puffer with ich

[JDogg]

as your can see from my sig i work at Petco :censor:

now i consider myself fairly knowledgeable in the FW world, and i have treated ich effectivly in FW many times (chemicaly free)

i am still a learner in the SW world... i have kept a 10 gallon nano, and am now starting on a 20L with the 10 as a sump project.

i have never until now faced ich in the SW setting.

at work we have a Diodon holacanthus, aside from not being able to get the poor guy to eat anything, he now is showing signes of ich.

what is the best way to treat ich is SW

"petco's policy" is to soak him in FW for 5-10 min twice per day. is this the best way to treat SW ich? do SW fish in the wild swim up a river get ride of ich in the wild?

what can i do to treat him, keeping in mind he is not eating and is already in a weakend condition.

thanks!

 

[Innovator]

Highly depends on what your store/manager is willing to do. Hyposalinity would be best since it doesn't affect your animals hunger negatively, but takes much longer and I doubt many stores are willing to sacrifice time vs. dollar. Cupramine would be your second best alternative and perhaps your best simply because you will eradicate the parasite without much downtime; however, it will affect hunger (makes them not want to eat). Either way, it is probably in your main system (unless you had it quarantined from the start) and in a fish-only system you'd have to treat it, which is why many dose copper (Cupramine) at a specific level. I personally do not like copper, but other than these choices you can feed garlic and beta-glucan in boosting the immune system to keep it healthy enough to make the sale or treat in a bucket for a short-term bath or quarantine it and hope the other fish don't show signs. Garlic helps stimulate appetite as does beta-glucan.

*Edit: Copper would affect all biological filtration. You are in a tough spot :|
**Double Edit: Freshwater dips may remove some of the parasites that are weakly attached to the outer skin layer, but will not to those embedded within the skin layers.

 

[melosu58]

Here are some articles to help you know more about the parasite.

Marine Ich/Cryptocaryon irritans - A Discussion of this Parasite and the Treatment Options Available, Part I by Steven Pro - Reefkeeping.com

Marine Ich/Cryptocaryon irritans - A Discussion of this Parasite and the Treatment Options Available, Part II by Steven Pro - Reefkeeping.com

 

[JDogg]

copper would probaly not be good, there are inverts in the same bank of tanks (hermit crabs, pepermint shrimp and a feather duster)

not to woried about effecting his hunger since he is not eating anyways...

petco will not let me quarenteen, but so far puffer is only on to show signes.