I have been keeping porcupine puffers for years and this species is another ick-magnet, like so many tangs. The only way I've had any success keeping one ick-free is when I have a UV sterilizer on its tank. Once I had one that we had for years and it was healthy, but I pulled its UV to put on a tank with a powder blue tang, and sure enough, within a week or two, Poofie developed ick.
UV will help reduce the number of ick spores in the water as long as it is used correctly (i.e. good bulb, high enough wattage, slow water flow = longer disinfection time) and that is what it did for Poofie. When I took the UV off Poofie's tank, the poor guy got icky next time he was stressed. Up till then he'd been ick-free for over a year.
As others have stated, UV should never be considered a cure-all or even that effective as a cure once your tank is heavily infested. Too often the fish will be too far gone and the ick will be too prevalent in your display tank for the UV to work as you hope. However, as a component of an overall ick-prevention program, my own experience has shown me that a good UV sterilizer (high wattage, low flow) has a place in it. I now keep one on my puffer tank at all times and its kept the puffer ick-free (knock on wood, knock on wood).
I know several reefers I respect who swear by UV and others who are completely convinced UV is useless in a reef system. Each reefer has to decide for themselves whether a UV is something they want to invest in.
Anthony
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