NEW GSP OWNER / STRESSED AND UNHAPPY FISH?

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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kimmy13x
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NEW GSP OWNER / STRESSED AND UNHAPPY FISH?

Post by kimmy13x »

** quick little bit: i wrote this last night but am posing it today. it’s really long so slim if needed. i’ll take all the advice i can get. thank you in advance <3**

HELLO!

My name is kimmy and this is my first post here on the forum. I’ve found so much useful information here and finally have decided to get into the action because I’m having a bit of a predicament. I currently have 4 tanks.
A 5.5 gal for breeding snails or using for growing fry etc. A 10 gallon freshwater hospital/birthing tank for our mommas or if we come across any sick fish. A 30 gallon tank that was formally our main freshwater community tank, and has now been converted to the home of my babies: 3 GSPs. And finally our newest, our 45 gallon freshwater community tank!

As you already know my predicament is in my 30 gallon. The first time I saw a GSP i fell in love and knew i needed to have one. upon further research i then discovered how finnicky these little guys are. i did tons of research on all their needs nd started getting my tank ready. i filled it with sand as the substrate so it would be soft for its little tummy. i got sea salt and kept adding until my salinity was just right (the store i bought from had them brackish already) i cycles the tank with quickstart and stress coat for several days before going out to get the little guy.

I originally had decided on only one because of my tank size and i got just that. I also originally wanted to start with him very small but at that time the store only had larger ones (about 1-1 1/2 inches) so i chose my favorite and brought him home. (DATE: JAN 15) He started out skiddish. he didn’t really like coming up to the glass when i was there but i figured it was fine and he just needed to get comfy. I was feeding him frozen brine shrimp and he usually took a few seconds to realize it was there but ate fine when he did see it. i tried freeze dried krill and frozen plankton and he wasn’t too fond of either. then i found that his favorite was bloodworms. it took him much less time to realize the food was there once i was giving him that! he remained shy and glass surfed a bit. i tried sitting next to the tank and getting him comfy with me but he still was very cautious. he def got better at not instantly farting away when i walked up after a few days which i was happy about but then i seen that the glass surfing was becoming something he was doing non stop. i didn’t know why my water was fine he had a decorated tank etc. (i want to mention here that he went grey sometimes but usually was white while glass surfing)

This is when i decided maybe he needed a friend. i thought about trying other species like the bumblebee gobbies or trying to throw some mollies in there. He didn’t seem super aggressive so i was thinking maybe it could work. I went to the fish store on saturday (DATE: JAN 27) i explained my situation and was also considering another GSP bc if nudging from my family but i was weary of this bc of my tank size. This time my store had tons of them all small like i had originally wanted. They also still had 2 bigger ones from the previous batch . The worker had said he owned some and advised they do need some social aspect.. and if i did want more GSP aside from my original one (HIS NAME IS CHIP BTW) i should probably get two so it wouldn’t be potential one on one aggression. now the question was do i get one more larger one? one large one small? two small? one small?

i decided on 2 small and was super scared to add them to the tank bc of the possible fighting. this same day i also switched out a lot of the decorations in the tank to attempt to give Chip a new environment to explore and discourage the 24/7 glass surfing. I put their bags in the tank and let them go about 15 min later. (also added stress coat) It seemed like Chip didn’t even care. there was no attacking or fighting then and there. later that night one of the little ones did kinda start some stuff. it looked like he was just being nippy. (THATS NOW HIS NAME, NIPPY: ONE OF THE SMALLER THE ONE WITH THE MORE PROMINENT LEOPARD PRINT ON HIS BACK TAIL) he stopped and i don’t really see him doing this much anymore.

My problem was the next day i woke up and had Chip and Nippy both on the bottom of the tank curled up in little balls looking very stressed. i rushed to the store (DATE JAN 28) to explain and with the intention of picking up some Prime thinking maybe the water wasn’t great (they were out of stock of course) the worker advised i put this filter bag in my filter with carbon and such to help reduce ammonia etc. i asked if i should do a water change bc my nitrates were at 40 but he said no because i had done one on the wednesday prior (JAN 24) he suggested putting the filter bag and adding stress coat then adding prime of things didn’t look better soon. i did just that and added prime either the next day or the day after that.

i have some videos and pictures i took with me explaining some of this stuff again with the dates included and just showing how they are acting and such. at the moment i’m sitting in front of my tank with two very sad looking puffers. Skip is the only one looking fine but he’s also glass surfing (SKIP IS MY THIRD GSP ALSO ONE OF THE TWO SMALLER ONES). they come to eat when i feed them but they seem very upset most of the day and i’m very worried. i’ve started to be very adamant at cleaning out the uneaten food and i plan to do a water change very soon. Chip seems to be the most upset always hiding looking awful and Nippy joins him often. Skip is fine the majority of the time but i think he might get stressed seeing the other two?? idk if i made the wrong decision trying to give him friends. Chip just seems miserable right now. i don’t know what more i can be doing for them. any and all advice will be greatly appreciated


Some other info:
30 gallon tank
Tetra whisper filter 40i with carbon sponge (also now the carbon bag)
I didn’t have a bubbler before i got the two newbies i don’t know if that’s relevant.

