The Puffer Forum

How often do you change his water?
If you and your folks can't come to an agreement/compromise, then you're gonna have to think seriously about whether you want to keep him long term.
Pami.

No way, I wouldn't give them up. I would treat the ick before I give them away. I just am not certain if its even ick. I clean the water whenever it needs to be changed, I would say approximately once a month or sometimes a little less.

Puffers need pristine water conditions. I do 50% weekly water changes on all my tanks (except the reef tank).

I understand, they are messy eaters. My puffer aquarium is the cleanest aquarium I own and I clean it once a month. There doesn't seem to be that much waste. So doing monthly water changes isn't enough?

The most dangerous waste products will be invisible. Monthly water changes are not enough IMO for long-term health. When I adopted my GSP, I considered it to be for 20+ years - my goal, only slightly kidding, is to outlive my puffer and my cat (also 20+ years), and children of course.

I can understand your reluctance to do 50% weekly water changes - the salt is expensive. How about trying 25 - 30% on a strict weekly schedule and monitor your water? I believe that would be better for the fish than a 50% change after a month or more. We are trying to keep conditions as constant as possible, not just changing water when conditions become critical. Remember, the fish have no choice - they depend on us for everything.

Eva,
I went back and read your previous posts and see that you are living at home. If you are still in school, perhaps you could include water changes as part of a science fair project or biology project on the nitrogen cycle? You could, for example, compare the concentrations/types of nitrogen in a tank with frequent vs infrequent water changes - an easy and useful experiment.

Your water parameters are key when it comes to water changes. Most here do 50% weekly, I'm doing 25% weekly on my Figure 8, but he's alone in a 20 gallon long and the 25% change rates keeps the nitrates down well below 20.

Try the smaller but more frequent changes and see if it helps.

Eric

As stated above, water changes remove things that cannot be seen with the naked eye including nitrates, one of the few pollutants that can be measured using home test kits.

There are many other pollutants that accumulate in the tank that cannot easily be measured or even detected without very complex and expensive equipment. RTR wrote an article on Old Tank Syndrome that is now posted in our library. The article is very informative and should help you understand why large partial water changes are important.

Don't forget frequent...large monthly as we've discussed (50%) will remove half the waste of weekly 25% changes.

And some of this depends on how you clean, your filtration and how much and often you feed (one of the biggest problems with any fish, but especially messy eaters like puffers with such big stomachs, is overfeeding - adult figure 8s don't need daily feedings let alone the twice a day feedings I've seen some folks recommend - feed them every other day or smaller portions daily AND always remove all uneaten food promptly).

Eric

Jayhawk wrote:Don't forget frequent...large monthly as we've discussed (50%) will remove half the waste of weekly 25% changes.

Actually, four 25% PWCs will remove less waste than two 50% water changes. Refer to the Water Change Math article in our library for an in-depth explanation. Regardless, large and frequent water changes are recommended over small/frequent or large/infrequent PWCs.

No I am not in school, I am in College ChesapeakeSwellfish Anyway, I will take your advise as much as I can, I will every two weeks change 20% of the water and monthly change 50% of the water. This is the best I can do. I have two jobs and go to college. I also have my 6 small tanks, 90 gallon aquarium and 5 gallon aquarium. Ive been a little busy latelly, not trying to complain or anything just saying. I wouldn't sell my fish for the world though. I am just curious wouldn't a weekly water change, even two weeks of cleaning the water shock the fish? I no for a fact it stresses mine out, but I have a lot of decorations I have to remove when cleaning out the aquarium.

What do you mean by "cleaning" the water?

You are busy - your work ethic is admirable. I also worked my way through college and grad school. It can be done and I know it is hard. Perhaps the fish and their care can be therapy when things seem to be overwheming?

A water change of the same temp & salinity will not shock the fish. I think frequent changes actually get them used to the intrusion (I drain water in the process of vacuuming the gravel) & they come to accept it and investigate what you are doing. They don't seem to notice when the tank is being slowly filled. I keep my movements slow around the tank, as you do any tank, to keep from spooking them. You may not have to remove all your decorations every time you add water - the nitrifying bacteria on their surfaces are beneficial.

Sorry Pufferpunk, I didn't explain myself. What I meant by cleaning is using the vaccume and cleaning the gravel on the bottom of the aquarium.

All of my questions have been answered, thankyou for your replies.

Actually, four 25% PWCs will remove less waste than two 50% water changes

I agree with that, but I thought Eva was doing 50% once per month...and sometimes less frequently than that. 4 water changes at 25% each would be better than 1 50% (although my quick calculation was off, 1 50% change is 50% water replacement and 4 at 25% would be 69% water replacement).

I think RTR's article is great, and the math can't be beat, but I also don't think its meant to take into account feeding levels, how quickly (if ever) uneaten food is removed from the tank, stocking levels, plants, filtration, whether or not you gravel vac, what comes into your city water supply seasonaly, etc...and I consider those factors that also influence the TDS level and water quality in a tank.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not against 50% weekly water changes and have done them for certain tanks, but depending upon the situation I'm just not convinced we always need to do 50% each week. I actually found the Skeptical Fishkeeper article on this topic interesting a few months ago in TFH (although I can't imagine changes less than 25% per week).

Eric