The Puffer Forum

You are in good hands.

First off, very sad news - one of our puffers died last night Thank you for trying to help him out.

We still have 1 F8 puffer and 2 GSP that we want to help as much as possible. The F8 puffer is the only one showing signs of fungus at this point.

After calling around we were able to find Melafix, Pimafix and Prime. However Biospira is not available in Canada. Are there any substitutes that you can recommend?

If not, any additional recommendations as to how to move forward without Biospira would be helpful.

Sorry to hear that.

See, location would have helped, Biospira is only sold in the US right now. You can order Biospira online from http://www.drsfostersmith.com but its a tad pricey since it has to be shipped overnight. Otherwise, just use the Melafix, Pimafix and Prime and do daily water changes of 50% until the cycle completes. This is just a temporary fix though, as you need a much bigger home for the two GSPs and a larger one for the F8 eventually, although he'll be okay in the 10g for awhile if you can get the GSPs into another home.

Thanks so much once again as always. You are very kind. We are definitely going to get these guys in a bigger tanks asap. We were once again told that 10G is "fine" for these guys

In terms of the cycle, sorry for the ignorance once again but:

1) The cycle will still occur naturally without any other additives? If so, how long would that usually take?

2) Doing 50% water changes - does that impact the durtaion of the cycle (seeing as you keep adding in new water)?

Thanks again!

Yes, the cycle will occur naturally. Usually takes an average of 4 weeks, sometimes sooner, sometimes longer.

Yes, changing the water may slow the cycle down, but it also helps to minimize the toxicity to the puffers. Being scaleless, puffers are extremely sensitive to ammonia and nitrites and even small amounts can damage and/or kill them quickly. Most of the bacteria attaches to the surfaces like substrates, decor and filter media and there's just a small amount in the water, so it shouldn't make too much of a difference.

Thanks again for your response!

We just completed a 50% water change.

Prime package instructions say "to detoxify nitrite in an emergency, up to 5 time normal dose may be used". We put in a double dose of prime to start.

We then added MelaFix and PimaFix as per package instructions (including removing charcoal from filter).

We then retested the levels. Ammonia = 1.0 and Nitrite = 1.0

So here are our questions:
1) Should we add more Prime (as per the package instructions) to bring down the Nitrite? Or is cycling the only way.

2) Anything else we should do to reduce ammonia levels?

3) MelaFix and PimaFix both say to repeat dose daily for 7 days followed by a 25% water change. As you suggested, we do 50% daily. If so, should we continue to add Pima/Mela daily as per instructions?

4) We just saw that the white fungus has grown on our Driftwood in our aquarium. Should we remove this asap and all other things (i.e. rocks, plants etc.)?

Once again, thank you VERY much for your time and expertise.

1. Prime won't bring down the ammonia or nitrites, it just converts them into a less toxic form from what I understand, but they remain in the water to be used by the biological filter (cycle).

2. Nothing else you can do really.

3. Yup.

4. Yup.

My pleasure. Just hope I can help.

Thanks again. Ordering BIO-Spira right now. Just to confirm, should we only get the Freshwater version? Or should we order both Fresh and Marine (for when we setup their new tanks which should be this weekend). We plan on reading a whole bunch more before we set up this new tank. Should be a fun next couple of days.

Thanks again for your continued support!

Good to hear! You just need the freshwater version, not both. You only need to use it once, when first setting up a tank, and with the new tank, you should be setting it up as a freshwater and then slowly begin raising the salinity after that. The GSP care sheet article thing in the library has great instructions on raising the salinity for the GSPs, and what SG they should be at as they age and grow.

Thanks so much once again!

Having trouble finding someone to ship Bio-Spira to Canada :/ Still looking...

Try http://www.aquariumplants.com They carry Biospira, ship to Canada and even have a Canadian distribution center.

Thanks very much yet again!

Update: They will not ship it here either :/