Sand or gravel Or bare bottom tank?
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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melody&brandy
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 9
- Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2005 11:42 pm
Sand or gravel Or bare bottom tank?
Hello,this is my first post so please bare with me if i repeat some questions.My mom and I were at walmart amost 2 weeks ago.They had 18 small gsp in their tiny FW tank.We had no set up for them.Just an empty 55 gal.So we ran home and threw up a tank in 20 minutes.She had puffers before but it was so long ago.We figure their chances were better with us then at the store.They were only 4.00 so we grabbed 5.Today one of the big puffers died.He was an inch long.I still have a baby one with a red eye.I have been treating him or rather all of them with some medicne that begins with a p.His eye was so cloudy and white at first but now its red.You can actually see his eye.Any way,We did a water change today and our nitrate level so was high we think thats why other puffer died.I did 5 water changes 50% in a row.After the fifth change everything tested good.The pet store where i buy our babies medicne said 1.005 was good for a brackish tank.Also we took out all the gravel in their tank.Can anyone tell me if gravel is ok or do they prefer sand?Or even a clear bottom with lots of caves and places to hide.I have two happy puffers that are bright green,especially on top of their heads and two puffers that are dark gray and looking very upset. Any suggestions?Any and all replies will be greatly appreciated.
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Bred
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 364
- Joined: Sat Jun 04, 2005 10:42 am
- Location: Toronto, Canada
- Contact:
Can you please post your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings? Temperature and salinity too. How long ago did you set up this tank?
Please see http://www.pufferlist.com , under "Tetraodon nigroviridis". GSPs do grow rather large and we recommend 30g each, so 4 in a 55g is likely to cause trouble.
As for substrate, you will need a special substrate that will buffer the water, such as aragonite or crushed coral.
Also, be ready to do many water changes in the coming weeks. Your tank is probably still cycling, and the water conditions will be toxic to the inhabitants during this time. Water changes are the best way to alleviate the stress. Alternatively, get some freshwater "Bio-Spira", it will help cycle your tank quickly.
Please see http://www.pufferlist.com , under "Tetraodon nigroviridis". GSPs do grow rather large and we recommend 30g each, so 4 in a 55g is likely to cause trouble.
As for substrate, you will need a special substrate that will buffer the water, such as aragonite or crushed coral.
Also, be ready to do many water changes in the coming weeks. Your tank is probably still cycling, and the water conditions will be toxic to the inhabitants during this time. Water changes are the best way to alleviate the stress. Alternatively, get some freshwater "Bio-Spira", it will help cycle your tank quickly.
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melody&brandy
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 9
- Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2005 11:42 pm
My baby with the red eye has died.He was very very dark with a white belly.The water temp is 80.The ammonia is 0.The nitrate is yellow.The ph is 8.The salt measure is 1.004.I am going to add a little more salt to slowly raise the level up.I have one baby left.He is 1 inch.The other 2 are a tad bigger.We still have one dark puffer left.Mom said none of then were eating.I don't know why.Perhaps the stressful day.When we brought them home the were in freshwater so we were introducing them to brackish.Thank you for your quick reply.-
Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
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- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
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- Location: Greenville, SC
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Can you get some Bio-Spira? That will cycle the tank. Leave the salt alone for now. You also need to test for nitrItes.
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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melody&brandy
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 9
- Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2005 11:42 pm
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melody&brandy
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 9
- Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2005 11:42 pm
Yellow means ,.03mg/l.Its a tetra test for nitrites.We still have the two puffers hanging on.Mom went to the fish store and talked to them and the women didn't know much about puffers.The sold mom some crushed coral and told her that the coral will solve her tank balancing problems.But it hasn't.Something is very wrong and we can't figure it out.The tank is at 80.The ph is 8.0.The salt is 1.005.But the nitrite level keeps increasing through out the day.We do 2-3 water changes a day.This can't be healthy but its all we know to do.As for the filter in the tank she has an emperor 400 set up.No charcol filters just a plain pad.Can a charcol filter help?Hurt?Any ideas on how to stable the nitrites.I haven't tested the nitrates yet.Please help.
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melody&brandy
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 9
- Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2005 11:42 pm
Yep if the reading is rising there is a problem. But if the colour is yellow as you say, then that is the reading you want from the tetra test for nitrite.melody&brandy wrote:yellow means <.03mg/l.Thats whats on the test anyway.sorry
Some call it a product of a mis-spent youth, I call it Rock n Roll ! 
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melody&brandy
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 9
- Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2005 11:42 pm
Well Ma did a water again this morning and its yellow.Yes we did find bio -spira.We did a water change yesterday and added it directly into the tank.Last night the nitrites were high so I had to do another water.No one told us at the store not to do another water change.They didn't even tell us to rinse the crushed coral 
.I just want to Thank all of you for your help.As of right now they seemed to be happy.But I know tonight at 7:00 I will be doing another water change.Thanks everyone.