The Puffer Forum

Yes I have seen you do have great Mods I'm thankful to all of you. I'm going to go buy the things he needs right now. This is a wonderful site!!!

I saw someone said they won't be selling fish anymore? that's good news!!

After the water changes from last night i kept his tank light off and his belly was pure white even till about 20 minutes ago. i went out to tropical fish and bought supplies and when i came home he was still happy so i decided to turn the light on to feed him ghost shrimp and his belly started turning black again.... do i have incorrect lighting? it came with the 10 gal starter kit but it's yellow and am assuming it isn't floresent.

also i think he's too nice because he's just swimming with the two shrimp i put in. should i add more shrimp? he actually looked like he tried to chase one but it was WAY too fast for my puffer. The store only had Bio Enzyme powder form, so i hope that it works the same as BipSpira.
could he have parasites since the other puffer that died had parasites? Thanks Again!!

Nick wrote:No problem, the aquarium salt on it's own does very little, the most important things in the marine mix are the other minerals that buffer it, your puffer will be fine without it for now. Just keep up daily 50% water changes, and I recommend using Prime as your dechlorinator, as it will also keep the ammonia and nitrite from making him more sick while letting the tank cycle still.

There is no substitute for Bio-Spira. You must use that product & no other. Everything else is dead bacteria, which is just adding more waste to your uncycled tank. Remove that with a water change & find Bio-Spira. You may have to search around for it or get it online.

Hi again! i think i found one pet store which may have the bio-spira but i didn't really believe that so i started to research online and the tropical fish forums are saying bio-spira killed their tank of fish because it didn't work. should i just stick with water changes everyday?
if so, when or how will i know the tank is cycled?

This mourning, i bought a hydrometer, live sand, prime conditioner, marine salt, thermometer, salt water master test kit, plants, live black worms which he does not like and ghost shrimp which he can't catch., and looks frustrated with that, so i threw in some of the krill i had been feeding him and both him and the ghost shrimp went for it and he saw the shrimp, he saw the krill and swam away!!!???

tonight we are going to buy a 30 gal and a heater, hopefully it will come with better lighting.

Oh yeah, i'm sorry but the hydrometer i bought's lowest level is 1.012 and you guys said the tank should be at 1.005 so how does that work?

Take they hydrometer back for one that reads all the way down to 1.000 (freshwater).

As for the puffer reacting to you turning on the lights, he could just be scared, or maybe he's gone nocturnal (more active at night than daytime). When you turn on his light, try to turn on some other lights in the room so he gets a little "warning", instead of all of a sudden this big light above him turning on. He should get used to it after a while.

Thank you so much! everyone is so responsive. I love this site!
you guys have given me hope that I can keep this fish.
My gs puffer (scaredy cat) thanks all of you too.

Myaj wrote:Take they hydrometer back for one that reads all the way down to 1.000 (freshwater).

As for the puffer reacting to you turning on the lights, he could just be scared, or maybe he's gone nocturnal (more active at night than daytime). When you turn on his light, try to turn on some other lights in the room so he gets a little "warning", instead of all of a sudden this big light above him turning on. He should get used to it after a while.

Make sure that you get a hydrometer that you remove from the water. From what I hear the ones that stay in are pretty innacurate. I think you should still get Biospira but make sure it is refridgerated if it is warm it's no good.

So should i return the saltwater master kit for a freshwater master kit??

flamesofifreet wrote:Make sure that you get a hydrometer that you remove from the water. From what I hear the ones that stay in are pretty innacurate. I think you should still get Biospira but make sure it is refridgerated if it is warm it's no good.

No, stick with the saltwater kit, and just keep up with those 50% water changes every day until you get some biospira. Biospira can not, no matter what happens to it, kill your whole tank of fish. If you get a bag that the fish store let get warm for too long, and all the bacteria died, and you used it and did not bother testing the water the next day to see that your levels were only slightly elevated, your fish might die when you use biospira. But it isn't what killed them, all the ammonia is. You can certainly cycle the tank manually, but you will be changing 15 gallons at least once a day for at least 4-6 weeks, possibly longer. This gets... draining. Trust me, after a week of water changes on that 30, you will want the biospira solution.

Also, the most likely reason your puffer is not eating well is stress, it's a common response to lots of ammonia because eating less will make him poison himself more slowly. He certainly has parasites if he was in a tank with another fish that did, so he will need to be treated for that, even if he's asymptomatic.

Okay. good to know, though i am only assuming the other fish had parasites but pretty sure since he had long stringy feces before he died, so...
what is the best product to treat for parasites?
we are going to the store tonight for more supplies, (like the 30 gal tank)so maybe i can get that also while i'm out.

so the prime will get rid of the ammonia right? i will do a water change now with that in mind and use the prime insted of the aquasafe with bioextract.

without you guys i'd be lost and he'd be given away to a store who probably wouldn't do the right things either. i'm sorry if i'm too full of questions
hopefully i'll figure this all out before you hate me!! lol

Nick wrote:Also, the most likely reason your puffer is not eating well is stress, it's a common response to lots of ammonia because eating less will make him poison himself more slowly. He certainly has parasites if he was in a tank with another fish that did, so he will need to be treated for that, even if he's asymptomatic.

oh yeah alsoi was going to buy a heater but in petSmart they submerse in the water?
is this something i need for my gs puffer?
the thought of it being in the tank with him, made me think of him curling up on it and getting burnt.

OKAY I JUST CHANGED HIS WATER WITH PRIME DECHOLORINATOR AND NOW SOMETHING NOT RIGHT I ADDED ONE TABLE SPOON OF TOP FIN SALT.......HE IS FLOATING UPSIDE DOWN AND BEFORE HE WAS FINE???? WHAT DO I DO??????????

Pufferpunk wrote:There is no substitute for Bio-Spira. You must use that product & no other. Everything else is dead bacteria, which is just adding more waste to your uncycled tank. Remove that with a water change & find Bio-Spira. You may have to search around for it or get it online.

i freaked out and added the aquasafe with bioextract he looks better now. he does have tiny specs of white dots raised, like salt i guess i seen some say on the net.
so what can i do to treat that?
and is it safe to treat it if its not actually ick/ich?
i won't use the QuICK Cure anymore!!!