Mbu Puffer advice needed...

Hey all.

Ok so I got my Mbu about a month and a half ago, no signs of parasites, about 3in long. Even after the big plane trip, everything went A-1, big apetite, moves a lot. He's in a 55g with other fish (see below), water parameters are good. Now about two weeks ago, I start seeing a few spots that look like Ich. So I let time fly by, monitoring the puffer...still very large apetite, moves a lot, no signs that it's actually bothering him.

When it got a little worst (I saw a bunch of spots, nothing crazy...), so I started using Quick Cure (Malachite Green-based). The next day he's got way more Ich dots (like the meds made the parasites bloom or something), but still is very well...active and feeding well.

I treated him for 7 days with this meds, lights off (not covered), 10% water change every couple days. During this time he fed well, didn't move much tho maybe cause of the lights off. The dots slowly disappeared... All this time, he's the only fish in the tank with Ich (3x irridescent sharks and 1x red hook silver dollar show no sign at all).

Now yesterday (last day of meds) he wasn't eating like he usually does...still ate tho, just not the same enthusiasm as usual). Tonight, he's burrying himself in the sand, still has a few ich dots here and there.

Questions:
- Is the burrying normal? He never did that before... I know puffers bury themselves, but coming from a Mbu that never did it before?
- The spots that are left over, will they just go off or should I keep up with the treatment?
- Honestly, I think he might be a little fed up of the treatment/lights off deal...so I wanted to try stopping the meds and turning the light timers on again...what do you guys say?

I just need some advice and comfort...not sure what to think anymore. This fish is really dear to me, wouldn't want to lose him.

Thanks!

Thanks guys...

One question for Oddball, when you say "The spots should disappear in a few days then, treat for another week to kill any latent ich spores still in the substrate", do you mean treat with the medication?

Thank so much for the help...much appreciated.

BTW, Oddball, another question...should I turn the lights off during this whole treatment and/or cover the tank?

Thanks bud, I don't want to add meds and don't like them at all...glad you meant to keep doing the salt treatment =)

BTW Oddball, do I have to keep adding salt like each day, or do I put in the salt once and put more when I do a water change? Sorry for all the questions, but I didn't use salt much in the past...

So did a 25% water change/gravel vac yesterday night as you suggested, added 1 tablespoon salt/gallon, already my puffer stopped burying himself up and eats more. Thanks again for the good advice, looks like this is working =)