The Puffer Forum

I do not use credit cards online. i won't poste here anymore you guys seem way to serious, and prompt that only your way works. To me the fish look happy, so I don't think I did anything wrong. I had an oscar that lived almost 7 years and i did not cycle the tank the way you guys did. He died when i moved didn't transport him properly, should have ask you genious' here how to do that too eh?
bye!

I don't understand your attitude. If your fish are fine, then why did you post here? You have come the the source of the best information you will find anywhere on how to keep your puffers happy & healthy into their teens. Puffers are very sensitive to the toxins that are produced by their waste--much more so than an Oscar. They are scaleless & have no gill covers. We are just trying to tell you the most successful way to prevent your puffer from suffering from these toxins. I have been using credit cards online for over 10 years, without ever a problem. Maybe you can use Paypal, or maybe you could do a thorough search to try to find the product i mentioned. If none else, I don't see why you wouldn't be able to find plain ammonia in any local hardware/drug store. Why not do it right?

There's also a method using brown sugar that people on another forums swear by but I don't have any information on it. Could probably google it if interested.

Sorry for my attitude just confused. I looked around my town could not find amonia anywhere, and I'm not sure if amonia will be shipped across the boarder if I order. Will the shrimp theory work? Again sorry for getting upset. I just have people here in town with puffers and this forum and i'm getting totally differently answers.

The shrimp method works fine. Ammonia is usually available in grocery stores in the cleaning aisle. Just gotta make sure its PURE ammonia with no additives. Regardless of the method you use, you are going to need to invest in a good test kit. Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Master Test Kit is a good one that has all of the basics you need, should be available at one of your LFSes, and is reasonably priced (about $25 or so and lasts quite a long time). Even after your tank is cycled, you should be testing the water periodically, especially weekly before doing water changes for the first several months until the tank is well-established. After that, once every couple of weeks or even once a month is probably fine.

It helps us if you go to your Profile & at least fill in where are you from.

I just bought a huge testing kit, remember i'm from canada and a small town I paid 68 tax for this kit, gonna do the test soon and post the results

I bought a master kit here are my readings for my 30 gal tank that contains my 2 GSP:

Ammonia bellow 0

Nitrite 0.1

PH 7.9

Nitrate - It appeared yellow, yet all the readings on the card were a purplish color.

The master testing kit stated that when levels were a certain range to add cycle? should I do that? I'm doing a water change tomorow

These are liquid kits, correct? It appears you didn't follow the directions carefully enough. Ammonia cannot be below zero, and if the nitrate test is turning yellow but the card has ranges of purple, you didn't follow the directions for the test, or you used the wrong liquid for it, or you are using the wrong card. The directions for each test must be followed precisely - measuring the exact number of drops, waiting the right amount of time before reading (or adding additional drops as needed).

Well for the amonia test there is a 0 range on the color chart and that is what i got for my test -- from the info I gave u so far what can you tell of my tank? 2 days from now I'm gonna do a water change, and then retest, then i'll post again
thanks
Yes there are liquid tests

What I can tell is that you didn't do the tests correctly, at least for nitrates, and should redo them. Since you are also showing nitrites, I would do a bit water change immediately and every day until there are none.

Redid my amonia test and it appears to be between 0 and 0.1

What about my PH does it seem ok?

The nitrate is still appearing to be a veeeery pale yellow? I tested it 3 times now.

Your pH is fine. Chances are you are using either the wrong liquid for the nitrate test or the wrong color chart.

I'm pretty sure I'm using the right stuff, but when I use test paper for the nitrate i'm slightly under .5ppm

Wow, $68? You gottta start ordering online. Have you had a bad experience using your credit card? I've never had a problem & have ordered $1000s of items in the past years.