Figure Eight Puffers

londonloco · Post by **londonloco** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 6:37 pm

Ok Ok Ok, I stand corrected, I was using a 12" ruler, I'm an accountant and can't friggen add...want me to do your taxes?

My tape measure says exactly 20.5x18.5x21. And PA is exactly right, this whole saga w/loco and puffers started because Petsmart is discontinuing them and I got the tank and matching stand for under 190$ and my daughter has always wanted a puffer. I have the older aquaman program which gives conversion. Oceanic's website says it's a 30 gallon cube. Even with the dimensions on their website, it's a 34.5 gallon. So, let's just call it a 35 gallon cube...and not as cube as I thought.
When I went to the LFS and he had three in one tank and one in another. The other tank was being medicated "heavily" for ich. The other three, at first glance looked fine. But when I questioned him on them, he said he had been medicating the tank because "all puffers come in with ich, those three didn't have but a spot or two on them, but the forth one was covered, so I separated the one and medicated both tanks". Well, sucker I am, I bought them. I have had great success with "Aquari-sol" for ich and parasites. Can I treat with this? It's active ingredient is copper salts....

Phaedrus · Post by **Phaedrus** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 6:55 pm

Just say no to copper.

See this thread for ich treatment ideas without using meds. http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9

TheSmJ · Post by **TheSmJ** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 6:55 pm

NO COPPER BASED MEDS IN A PUFFER TANK! It will kill your puffs/inverts.

You won't actually need to use meds anyways. The safest and easiest way to cure ich in your case is to increase the salinity of the tank by 1.001sg. This will both kill off the parasite, and get the fish on their way to becoming brackish, which is where they should be at anyhow. Increase the sg by 1.001 every week until you're at 1.005-1.006, and keep it there.

londonloco · Post by **londonloco** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 6:58 pm

Reading the site OrX gave me. I have all kinds of salt, marine, large pond crystals and table. Which should I use..??

Phaedrus · Post by **Phaedrus** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 7:01 pm

Since these are F8s, who will prefere bracksih water anyway, you should use marine salts.

londonloco · Post by **londonloco** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 8:03 pm

OK, now. Temp was 79-80. Raised the heater to 82. Will raise every day until i reach 86. A friend of mine had an air stone and pump. It's an 18" one. I have it 1/2 way down the tank, thinking about lowering it. The puffers love the air, they swim in and out of the bubbles. It's a site to see. This won't harm them, right? Definitely have to get a smaller one after this treatment is over. I just did a 50% water change yesterday. Skipping the water change. All other fish are out (cept couple of small glow lights I couldn't catch). Now comes the hard part. This articles says one tablespoon of salt per 5 gallons. That is 1 tablespoon of MARINE salt, right? Of course I have a hydrometer, I have two in fact...one starts at 1.010 (so that one is out) and one starts at 1.000 but jumps .004 incrementally. I do have a pinpoint salinity monitor on my reef, and I know freshwater ich and marine ich is not the same, and marine can't live in freshwater, and freshwater can't live in marine, but I don't want to put the probe in a tank w/ich. Just don't. Any suggestions?

londonloco · Post by **londonloco** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 8:22 pm

One more question. I have melafix. Should I add it now, and treat for 7 days, or wait?

Phaedrus · Post by **Phaedrus** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 8:52 pm

I'd lower the air stone to just about the bottom for maximum effect. The bubbles won't hurt them.

The article probably refers to aquarium salt. But since you have a hydrometer, just mix up some replacement water using marine salt at 1.002 SG and use that the next time you do a 50% water change. That should give you an SG of about 1.001. For your next water change, just mix up 1.001 to keep it constant. The next time you want to raise it again, mix up a slightly higher salinity.

You'll have to estimate SG since your hydrometer doesn't have a 0.001 increment, but that shouldn't be too hard. It doesn't have to be exact, just consistent.

I'd start using melafix now as well and keep it up with water changes for the duration of the treatment.

Post by **Pufferpunk** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 9:01 pm

I'd get the SG up to 1.002 now & 1.004 by next week, using marine salt.

londonloco · Post by **londonloco** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 10:01 pm

Quick update. An hour after adding the salt water, the SPG seems to be 1.001. I also added Melafix. Lisa, Rocky and Cody (yes, she's named them) ate a small amount of black worms and selcon/garlic xtreme freeze dried plankton. (pufferpunk, think garlic helps with freshwater ich as it is suppose to help w/marine ich?). Tummies are full, rounded, and white. I need to read that article on parasites, and what to watch for.

I will do a 50% water change tomorrow, add another 5 tsp's of salt, thinking this will raise the salinity up to 1.002. Ofcourse, add more melafix (for 7 days).

I am hooked, these three fish are so comical. After almost 25 years of fish keeping, how did I ever miss them? Don't tell my daughter, but that porcupine puffer just might be possible. How big of a tank do they need?

I'd like to thank everyone here for their help. This site, compared to the many many others I have joined over the years, seem to have not only knowledgeable, but compassionate concerned members. Will keep updates coming, thanks again all...loco

Jager · Post by **Jager** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 10:54 pm

a porcupine puffer ala lil lisa needs around 125 gallons of full marine but your 120 reef would prolly do fine

Post by **Pufferpunk** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 12:13 am

My, what big eyes she has...

lisalisa · Post by **lisalisa** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 9:56 am

x0rtrunks wrote:Don't count on having a lot of live plants unless you keep it very low brackish. ~1.004-1.005 ish.

Yes, and that's what an F8 needs, so Loco, you may have success.

puffanutter · Post by **puffanutter** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 1:50 am

I have a 20 gallon tank for a fig 8. The fig 8 was in FW at the LFS, so I'm going to have to raise the sg by .002 per week. How do I do this?

When I do a water change (10 gallons) do I put like 1 tablespoon of marine salt per gallon (10 gallons) or is that too much salt?

Phaedrus · Post by **Phaedrus** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 2:01 am

You've got the right idea.

Just add one tablespoon of marine salt to your 10 gallon weekly water change. Do the same the next week. And the next. Then add two tablespoons and do that for a couple weeks. Keep bumping it up by a tablespoon and holding it at that level for a few water changes. Test your SG weekly to track the increase. It'll be very slow and gradual. Once you are at your target, just keep using that amount of salt for your changes.

Trying to match your salt to give an increase of exactly 0.002 is too much hassle and totally unnecessary. The rule of 0.002 per week is really only there to make sure you don't go too fast. Using the tablespoon method is much easier and accomplishes what you really want: a slow, steady increase that is easy to track.

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