Most recent water check: JAN 29
(with api freshwater test kit)
high range pH 8.2
ammonia 4.0 ppm
nitrites 2.0 ppm
nitrates 40 ppm (better than the prior 80 i had 2-3 days earlier)

i know these numbers are not very good but i can’t seem to get a hold on them. i don’t know if it’s the brackish or what. my other freshwater tanks currently have perfect numbers with the pesky nitrates just being a little high 80 ppm in my 45 gallon.

i can’t really think of much more. ASK ME ANYTHING MORE YOU MIGHT NEED TO KNOW TO GIVE SOME ADVICE I WILL REPLY ASAP.

also some other questions idk if they are relevant.
could i be feeding too much or too little?
why do Nippy’s eyes go really green sometimes?
is a blanket of bubbles at the top of the tank something to be concerned about?
also is it normal behavior for them to hit up against driftwood of the glass sometimes? I’ve seen chip do this on more than one occasion but idk if he’s itching himself? or one time it looked like he had some sand stuck on his belly so maybe just trying to brush thing off himself?
okay that’s it or it’s all i can remember at the moment haha

thanks so much if you’re still reading i can get ramble sometimes but i’m just trying to get all the info i can our there

here are the links to the videos/ pictures
some of them are sped up to save you time since i already wrote you this novel.

https://youtu.be/5DM5reO9S0Y
https://youtu.be/Qe9hEXoraSY
https://youtu.be/IdY7tdSOqgg
https://youtu.be/6jcUVyusbCk
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Re: NEW GSP OWNER / STRESSED AND UNHAPPY FISH?

Post by Pufferpunk »

[welcome]
Your water is incredibly toxic! I'm surprised any of them are alive at this point. :(
Please do an 80% WC this very minute! Don't worry about adding salt back in there, your tank isn't cycled at all. I hope you got Prime by now? Tomorrow you will return all 3 puffers.
Then start reading:
library/water-filtration/fishless-cycling/
library/puffers-in-focus/an-introductio ... d-puffers/
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...

"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
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Re: NEW GSP OWNER / STRESSED AND UNHAPPY FISH?

Post by eieio »

it's all in the numbers, as PP said; "incredibly toxic"
"I plan ahead. That way, I don't have to do anything right now!"
kimmy13x
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Re: NEW GSP OWNER / STRESSED AND UNHAPPY FISH?

Post by kimmy13x »

This is what confused me. one of the puffers is swimming perfectly fine? I did do a water change last night and i was letting it settle before checking the parameters again. (I will do that when I get home today and update you asap.) Is this fish just more hearty than the other? After the water change all three were swimming around nine hiding all white. two were still excessively? glass surfing though is that something that should worry me? my tank had been cycled for almost two weeks before i even got my first one. i was looking into live plants that can live in the brackish to possible keep better control of the nitrates. are there any recommendations for that? this morning i turned the light on and my big one chip and little nippy were both hiding. after a minute nippy came out and him and skip (the other little one) were swimming around happily. My big one remained hiding and when i left he still hadn’t left his spot.
kimmy13x
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Re: NEW GSP OWNER / STRESSED AND UNHAPPY FISH?

Post by kimmy13x »

And yes i did mention in my post i had added prime the day after i got the carbon bag
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Pufferpunk
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Posts: 32764
Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
Gender: Female
My Puffers: Filbert, the 12" T lineatus
Punkster, the 4" red T miurus
Mongo, the 4" A modestus
2 T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
Also kept:
lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles
Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
Location: Chicago
Contact:

Re: NEW GSP OWNER / STRESSED AND UNHAPPY FISH?

Post by Pufferpunk »

How EXACTLY' did you cycle this tank? Did you read that cycling article? You may have 1 fish that is tougher than the other 2 but believe me, all 3 are suffering permanent gill, eye, skin damage from the burning ammonia/nitrite. Of course, they will respond to water changes, as you are removing toxic water & replacing it with fresh. Nevertheless--even if totally cycled, your tank is only large enough to support a single GSP.
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...

"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
craiglawton
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Re: NEW GSP OWNER / STRESSED AND UNHAPPY FISH?

Post by craiglawton »

How are your fish now?
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