The Puffer Forum

It's been a tough road but my puffer has somehow pulled through and water parameters are nearly perfect! The nitrites are finally 0, though there are still some nitrates but they are in the "safe" zone. Thanks for all the advice! My little puffer seems much happier.

Hallelujah!! The amonia is finally GONE! I went to a specialty store and the guy recommened this new stuff called Safe Start. It's a bacteria similar to the Bio-Spira, he said, and I put it in Friday and the amonia is gone today! I'm so happy! Now I just have to work on getting the nitrates and nit...

I live in the US. I stopped by the store but they did not have Bio-Spira, so in the meantime I picked up a bacteria called Biozyme. Does anyone know if it is any good? If I continue with my water changes, does this disrupt the effectivness of the bacteria? I'm getting desperate. I don't want my dau...

Where is Bio-Spira available?

It had was running about a week. I did a water change, though, and the amonia is way down. Thanks for the advice. I think I may have accidentally killed some of the established bacteria when I added salt too quickly. So I added what was suggested, and things seem better. I only hope they stay that ...

My puffer was doing so well! He recently had ick and was hiding at the bottom of the tank all day, but it finally passed and he finally seems happy. Alas, another problem has arisen. An amonia problem. I was appaled to find it as high a 3.0 this morning. I quickly did a water change, added some Amm...

I started treatment yesterday, and today my little puff was out exploring all day! Perhaps he is beginning to feel better.

There are spots on his fins, too. The articles had some good advice, but one of them mentioned something I didn't understand. It said to lower salinity to 1.009 in order to kill the parasites. But then how does ick survive in freshwater without any salinity at all? My salinity is only about 1.006 (...

It's good to hear that is normal for them to hide, but now I am worried - I was looking more closely at my little puffer when I was feeding him, and noticed tiny white specks all over his body. I thought there was no way it could possibly be ick, but then I notcied too that he was scratching himsel...