The Puffer Forum

Just thought I'd get in there before anyone else does...

NO I'M NOT OFF MY TREE

I just read back to myself my last post here and it sounds like I'm on mushrooms or something

I would put all bets on your water quality. My turgidus gets skin sores (start off as pits in his skin, then fill in with white as they heal up) if his nitrates go over 20, in nitrates of 40 he'd be miserably unhappy. Not to mention the nitrites. Sounds like yours had sores and one of them has some fungal infection going on.. ich would be all over their bodies. Pimafix is good for fungal issues.

Lots of water changes, you need to get that water quality better. Melafix and pimafix combined with clean water should be all you need.

If they have any trouble with the Mel/Pimafix, it will probably be due to breathing issues or possibly skin irritation, so just pay attention and do a water change if you need to to dilute it. Usually it doesn't bother puffers too much but sometimes bettas and goldfish don't like Melafix.

Myaj wrote:I would put all bets on your water quality. My turgidus gets skin sores (start off as pits in his skin, then fill in with white as they heal up) if his nitrates go over 20, in nitrates of 40 he'd be miserably unhappy. Not to mention the nitrites. Sounds like yours had sores and one of them has some fungal infection going on.. ich would be all over their bodies. Pimafix is good for fungal issues.

Lots of water changes, you need to get that water quality better. Melafix and pimafix combined with clean water should be all you need.

If they have any trouble with the Mel/Pimafix, it will probably be due to breathing issues or possibly skin irritation, so just pay attention and do a water change if you need to to dilute it. Usually it doesn't bother puffers too much but sometimes bettas and goldfish don't like Melafix.

Thanks Myaj

You've explained exactly what Bollo the SAP had on his back

I've added the 2nd lot of meds today, Bollo is wizzing round and looks happier than he was, Naboo is also looking good

I'll be doing water changes every day, I'll add the meds after I've done the water changes though otherwise I'm just throwing the meds away

All my other fish are OK with it aswell, although I did find 1 dead female Guppy this morning

Like I said before all the fishes colours get really bright and intense, has anyone noticed that before when they've used Melafix and Pimafix?

There's actually a post about that right now. Yes, others have noticed that. Stress reduction leads to brighter, healthier-looking fish.

I did a massive water change this morning and now have

ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 20
PH 7.8/8

I also added Aquarium salt to the water

And I planted 125 plants in my tank aswell took a while but now all my fish are looking great, loads of places to explore

Bollo's looking really happy again and the colour is starting to come back where the sore was (not quite gone yet but looking good)

Would you believe it, all those plants and Naboo's trying to swim into the picture of plants on the back of the tank lol

Good to hear! Naboo sounds cute.

Nice!

The nitrates are still kind of high for a puffer, but that's a huge improvement. Have you tested if you have nitrates in your tap water?

Myaj wrote:Nice!

The nitrates are still kind of high for a puffer, but that's a huge improvement. Have you tested if you have nitrates in your tap water?

I've just got a glass of water and tested it and it says:-

Nitrite 0
Nitrate 40 !
PH 8.6/9 !

So I'm always going to be putting in high Nitrates when I do a water change!

How do I get round this?

Or do I just leave it to the filter?

Also PH is very high!

A high pH is okay, don't worry about that. Mines higher Its better to let the fish adjust to it than try to change it with chemicals.

Crap, 40 nitrates out of the tap, now that does suck. What I"m trying to figure out, is how did you get the tank down to 20, if you have 40 coming out of the tap?? Can you take a sample into a fish store and have them check it, there possibly could be something goofy with your test kit (expired?).

If you really do have 40 nitrates out of the tap, I hate to say it but you might want to give up on keeping fish, at least as long as you're on that water source. Otherwise, you'll be looking at specialty filters or buying water filtered water, which can get to be expensive and a PITA. That's why I'm really suggesting you double check your tap water with someone else's test kit.

Myaj wrote:A high pH is okay, don't worry about that. Mines higher Its better to let the fish adjust to it than try to change it with chemicals.

Crap, 40 nitrates out of the tap, now that does suck. What I"m trying to figure out, is how did you get the tank down to 20, if you have 40 coming out of the tap?? Can you take a sample into a fish store and have them check it, there possibly could be something goofy with your test kit (expired?).

If you really do have 40 nitrates out of the tap, I hate to say it but you might want to give up on keeping fish, at least as long as you're on that water source. Otherwise, you'll be looking at specialty filters or buying water filtered water, which can get to be expensive and a PITA. That's why I'm really suggesting you double check your tap water with someone else's test kit.

I'll take some tap water and some water from the tank and get them to test for everything in both

I left the Tank for about 12hrs after the water change before I tested it, could the filter have done it's job and removed some of the Nitrate in the water to get it down to 20?

I suppose we cannot answer any questions until I get the water tested properly

I use Nitrite and Nitrate Test Strips but I have read that some people think they're not very good and that it's better to use liquid tests

What do you recommend Myaj?

There are only two things (for the average fishkeeper) that will remove nitrates, live plants and/or dilution with water changes. The filter only helps change ammonia to nitrites and nitrites to nitrates.

I don't think the plants would have made that big of a difference, that fast, honestly.

Myaj wrote:There are only two things (for the average fishkeeper) that will remove nitrates, live plants and/or dilution with water changes. The filter only helps change ammonia to nitrites and nitrites to nitrates.

I don't think the plants would have made that big of a difference, that fast, honestly.

I don't know why it was down to 20 from 40 then?!

It defenatly was though

I must have 130 plants in the tank now so hopefully they'll start to help

I'll let you know how the water tests go tomorrow

I think nitrate source can be as important as nitrate count when it comes to how much the bother fish. 40 is definately high to start out with, but, that is from the tap, so it's not nearly as nasty as water from a fish tank that reads 40 nitrates, where there are TONS of nasty dissolved organics you can't measure, but use nitrate as a benchmark for. Watch closely and see how the nitrates effect your fish out of the tap vs in old water.