Friends for our Brackish babies

[melody&brandy]

Hi Everyone.Still doing water changes here.Down to once aday.I found a product called cycle?Any opinions.Anyway.Is there anything I can add to the tank for them to look and or play with.I bought a few ghost shrimp and the baby came face to face with it.He watched it for awhile and swam away.I thought about a crab.Any opinions?I'd like to add just a few things.Thanks everyone.

[ShinyPower/s_l_m_77]

Can't be a 100 percent sure, but from what I read and heard, once your babies become a bit bigger (Juvenile to adult), they will become less tolerant of other inhabitants. Most the time Puffers will think that everything that moves in the tank is lunch.

So don't be surprised once you puffer ages that your crab disappears

[perek]

Any invertibrate with a puffer is a BAD idea.

[Bred]

IME & IMO, Cycle is useless at seeding a filter. Feeding it, yes; seeding it, no. Avoid it at all costs.

[Pamela]

You're finding that you're needing only one change a day now - right?
One other thing is that when you add products like cycle, you can get funny readings, as you're adding bioload in the form of dead bacteria.
Don't put any more Cycle in the tank...you might be surprised at your next nitrIte reading...it could be a lot lower that you're expecting.
That's what I found with Stress Zyme, if memory serves.
Pami.

[perek]

I dunno, but stress zyme SEEMED to work in my tank. I am going to put some under a microscope when I get back home from school.

[Pamela]

The idea behind Stress Zyme (I think) is that the dead bugs provide food for the ones you want, rather than actually being the ones you want.
So you slop this stuff in your tank, and maybe the few good bugs that are there scoff their products, but I shouldn't imagine it'll speed up the colonisation too much, and it skews the nitrIte readings.
It's poss that your tank just cycled ... or was near to cycling when you added the SZ.
Pami.

[RTR]

Neither Stressyzme nor Cycle has ever been shown in any independent testing to aid the establishment of a stable colony of nitrification bacteria in FW. Period. Both have been shown repeatedly to increase the bioload in the tank and cloud the ability to get valid ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate test redults from the actual nitrification. Both have equally been shown to contain zero, nada, zilch live nitrification bacteria capapble of establishing permanent colonies in FW.

Is that clear enough?

[melody&brandy]

Hello,I am down to doing one water change a day.I did add cycle to the tank thinking it would help but the next day I had to do a water change so it was a waste of money(nitrite too high).My water changes are still 50% unless its really high,then i do an 80%.The only thing I bought for the tank was some ghost shrimp.Started out with six and now i am down to two.The bigger puffer is acting weird.He is panting on the bottom of the tank near a shell.He is dark and curls his tail up.I checked everything.Water was 80.nitrite was yellow(<.03mg/l),no ammonia but this time the nitrAte level was a little high.After watching him awahile and pouring over this site and searching for books, he changed back to a nice green and swam around.A little while later he did the same thing.Dark,panting and on the bottom.All the time my baby is looking fine.I don't know whats wrong now but he has been panting and going to the bottom for two days .Mom said she noticed him doing that the night before.All i know to do is water changes water changes and more.Thanks you guys for your help.

[Myaj]

Well, you just about have it there.. water changes water changes water changes . If you think he's stressed, you could try adding a little Melafix to the water, that seems to help. Its a good product to have on hand, eases stress and helps heal up torn fins, etc.

Keep in mind also that puffer do curl up and take naps sometimes, and when they do they often darken up their colors. Usually though they see you looking and brighten up and come begging for food. If he doesn't do that, I'd get out the bucket and start the water changes...

[Pamela]

If he starts doing it near the surface of the water it's really time to do an 80%. He could be napping, but I don't like the heavy breathing business.
It could be the sudden deterioration in the water caused by adding the Cycle, so it's good that you've changed it out. How long will the Bio-Spira be?
Pami.