Figure Eight Puffer - Urgent.

[amelia]

Alright, so I've caught the "puffer bug" that seems to be going around. While I went to wal-mart today to look at fish and help my friend pick out paint for his guitar, I ended up snatching one of two puffers left. While the label said "Spotted green puffer," the fish look more like pictures I've seen of figure eight puffers. I only bought one, because I know they are solitary fish. It's fins are ragged and it does have ick, and I have already set up a 10 gallon tank with an already used filter to boost the cycle for it. I will be planting the aquarium and adding driftwood so it can have a happy home. My question is this:

What is the best cure for ick on puffers, since they have no scales? Is Quick-Cure acceptable? Or Parasite Clear?

Are Figure Eight Puffers REALLY freshwater puffers, as I've read on many internet sites?

How big do they get? Will the ten gallon be big enough or will I need to upgrade later on?

I have added the directed dosage of aquarium salt to the mix of things. Should I add more or do I need to add sea salt (specifically packaged for saltwater aquarium purposes.) ?

I know I need to feed snails. Are there other critters that they can eat? Will they eat ghost shrimp?

What kind of basic fish food should my fish be fed?

Can I put a small plecostomus (dwarf bristlenose or rubber lipped, maybe?) or corydoras catfish with it for obvious purposes, or do I need to find other means of keeping the tank clean?

Anything else that you can think to add, please do. I am VERY willing to learn about keeping a puffer, and I am willing to keep it alone in a decent sized home that it can be comfortable in. I want this fish to be happy just as much as I want my other fish to be happy. I think it has the potential to be a great, fun, and rewarding fish, and I want to reward it with a happy life.

Thank you very much!

EDIT: Can MELAFIX be used to help aid the healing of the fish's torn fins? Will it hurt him? What dosage should be used? If Quick Cure can be used for the ICK, what dosage?

[Scuba Kid]

figure eights are BRACKISH puffers. no matter what sites say, they will be their happiest in light brackish conditions (a salinity of about 1.005). this means SEA SALT such as instant ocean or coralife. quick-cure is fine, you just need to lower the dosage because it is a scaleless fish. it will need snails to help grind down it's forever growing teeth. a 10 gallon is sufficient, because they only get to be about 3 inches. it will probably eat ghost shrimp and they love bloodworms, blackworms, and brineshrimp. figure eights aren't really too picky. these are probably the least aggressive puffers and wont mind most tank mates (usually). melafix should help a great deal for torn fins.

[fishboy]

1.)first off ich will die if you raise the temper to i think 89 but i don't know if the puffer could take that. The meds will work i believe

2.)Figure 8s like 1.005 saltinity brackish

3.)internet resources say they get either 3" or 6". Some believe there are 2 varieties. If it's under or equal to 3" a 10 is good, but if it does get bigger , a 20-30 would be better

4.)not sure

5.)snails (no MTS), ****les, and shrimp(that answers the ghost shrimp question)

6.)Staple food of bloodworn or blackworm few inverts every day/few days. Brine shimp don't have alot of nutrition so I'd avoid them

7.)find other means, puffers are mean. Sometimes fish with armor will work though, figure 8s are sometimes said to be semi-compatible

i no what your thinking, i got the puffer bug to but for dwarf puffers although before then(lucky for you) i did alot of research on all puffers from FW to BW to SW. i don't know about melafix, if the puffer is that bad it's worth a try i bet it will work. Be careful sometimes figure eights also get mixed up with a certian kind of SW puffer which look just like them

Edit:Katie posted most of this info while i was typing

[fishboy]

just wondering, how's he doing and whats his name?

Also if you can PM pufferpunk

[amelia]

He's doing fine right now--Two days down.. Hopefully a few years more to follow!
I'm going to try to get some information on setting up a brackish tank and I'm going to try to make it to petco or Travellers (Who's owner specializes in saltwater, but could probably answer my brackish questions) to get what I need. He doesn't have a name yet.. still debating.