Hey all.
Just thought i'd post because im not sure if this is normal.
My gsp's are all very happy swimming around, theres no pacing of the tank and they are all eating great. But... they all seem pretty dark in colour. They all have white bellys, but their colour on top in general seems weird to me. Like, they all have a small vibrant green patch on their back (the colour i imagine they should be) and the rest of the spotted area is just kinda dark. One of them has more of the vibrant patch and one only has a very small patch and rest is dark.
Now, is this caused by the fact that i have dark sand and gravel in the tank and they are just camouflaging with the colour, or is it because of water parameters. I cant remember what colour they were when i bought them. I bought them from afreshwater tank and im sure they were more colourful then. Im guessing they may brighten up once ive sorted out the water quality. Is this usual in gsps?
1) Your water parameters - Ammonia 0.25, Nitrite 0.25 (havent tested nitrates). SG is at 0.004 and raising by 0.002 each week. Currently doing daily 10% water changes due to ammonia and nitrite and plan to get some more Bactinettes as wasnt given the right amount by lfs lady.
2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. - 58 Gallon tank. 4 GSP's. All about 1 inch. or 1.25 inch inc tail. Plan on upgrading as they get over 2 inches. (or rehoming 2 of them as lfs gave me wrong info)
3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank: feed once per day. Usually bloodworm or mussels. Get snails occassionally, daphnia and shrimp. Dechlorinate water with every water change.
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. - none
5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? - cycled with Bactinettes (uk version of biospira, although lfs lady didnt give me enough for tank size). Been set up a couple of weeks.
dark colouring
Forum rules
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.
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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t1gerbee
- Fahaka Puffer
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Re: dark colouring
it's your ammonia and nitrite readings that are going to be stressing your fish, although white bellies is a good sign and GSP's normally do have one brighter spot on their heads and are generally darker green across the top of their bodies...
BUT.. ammonia and nitrite readings of any sort are very bad for puffers, so do a 25% daily water change until you have 0 readings for both ammonia/nitrites...
You have puffers in an uncycled tank, you are just lucky its a big tank or you'd be in alot of trouble right now...
Keep up LARGE daily water changes until your tank is fully cycled and you have a steady nitrate reading.
does the stuff you cycled the tank with have LIVE bacteria in it? If not it is completely useless.. and has not cycled the tank, merely added ammonia...
BUT.. ammonia and nitrite readings of any sort are very bad for puffers, so do a 25% daily water change until you have 0 readings for both ammonia/nitrites...
You have puffers in an uncycled tank, you are just lucky its a big tank or you'd be in alot of trouble right now...
Keep up LARGE daily water changes until your tank is fully cycled and you have a steady nitrate reading.
does the stuff you cycled the tank with have LIVE bacteria in it? If not it is completely useless.. and has not cycled the tank, merely added ammonia...
1 x 90G Juv stars and stripes puffer, Ceylon Puffer + GSP + 2 black clowns
1 x 30G LPS Reef
1 x 30G 1 x Blind goldfish
1 x 30G LPS Reef
1 x 30G 1 x Blind goldfish
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indie
- Figure 8 Puffer
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Re: dark colouring
Hi, thanks for the response. i did think as much regarding the parameters. But wondered if its normal anyhow.
The stuff i used is live bacteria.. they keep it in the fridges. but i asked the lady in lfs how many bottles i needed and she said one. It wasnt until i got home that i read the bottle and it said one bottle per 100L. Its a 220L tank so i needed more than one bottle! So i need to go back tomorrow and start over.
I will start doing MUCH larger water changes. As you say that ammonia and nitrites are much too high and will be stressing poor puffers out. Hopefully the colours will come up nice and bright once the water is in good condition!
Does gsp colour vary from puffer to puffer? Most of the healthy ones i see in the lfs seem really vibrant. Although larger ones ive seen in freshwater are very dark.
The stuff i used is live bacteria.. they keep it in the fridges. but i asked the lady in lfs how many bottles i needed and she said one. It wasnt until i got home that i read the bottle and it said one bottle per 100L. Its a 220L tank so i needed more than one bottle! So i need to go back tomorrow and start over.
I will start doing MUCH larger water changes. As you say that ammonia and nitrites are much too high and will be stressing poor puffers out. Hopefully the colours will come up nice and bright once the water is in good condition!
Does gsp colour vary from puffer to puffer? Most of the healthy ones i see in the lfs seem really vibrant. Although larger ones ive seen in freshwater are very dark.
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marksrush
- Fahaka Puffer
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Re: dark colouring
My larger GSP is kind of like that - he's always got a bright area on the top of his head, but often the rest of him is more an olive color. Other times, he's much brighter, almost yellow. His belly is always nice and white, though, and he's definitely a happy puffer, judging from the way he acts, so go figure. I guess they're just moody. When I first got him, he was in freshwater and was dark, but once he got into his new, larger, and saltier home he almost started glowing. His color overall improves with every rise in salinity, so maybe that will happen with yours, too.
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Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
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burrfish
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Re: dark colouring
My bet is on the dark substrate.
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!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
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indie
- Figure 8 Puffer
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Re: dark colouring
PP dont say that! It'll take me ages to change it if i want bring fishies!
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Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
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DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Greenville, SC
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Re: dark colouring
Ok, I didn't say that. 
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!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"