Worried for my GSP's and their home.

Oh no! Sick fish?! Come here and see if someone can help!
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Read this before posting!!

Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.

1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.

2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.

3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)

4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.

5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.

We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.

While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.

Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
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Re: Worried for my GSP's and their home.

Post by Nuclear_Glitter »

Oh I can completely understand. I'm very hopeful you can find a setup that will work. Perhaps you will have to find one that's slightly smaller for now, and then sell it when you have a bit more money and upgrade to a larger size. Just try and get everything you can to start getting the tank more finished and working a bit better for the puffers.
"Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal." -- Henry Ford
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puffykid
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Re: Worried for my GSP's and their home.

Post by puffykid »

I like your tank set up. I would suggest getting a few powerheads and face them at the LR you have to help with the filtration, plus I've noticed that my gsp likes to swim against it's current. Also you don't need to apologize for learning and asking questions.
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Re: Worried for my GSP's and their home.

Post by RTR »

Am I mis-reading this thread? If he is till using a FW test kit it will not read accurately. Even if the test chemistry is the same, the reading chart is not. Without data that is real, we have no real idea what the tank is doing.

Phosphate is a nutrient. It is required for both plant and animal (including fish) life. Excess can promote algae blooms, but that is not death. The LFS staff, as is common, are idiots, fools, or trying to sell you things.
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Re: Worried for my GSP's and their home.

Post by sgtmyers88 »

RTR wrote:Am I mis-reading this thread? If he is till using a FW test kit it will not read accurately. Even if the test chemistry is the same, the reading chart is not. Without data that is real, we have no real idea what the tank is doing.

Phosphate is a nutrient. It is required for both plant and animal (including fish) life. Excess can promote algae blooms, but that is not death. The LFS staff, as is common, are idiots, fools, or trying to sell you things.
Thanks for clearing that up.

As for the tank upgrade situation I think I may settle for this one: http://oklahomacity.craigslist.org/for/2994288314.html
A LFS in another town an hour from where I live is going out of business and they are selling off their 150G long show tank for $300.
WARNING: Puffers are mischievous little blimps with enchanting powers. You may not be content with having just one.
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sgtmyers88
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Re: Worried for my GSP's and their home.

Post by sgtmyers88 »

Aquarium has stabilized... water is crystal clear as well!
WARNING: Puffers are mischievous little blimps with enchanting powers. You may not be content with having just one.
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Re: Worried for my GSP's and their home.

Post by Nuclear_Glitter »

Definitely get a Saltwater test kit. And keep looking around for a better tank =]
"Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal." -- Henry Ford
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