GSP, new sand, and now its not cycled anymore...

[cobra1713]

ok well i just made a mistake and wanted to make sure im doing everything i can to save my little gsp...

i had a gsp that had gravel substrate in a 10 gal (dont start flamming about it being small i know and im in the search for a 30 and money is tight, im getting there) anyway i wanted to go to sand substrate...

well i decided to use play sand after searching through tons of forums it seemed safe to do the change while the puffer was still in the tank, so i took all his decorations out of the tank, did a gravel vac on all of the gravel and removed half of the water...then netted out all the gravel...then took a piece of pvc and slowly added the rinsed play sand (via a funnel and dechlorenated water) into the tank to fill the bottom. then filled the rest of the tank with water, sand clowd had settled in maybe hour and a half. anyway this morning puffer looked really unhappy

i decided to test the water and sure enough it was cycling again becus i had removed all the bacteria with the gravel...(ammonia was at .20, mitrite .25, mitrate 5.0)

so i instantly did a 30 % water change and added amquel +, and am continuing to do 1.5 gallon water changes often.

i also put a penquin 200b filter from my established 60 gal community tank on it. (yes i know it is over kill for such a small thank but all my other filter that are established are even bigger lol)

anything better i can be doing for my puffer to help the cycle?

[spoot]

Did the gsp tank not have it's own filter? That should have been plenty cycled.

The filter from the 60g should be ok, that's assuming your gsp tank was fresh water.

Once you get the tank stabilized you should start converting it to brackish.

[cobra1713]

the gsp tank did have it's own filter but i was hoping to speed up the cycle by adding the 60 gal filter becus i had replaced the media in the puffer tank not to long ago so im not sure how big of a bacteria population is built up in there.

the GSP tank is well sorta brakish, (i made the other stupid mistake and thaught i could use aquarium salt, i did have the hydrometer and the salinity was at 1.006 so i figured it was fine.) so idk if that is considered true brakish or not since it wasnt marine salt, just aquarium salt. and thats what i was asking if the bacteria from the freshwater tank would be able to colonize the semi-brakish tank.

second any idea on wether the puffer would be better off in my community tank for a while until the brakish tank stabelizes again, and i can go get some real marine salt and do another 80% water change?

[Nick]

Yea, aquarium salt just makes salty water, it's the trace elements, dissolved carbonates, and PH buffers from ocean water that make brackish water what it is. The puffer would probably be fine short term in the community tank, but your other fish would probably be unhappy about it. With that large a filter added to the ten gallon it will probably cycle again very quickly, just keep changing water regularly until your ammonia and nitrite reach zero.

[cobra1713]

another question...how should i transfer the puffer to the community...do i need to acclimate him to the fresh water with like a drip? all the temps are the same. so the only difference is the salt

[Nick]

Personally I don't acclimate brackish fish carefully unless it's a BIG acclimation... if I were doing it, I'd probably just put him in a pitcher with 3/4 his water and 1/4 the community water, then every 15 minuites, dump out half of it and refill with community water... after an hour, pour him in. How are you going to keep the brackish tank cycling while the puffer is in the community tank?

[Happy_Puffer]

Yea, aquarium salt just makes salty water, it's the trace elements, dissolved carbonates, and PH buffers from ocean water that make brackish water what it is. The puffer would probably be fine short term in the community tank, but your other fish would probably be unhappy about it. With that large a filter added to the ten gallon it will probably cycle again very quickly, just keep changing water regularly until your ammonia and nitrite reach zero.

I thought you could use aquarium salt to bring up the salt level? I feel so stupid and now I'm thinking that maybe this is the reason my puffs keep dying. My hydrometer says I have it at 1.006 right now, does that mean anything since it isn't marine salt? How do I change from aquarium salt to marine salt withour over salting the tank?

[Nick]

Using aquarium salt to adjust SG means you're making salty water, aquarium salt will make water with way more actual salt but none of the necissary trace elements at the same SG. Just salty water doesn't give them what they need, and could definately be the root of many of the problems. The SG you have now means that is what the bacteria are used to, so do a big water change using real sea salt mix and match that SG, perhaps even let it be a little lower, say about 1.004.

[cobra1713]

ok cool ill go change him into the community tank...well there is plenty of bacteria in the 60 gall filter hopefully to complete the cycle plus enough ammonia to feed the bacteria for now, should i drop some bloodworms in there when i feed my bichir?

[Nick]

Anything that rots will work fine, you might want to put it in a mesh bag or stocking if you have one and drop it right into the filter in the bag, so cleanup is easy.

[Happy_Puffer]

Sorry to be off topic! I should just do a big water change and then add some instant ocean to get the level 1.004. OK I got it and I hope that fixes the problems I have been having. When I got my first puffers they told me this salt would work, I have used aquarium salt before and the puffers didn't last long but that was 4 or 5 years ago and I just thought it was a combo of problems but now I know! Thank you so much any advice on putting the marine salt in there since I have never used any.

[Pufferpunk]

cobra, Your other fish will not be happy & are potentially in danger of being severly nipped or even killed by the puffer. Continue with large, daily water changes & your puffer should be fine. Feed sparingly. If you have the $$$ & have a LFS you trust, you caqn try purchasing Bio-Spira to add to your tank but only if you can be guaranteed they have kept if refrigerated & got it from a trusted source that has done the same.

H_P, Trade out your salted water for BW, during your weekly water changes.

[cobra1713]

well actually i have one of the larger net breeding tank things i guess itd be a seperation tank to put him into...i wasnt gonna put him straight into the tank...im dumb but not that inexperienced. would he be to stressed in the seperation net thing?

[Happy_Puffer]

Thank you so much for the help!

[Pufferpunk]

He may bite right though it.