F8 from Brackish to Marine?

[liltamil]

Hi all!

I have a Figure 8 puffer (Gizmo) that I adopted from the local fish store. He was a trade in who was not properly cared for as the person who had him before had him for a year and only fed bloodworms, so his teeth were really long. I have managed to get them to almost to an acceptable size in the little over a month that I've had him, and he seems to be doing rather well. I really do love him.

Gizmo is currently in a 29 gal Brackish tank 1.005 -1.006 sg, but I'm having some serious issues with algae. Thick, green floating in the water algae. All my water parameters are good: PH is 8.0, Ammonia, Nitrates, & Nitrites are all at 0 (I'd be really surprised if they were any higher since I'm doing almost complete water changes twice a week trying to keep ahead of this algae problem. It starts showing back up within 24 hours of every water change). The tank was fully cycled (7 weeks w/ other fish) before he was added, and Gizmo is the only fish in the tank. My husband and I have 8 other tanks, so we've dealt with algae before, but we've never seen anything like this.

Anyway, we also have a 75 gal, established marine/reef tank, and I want to know if it's possible to acclimate Gizmo to full marine so we can plumb his tank in with the salt water tank? Has anyone successfully acclimated their F8 puffer to full marine? Any suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

[taureandragon76]

I don't think it would be a good idea seeing that F8's like the low end of sg in there water

[yunachin]

You can look into some Barley Straw Extract for your algae problem. I have used it successfully for hair algae.
How long are his lights on in his tank? Does any sunlight get into the tank as well?
Over-lighting is often the culprit of excess algae.

As far as a F8 in full marine, I have never heard of it happening. You could raise his level to a mid-brackish and see how he reacts then, but I wouldn't take him any higher than a 1.012. IMO

[CoreyK]

I asked this same question some time ago.
IMO a Figure 8 could handle full marine; the question is whether or not it would thrive. My guess is, probably not.
I'd love to see someone try it though. I know I had to very quickly acclimate mine to @ 1.010 when I got them and they were great.

[yunachin]

Does anyone know their natural habitat in the wild? I would love to try and see if they can go full marine and document it, maybe I can give it a try. The only thing that has held me back is the fact of shortening it's lifespan.
Anyone else have a take on it?

[SpockthePuffer]

I thought they were found in freshwater in nature, but in home aquariums they seem to be healthier in brackish. At least, I think thats what I've read...

[yunachin]

I found this information:
There is much to debate over whether the Figure Eight Puffer is brackish or freshwater. This debate probably stems from the fact that, in the wild, Figure Eights are found in both conditions. It seems that they wander into both types of water in search for food. It is accurate to say that the Figure Eight puffer can survive in freshwater, brackish, and even marine conditions.
However, for the puffer to THRIVE versus merely survive, most sources (including myself) posit the need to keep Figure Eights in slight brackish water with a specific gravity of 1.008 - 1.012. Although, some sources imply that Figure Eights do not seem incredibly finicky over an exact specific gravity as long as its within the brackish realm.
For the Figure Eight Puffer, brackish water appears to facilitate an extended life span and less susceptibility to disease and infection. Some reports boast an 18-year life span in light brackish conditions!

[liltamil]

Thank you for the responses.

To answer the question about the lights, his lights are on 12-14 hrs per day, and no sunlight near the tank.
As far as the algae goes, it's not hair algae (FYI Hydrogen Peroxide removes that quite nicely). The algae is a "fog" for lack of a better description. The water gets thick and green and I can see it movig around in the water.

Since it doesn't appear that I can safely switch him to full marine, I'm gonna try switching his substrate from gravel to eco complete, and adding more live plants. Hopefully that will help at least a little bit. If nothing else, it will give him more to explore in his tank.

I would still be very interrested in finding out if anyone successfully acclimates one to full marine though.

[SpockthePuffer]

You could try and cut down on the lights too, 14 hours is longer than usual.

[yunachin]

I agree with the cutting back on the lights. Perhaps 9 hours versus 14? I keep my tank lights on from about 10a-9p and those are my reefs. All my others are on less except my breeding tanks which are running 13-15 hours a day.
I am curious about the peroxide. How do you use it? I battle hair algae here and there and would love to hear a new, cheaper way to control it.

[taureandragon76]

Peroxide can be used to kill most algae simply by putting some in an eyedropper, turn off all your filters and pumps and then spot treat the affected areas with the peroxide, after a few minutes turn everything back on. Repeat if necessary. You can also take out plants that are affected and do a dip with diluted peroxide(not too sure of exact amounts. Prob around 1:10) for a minute or two. Some plants can be sensitive to this. Another option is to overdose the tank with Seachems Flourish Excel and this will also kill most algae off. If it is cynao well there are a couple of options, what worked best for me was to treat the tank with potassium permagenate, Euyrethomicin(sp?) also works for this. The key to algae control is not so much how to get rid of it, you gotta figure out the source and take care of that.

As for putting an F8 in full marine my opinion on that is that if they thrive at the low end why even bother trying higher or lower levels of SG, go with what has been proven to work best and be the most healthy way for a F8 to live

[Pufferpunk]

Robert T Rickets did a decade-long study & found F8s to live the longest (18+ years) in low end BW SG of 1.005. I added mollies to my BW tank for algae control (not sailfins, they picked on the puffers). I started out with 3 pairs of different colors, so it's fun to check out the babies the puffers don't eat, to see what they're going to look like.

[Agnate]

Whoa whoa whoa... wait... Mollies eat algae?

[Nick]

Yea, constantly pick algae from any surface. They don't have suckermouths so they can't do the most polished job on glass or get at spot algae, but any soft algae growing on decorations, plastic plants, or even live plants is a goner. My ex and I kept one in our low light planted 55, and the molly definately made a difference keeping the live plants from being cloaked in algae.

[Jase]

I've been wondering if that brown silicate algae is ok for them, or if they'll even eat it...?