Amazon Puffer ich question

BillyMaysChickenWings

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Feb 15, 2020
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It is Thanksgiving, and there is much to be grateful for. However, there's one thing I'm not so grateful for, that being ich. Now, we all get ich every now and then, and you know. It's kind of scary at first, but if you treat it in time it'll be gone in a matter of days. Though, on the contrary, this time around I have an Amazon Puffer in my infected tank, which as keepers of that species would know, it, like all puffers, is very susceptible to ich (hence why it was SEVERAL more spots than many of the other fish combined) and, to make matters worse is very susceptible to copper. A QT tank is pretty much my last resort, so I've dosed my tank with proper portions of herbal ich treatment and garlic. My questions are:

1. How long might it take to treat? I know the herbal stuff (and garlic for that matter) can sometimes take longer than copper
2. The ich is rather mild thus far, so if I continue to treat it at the recommended pace, do you think my puffer will be okay?
3. According to thebrackishtank (Which is a blog I suggest some of you to check out,) APs enjoy a salinity anywhere from full freshwater to brackish at about 1.005. Do you think it would help to do a "brackish dip"? (Idk if fresh-brackish dips work the same way as salt-to-fresh. I don't really know much about saltwater, all I know is that I've heard of freshwater dips for various parasites. Plus the puffer is a more estuarine fish than some tankmates)
 
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Deadeye

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It is true that SAPs are brackish tolerant. In theory it wouldn’t hurt to do a brackish did before moving him into the qt, would work the same as a freshwater dip. It would help to clean some of the ich off the puffer. Keep doing what you are doing otherwise, I would follow the instructions on the bottle for the herbal stuff, I’m pretty sure it’s about two weeks. As long as you do everything right the puffer has a good chance. From what I know SAPs are one of the more disease tolerant puffers.
 

kno4te

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Add the salt to the main tank and not as a dip. Increase your temp to 86. A degree per hour. Keep like this atleast a week after the last spot has disappeared.
 

Deadeye

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Sorry to hear. Puffers are bad with disease. ?
 

fishguy1978

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?
 

Fat Homer

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I wonder if there was some other underlying problem with the fish? Unless the ich itself was really really bad...

either way, dont give up on puffers if you like them as they are truly rewarding fish to keep once you get them nice and healthy...
 
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