The Puffer Forum

Thank you everyone. Just did a water change. Will buy a reliable test kit and test daily and change every other day until the water stabilizes.

He doesn't seem to have parasites from what I can tell. He eats alot and gets a full belly and then it's gone a few hours later.

I will post back soon when it seems to be done cycling. And I imagine I'll have more questions when its time to change to his new aquarium and then go brackish.

I really appreciate your helpfulness. As a mom of a 4 year old and a 1 year old (and now a gsp) the last new hobby I was planning to jump into was a large brackish aquarium! Now we're all attached and I'm determined to keep this little guy alive and happy!

You might want to pick up some Prime. You can use it during the cycling process to remove the toxicity of the ammonia and nitrite to your puffer, and it doubles as dechlorinator! It's a bit pricey, but definitely worth it.

Also, if his full belly is gone in only a few hours, doesn't that mean that he, in fact, does have Internal Parasites? I'm not an expert, though, so you might want to wait for more feedback on that.

Agnate wrote:Also, if his full belly is gone in only a few hours, doesn't that mean that he, in fact, does have Internal Parasites? I'm not an expert, though, so you might want to wait for more feedback on that.

well, that would make sense. I don't know anything about parasites. I would like more info, though.

He always seems hungry. I fed him this afternoon around lunchtime and I was just upstairs putting the kids to bed and he was trying to eat the fake plants and searching all over for food. I've heard they like to beg, but he really seems hungry... I feel like I feed him alot when I do feed him. Maybe I should move this to a different forum area now since i keep getting further and further off topic.

I was just searching Amazon.com and they have a 16oz. bottle of Prime for $9.95 and a water test kit for $15. Seems reasonable to me!

Right now, I have a water conditioner and Nitromax Fresh. Would Prime basically be one product that does the same things as these two?

I'm not sure what Nitromax Fresh does, but it'll definitely replace your dechlorinators. Any product that eliminates Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrate should ONLY be used if your tank is cycling and you need to *temporarily* reduce the toxicity in the tank. Once the tank cycles, you shouldn't need to use it!