishfishy]

This is crypto irritants- ich
Puffers do not do well under cupramine or string copper
Your best treatment will be copper power in a quarantine setting treating at therapeutic level 2.25-2.5 at 80 degrees and monitoring the levels with a reliable copper test kit such as Hanna- no api brand and doing this a Full 30 days
I also recommend adding an airstone for added oxygen and leaving display tank fishless for 45-60 days to allow other cysts and tromonts to go through their life cycle without a host and die off

Thank you for the info! Could you recommend a copper treatment brand?

 

[Herefishyfishfishy]

Thank you for the info! Could you recommend a copper treatment brand?

And do I add the air stone to the QT or the DT?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thank you for the info! Could you recommend a copper treatment brand?

 

[Herefishyfishfishy]

I’ve had this porcupine puffer for about 6 months. In my reef tank I have 4 other fish that do not seem to be affected. I noticed these spots on my puffer 2 weeks ago. I thought it was Ich so I started treating the DT with Kick-Ich as it was recommended by our local fish store. He is still eating but is scratching on rocks still. I treated as stated on the bottle. Is this not Ich? Is it Velvet? He does not appear to have any slime on him.
Should mention I do not have a QT and I know I can’t use copper in my DT because of the rocks and coral.

The spots on the body AND the fins points to it being marine ich. Velvet would cause rapid breathing and not feeding.
Kick Ich doesn't work for a lot of people. It apparently contains Nitroimidazole which is related to metronidazole. Trouble is, the dose is unknown, so I can't compare it to doses in my references for metronidazole. That said, metro doesn't work well for marine ich either.

Your best options are not the easy ones: copper or hyposalinity in a treatment tank for all fish, then let your display go fallow for 60 days or so.

Jay

Hi Jay,

I wanted to reach out and show some updated pics. We were out of town for the holiday and didn’t have time to get the QT tank set up before we left. So we continued to treat With the Kick ich and did a freshwater dip before we left. He started to not eat as much as he normally did. I’m attaching more photos taken today. Do you think this is still ich? Still treat with copper power (I did get that and the Hanna cooper monitor)? Will it be safe for my sixline wrasse, maroon clownfish, sailfin and coral beauty tang?
In the pictures my puffer looks more pale, seems to be breathing a little more rapid, not very active besides when he has moments of racing around the tank and swimming in the power head current, his fins are fanned out much and now it looks like the mucous layer or something is peeling off of him. All the other fish still seem fine but I know I will have to treat them all.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hi Jay,

I wanted to reach out and show some updated pics. We were out of town for the holiday and didn’t have time to get the QT tank set up before we left. So we continued to treat With the Kick ich and did a freshwater dip before we left. He started to not eat as much as he normally did. I’m attaching more photos taken today. Do you think this is still ich? Still treat with copper power (I did get that and the Hanna cooper monitor)? Will it be safe for my sixline wrasse, maroon clownfish, sailfin and coral beauty tang?
In the pictures my puffer looks more pale, seems to be breathing a little more rapid, not very active besides when he has moments of racing around the tank and swimming in the power head current, his fins are fanned out much and now it looks like the mucous layer or something is peeling off of him. All the other fish still seem fine but I know I will have to treat them all.

I replied to the other thread....

Jay