Sick GSP's
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.
-
Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32976
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Puffers I have kept:
T lineatus
T miurus
A modestus
T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
C lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Greenville, SC
- Contact:
Re: Sick GSP's
"Live bacteria cycling booster", is just that--a cycling booster--no live bacteria in there at all. Many products are tricky like that... Please read the article on Emergency Cycling.
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!"
-
LilGreenPuffer
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 5301
- Joined: Sun Jan 25, 2009 11:26 pm
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Dwarf puffer - Thumbelina (only mine in my heart now; she lives in CT with my friend)
RIP Inigo Montoya, Fezzik, and Vizinni.
RIP James Bond. - Location (country): United States
- Location: Kentucky
Re: Sick GSP's
+ 1,000.Jivenjune wrote:I generally don't like rules of thumb when it comes to fish.
"I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man whom you may have seen, and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him or her. Will she gain anything by it? Will it restore her to a control over her own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to freedom for the hungry and spiritually starving millions? Then you will find your doubts and your self melt away."
Found among the papers of Mohatma Gandhi
Come and visit http://www.thetriopsforum.com!
I AM A DUDETTE!
NEED NITRIFYING BACTERIA FOR YOUR NEW TANK? PM ME!
Found among the papers of Mohatma Gandhi
Come and visit http://www.thetriopsforum.com!
I AM A DUDETTE!
NEED NITRIFYING BACTERIA FOR YOUR NEW TANK? PM ME!
-
GSP 3
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 34
- Joined: Mon Nov 16, 2009 2:43 am
- My Puffers: 2 GSP's
- Location (country): Canada
Re: Sick GSP's
The product i bought says it has 300,000 live bacteria per teaspoon to help cycle the tank.
Also just an update my 2 remaining GSP's are doing significantly better the water has been crystal clear since yesterday and i'm just getting ready for my daily water change, they are a little jumpy but have seemed to calm down a bit this afternoon, i'll feed them before the W/C I'm pretty confident they'll eat, thanks a lot everyone for your help i'll definitely be on the forum in the future!
Also just an update my 2 remaining GSP's are doing significantly better the water has been crystal clear since yesterday and i'm just getting ready for my daily water change, they are a little jumpy but have seemed to calm down a bit this afternoon, i'll feed them before the W/C I'm pretty confident they'll eat, thanks a lot everyone for your help i'll definitely be on the forum in the future!
-
Marcink125
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 17
- Joined: Sun Nov 15, 2009 8:07 pm
- Location (country): USA
Re: Sick GSP's
Hey, Ok so you know that nothing you did is the result of your puffers physical stress since when you took out the puffers from their tanks and appear to be breathing and fine. Trust me they are fine. There stress is sdue to external factors in the tank. Try keeping them in fresh water with a little while with a little bit of aquarium salt to prevent loss of electrolytes which is just them sweating from their gills. also I have yet to find a good substrate for my gsps. Dolomite whas no good. I'm assuming it had too much lime. My figure 8 puffers are thriving ing the dolomite though, three months and kicking, i guess they come from a river that has a high(er) lime content than other puffers. 
So basically try changing the subsrtate and turn leave them in fressh water with a little bit of aquarium salt. Also I only use aquaclear filters with two sponges and and aquaclear insert in my puffer tanks. I have not had a spike in months. Though keep in mind that there will be spikes in you aquarium when you first get the aquaclear filters,until the bacteria grows over a period of 10-11 weeks.WISH YOU LUCK, DON't GIVE UP, DON'T BLAME YOURSELF.... 
So basically try changing the subsrtate and turn leave them in fressh water with a little bit of aquarium salt. Also I only use aquaclear filters with two sponges and and aquaclear insert in my puffer tanks. I have not had a spike in months. Though keep in mind that there will be spikes in you aquarium when you first get the aquaclear filters,until the bacteria grows over a period of 10-11 weeks.WISH YOU LUCK, DON't GIVE UP, DON'T BLAME YOURSELF.... -
Marcink125
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 17
- Joined: Sun Nov 15, 2009 8:07 pm
- Location (country): USA
Re: Sick GSP's
Also, remember that the guy at the petstore can't test for everything in the water, Mineral content etc., ike iodione, calcium and magnesium. You needs special tests for those minerals. He also has no right to say the water is not the problem just for the point that I stated. Plus he should not say that the nitrates are not the problem because because he probably has no understanding of the green spotted puffer's body chemistry and nitrates can be extremely toxic to green spotted puffers.
-
Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32976
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Puffers I have kept:
T lineatus
T miurus
A modestus
T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
C lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Greenville, SC
- Contact:
Re: Sick GSP's
Sorry but there is no way live bacteria comes in powder form. It may have been live at one time but certainly not now.
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!"
-
LilGreenPuffer
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 5301
- Joined: Sun Jan 25, 2009 11:26 pm
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Dwarf puffer - Thumbelina (only mine in my heart now; she lives in CT with my friend)
RIP Inigo Montoya, Fezzik, and Vizinni.
RIP James Bond. - Location (country): United States
- Location: Kentucky
Re: Sick GSP's
The product I bought to cycle my first tank said that it had 10,000 live bacteria per teaspoon. It did not. 
Three GSPs died as a result.
Three GSPs died as a result."I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man whom you may have seen, and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him or her. Will she gain anything by it? Will it restore her to a control over her own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to freedom for the hungry and spiritually starving millions? Then you will find your doubts and your self melt away."
Found among the papers of Mohatma Gandhi
Come and visit http://www.thetriopsforum.com!
I AM A DUDETTE!
NEED NITRIFYING BACTERIA FOR YOUR NEW TANK? PM ME!
Found among the papers of Mohatma Gandhi
Come and visit http://www.thetriopsforum.com!
I AM A DUDETTE!
NEED NITRIFYING BACTERIA FOR YOUR NEW TANK? PM ME!
-
pufferpuggirl
- Mbu Puffer
- Posts: 3979
- Joined: Mon Nov 03, 2008 3:04 pm
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Puffs & Stuff:
1 x M Abei
1 x M Turgidus
1 x T Palembangensis
1 x M Baileyii
1 x T Schoutedeni
1 x T Leiurus
1 x T Miurus
Rainbow crab
crayfish - Location (country): Yorkshire, GB
- Location: South Yorkshire, UK
Re: Sick GSP's
I've always had a hard time understanding how live bacteria can stay "alive" in a room-temperature solution. We used to have a product over here called 'Bactinettes' and it was refrigerated, and it worked! They stopped making it and now there's another product on the market made by the German company JBL, but I don't think that's refrigerated either. Shame about the Bactinettes, you could literally put them in your tank and then put fish in immediately and all was fine.
"Puffer .... man's best friend?"