The Puffer Forum

I use Stress Coat in my wild game aquariums, and that really helps them get their slime coat and colors back. I don't think it would hurt your puffer, but I'm definitely no PufferPunk.

Dear Jeni,

If nitite of 2 is toxic but 0 is too low??? This kit doesn't have a nitrate check. It has nitrite no2 and no3. I did read the article prior to writing last post. A little confusing on what I can do now that fish is there. I have stress coat, and another person posted I might be able to use that. Is it okay???

mrm

I see where you got nitrites of 2 no no the cards for the tests are labeled " Nitrite NO. 2 and Nitrite NO. 3" two different tubes for nitrites. but they both are testing at zero. which is what I was told it should be. YOUR RIGHT... both shops apparently know little to nothing about puffers, at the very least ...

So, how bad is a nitrite level of zero and what, if anything should I do about it?

mrm

If your bacteria bed is healthy & active, you would be showing some nitrate in there. It's the end product of a cycled tank. I certainly didn't expect you to cycle the tank with ammonia once the fish is in there, just thought it would explain the cycle better to you.

I appreciate your help and information, part of my confusion is that the kit I just purchased has no Nitrate measurer in it. Can I get one of these seperatly?? I understand I can't put Ammonia in it now, but is there something I can/should be doing???

Thanks so much
mrm

Yes, Aquarium Pharmasuticals makes seperate test kits.

As pp and the others have said...large water changes are the answer until you get a good colony of bacteria which can do some of the work for you. Also the bio-spira you can get over there sounds like a god send...I don't think we have an equivalent in the UK.

[To answer your question of why we said '0' in Nitrates was bad....
The things in your tank such as uneaten food, fish poop etc produce Ammonia (which is harmful and you want to be 0), in an uncycled tank this number will increase until bacteria are established which 'eat' the ammonia and turn it into Nitrites which you also want to be 0). The Nitrites are also harmful and this number will increase until a new set of bacteria convert this into Nitrates. The Nitrates are harnful but less so and can be removed by water changes..don't ever be tempted by chemicals which claim to remove it. So you see...if you have a Nitrate reading of zero...you can pretty much assume that there is no bacteria turning the really harmful stuff into less harmful stuff. A healthy tank will have zero readings for ammonia and nitrite and low nitrate readings...as low as possible is good!]

Personally I don't regularly test for Nitrite unless I know something is wrong. I test for Nitrate regularly and Ammonia occasionally. You will learn a six-sense from the behaviour of your fish etc when something is wrong. Until then get yourself a Nitrate test kit!