Calibrating Hydrometer

[studmaster]

Hey everyone, my new puffers aren't doing as well as I would like and I have tried everything, then I realized....what if the hydrometer isn't calibrated correctly? My new GSP's are an inch long and the water at the LFS was at 1.005. So if my hydrometer is off by .002 I only have them at 1.003 now and that could be affecting their health right?

Does anyone know of a sure fire way to calibrate a hydrometer? I tried tap water and it reads 1.001. I tried bottled water and it reads 1.002. I don't know where to get my hands on bottled water without any salt (sodium) in it. Any suggestions?

[Agnate]

Even if your water has a slightly lower SG, it wouldn't affect the puffers that much. The actual salinity doesn't cause major problems, except if they're constantly switching SGs. What WILL cause problems is the toxins in the water, namely Ammonia and Nitrites. If you have a Freshwater test kit, use it as soon as you read this and post the results up here. If you don't have a test kit, do a 50% water change and see if they get any better. If they do seem to improve a bit, then you need to keep up with daily or bi-daily (twice daily) for a couple weeks (until the bacteria in your filter builds up and you don't have any more readings of Ammonia or Nitrite).

Keep us posted.

[studmaster]

Even if your water has a slightly lower SG, it wouldn't affect the puffers that much. The actual salinity doesn't cause major problems, except if they're constantly switching SGs. What WILL cause problems is the toxins in the water, namely Ammonia and Nitrites. If you have a Freshwater test kit, use it as soon as you read this and post the results up here. If you don't have a test kit, do a 50% water change and see if they get any better. If they do seem to improve a bit, then you need to keep up with daily or bi-daily (twice daily) for a couple weeks (until the bacteria in your filter builds up and you don't have any more readings of Ammonia or Nitrite).

Keep us posted.

I do have a freshwater test kit and just tested before I posted my first link. All readings are great:
Ammonia:0
Nitrites:0
Nitrates:10-20ppm
PH - 7.8

So you don't think a difference of .002 from the fish store to home would make that much of a difference? I just added an airstone because they are staying at the top and breathing heavily.

I'm going to see if the water at work tomorrow is RO, and if so, bring it home and test out the hydrometer. That has to have no salt in it right?

[taureandragon76]

brackish water fish are used to their sg fluctuating

[Agnate]

Yeah, hmm... Are their bellies black or white? I'm trying to think of other things that could be the matter. Unfortunately, I had the same problem as you're having when I got GSPs, but mine didn't make it through.

Maybe try a 25% water change and see if they become a little more active/breathe less heavy. If they do, maybe there's something in the water that's bothering them. Have you had anyone/thing spray any sort of perfumes/incense/other chemicals into the air in the same room as the tank? Sometimes the perfumes/chemicals get into the water and cause unforeseeable problems.

*Shrug*

[yunachin]

You can use R/O water to calibrate your hydrometer. It will give you the most accurate reading.

[studmaster]

Yeah, hmm... Are their bellies black or white? I'm trying to think of other things that could be the matter. Unfortunately, I had the same problem as you're having when I got GSPs, but mine didn't make it through.

Maybe try a 25% water change and see if they become a little more active/breathe less heavy. If they do, maybe there's something in the water that's bothering them. Have you had anyone/thing spray any sort of perfumes/incense/other chemicals into the air in the same room as the tank? Sometimes the perfumes/chemicals get into the water and cause unforeseeable problems.

*Shrug*

Well one of them has a while belly, the other one has a gray belly. The one with the gray belly doesn't look too good.

I just added the water and moved them from a smaller tank two days ago. Nobody sprayed anything into the air that I know of. The tank was cycled fine before I put them in. I have a feeling the gray one won't last the night.

They are fairly new so I think I'm going to treat them as if they have IPs according to the article in the library.

[Pufferpunk]

How exactly did you cycle the tank?

[Nusquam]

Also, how are you measuring the s.g. with your hydrometer? Both kinds have their different challenges: for the floating arm, you have to make absolutely sure that there's no bubbles anywhere, and that you've rinsed it out really well previously as any salt residue will affect the tests. For the floating ones, you have to take water out of the tank and put it in a container which then goes on a steady/flat surface and you put the hydrometer in slowly without the water every going higher than it needs to. They also need to be rinsed off after every use.

If you're not sure, you could always bring some water that you've just tested to your LFS and have them test it with their refractometer (have them calibrate it first) and see how far off it is. That's how we found out our hydrometer was off.

Even though s.g. swings are normal for them, they still seem to have a preferred range depending on their size/age. So it probably won't be the main problem, but it could be a contributing factor.

[studmaster]

How exactly did you cycle the tank?

Fishless cycle, although I think there was a good about of bacteria in the eheim filter (2nd hand - stayed filled with water the hole time) when I got it because the fishless cycle only took 6 days. Added ammonia (pure), and tested, re tested and added more when needed until ammonia and nitrites were 0....and nitrates were close to 160. Removed 90% of the water, and moved tank to different room, added water, declorinated....tested salinity and PH values. Added fish slowly.

[studmaster]

Also, how are you measuring the s.g. with your hydrometer? Both kinds have their different challenges: for the floating arm, you have to make absolutely sure that there's no bubbles anywhere, and that you've rinsed it out really well previously as any salt residue will affect the tests. For the floating ones, you have to take water out of the tank and put it in a container which then goes on a steady/flat surface and you put the hydrometer in slowly without the water every going higher than it needs to. They also need to be rinsed off after every use.

If you're not sure, you could always bring some water that you've just tested to your LFS and have them test it with their refractometer (have them calibrate it first) and see how far off it is. That's how we found out our hydrometer was off.

Even though s.g. swings are normal for them, they still seem to have a preferred range depending on their size/age. So it probably won't be the main problem, but it could be a contributing factor.

Yeah I have the Instant Ocean swing arm hydrometer, and I tried to make sure if was cleaned out and tapped out any bubbles before using. I have some RO water at work I'm going to bring home and test. That should give an accurate reading to let me know how much I should calibrate it. You think these hydrometers would come calibrated perfectly.

[StormySkiez]

I hope your little puffs pull through. Are the puffers not keeping weight on?

[studmaster]

I hope your little puffs pull through. Are the puffers not keeping weight on?

They are starting to get a bit skinny. Not eating much at all. When I first got them they were such little piggies.

[Agnate]

Poor little guys! I wish I knew more about the different problems with puffers so that I could help. It doesn't seem like it would be Internal Parasites if they've been eating well for so long and such... unless they got them from some live food they might have had recently.

[StormySkiez]

If you think they have IP's you need to treat them asap. Here is the article from the puffer library concerning IP's: http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/lib ... treatment/