figure eight puffer with posable Ich

[John-Solo]

figure eight puffer with posable cotton mouth and Ich

I have a 30g planted tank, with 4 bolivian rams, 5 neon tetras, and a bristle nose pleco. Two days (9/13/13) ago I picked up a Figure eight puffer from my LFS form a batch that they had just got in stock the day before. Now, I dont usually do this I like see that the fish are ok and not sick after shipping but the last time they sold out very fast and this one looked in good shape.

I added the puffer to my tank and have been treating the tank with Melafix just in case he had something. yesterday I saw a crusty looking white patch on his nose, and now today I saw one white spot on his back and the thing on his nose is worse. I think the spot on his back maybe Ich but the thing on his nose I dont know. he is still eating and swimming fine.

I have used the Melafix for three days. I have started adding aquarium salt (the SG is 1.005 right now) and am raising the temp to 85'F. The LFS said that the spot maybe Ich and the thing on his nose maybe cotton mouth. I dont know. they sold me two different meds they said adding salt and raising the temp wont help with both. "Voogle" (ultimate Immune Booster) and "Ich-x" and the two meds.

I dont what to add to many meds to the tank if I dont have to. should I keep with the salt and temp? or should I use these? Iv added the best video I could get of the little guy if you need more pics let me know. please let me know what you guys think. thanks

 

[John-Solo]

oh ya, both me and my LFS tested my water and its all good: ph 7.6, Ammonia 0ppm, N02- 0ppm, N03- 20ppm. the tank has been running with fish in it for about a year. I have not done a water change in 4 days and I have a emperor 400 filter. I added a few photos.

 

[Terrance]

I'm not too informative about fish disease, but I usually see ich as a bunch of white specs. Your big white patch look more like a fungal or bacterial infection on the exterior skin.

Melafix is usually used after a fish sustains an open wound (such as tail or body bites to the puffer or from the puffer). I think you should look for medication for fungal/bacterial infection to the exterior skin.

 

[John-Solo]

Thanks! I checked on him just now and it looks like the whit speck on his back that I thought was Ich is gone so I guess raising the temp with the salt helped with that. I was planing on doing a water change then starting with the meds the LFS gave me for fungal infections and see how that goes. Do you think I should keep the temp up at 85'F and keep the salt up for a few more days?

 

[Terrance]

i think its good to keep the salt level up for a few days since fw weakens a f8's immune system.

not sure about the heat.

 

[flitabout]

I would stop the salt it isn't good for that pleco, tetras tolerate it better but it isn't really great for them either. Keep the temp up for 10 days and then bring it down a degree an hour at a time just like you raised it so you don't stress the fish. Just make sure that any meds you use are safe for all of the different types of fish you have in your tank.

 

[John-Solo]

I just finished the water change and put in the first round of meds for the fungal infection. I will keep the temp up and check back in to let you guys know how hes doing in a few days. If theres anything els you guys can think I should do please let me know. thanks again!

 

[John-Solo]

ok sorry it took me so long to post a status update. The puffers doing fine, I kept the temp at 86*F for a total of 7 days and used the fungal infection meds. on day three I noticed that the white spot on his back was gone, the spot on his nose was starting to look better but was still there. on day 5 the spot on his nose was almost gone and he started glass surfing a lot. by day 7 I could barley see the spot on his nose and he was still glass surfing pretty hard so I decided to start droping the temp back to 79*F over about 2 days. now hes swimming around the tank and eating fine, I havnt seen any signs of the spot on his nose returning so I guess hes in the clear! thanks again for the help.