The Puffer Forum

I would have to say I do agree with the recommendation to read up and provide the correct conditions for your current fish before taking on any more fish, much less sensitive and delicate puffers.

Fish tanks are very addictive, but if you get in over your head all at once it can be no fun either. Read up on the goldies and what they need, and see if you are ready to deal with that AND a new puffer setup as well. Goldfish are a lot more forgiving and a great fish to learn with, but puffers are extremely sensitive and if you make the same sort of mistakes with a puffer that you can get away with with a goldie (like overstocking, or an uncycled tank, or not enough water changes), they can and likely will die.

Also, ammonia in your tap water isn't very good for your child, much less the fish. Are you on a well in a farming community? That might be the cause of it, fertilizers, etc. If its city water that goes through treatment, I would definately take it up with your city, if it was me.

If you use RO or distilled water as a source for your tanks, you can bring back the minerals, etc in it with a product called RO Right, which makes it safe for freshwater use. However, I will warn you, using that kind of water will get expensive and obnoxious very quickly (goldfish and puffers are both very, very dirty fish that need lots of water changes to stay healthy, think 50% total water volume changed out each week), because you will either have to buy it or buy a filter and filter your own (which is generally a slow and tedious process, with a lot of waste water).

what does it mean when there are alot of tiny bubble stuck on everything? ie. glass, heater, plants...?

is there something wrong with my water. prime wipes out everything right?

The bottle says what it detoxifies. Water changes can cause harmeless bubbles.

when should i start adding salt.

If the brackish fish are kept in the store in fresh you dont need to add the salt until you get them home and settled in in freshwater. Once they're in keep checking the water parameters to make sure you dont get any ammonia and nitrite readings which will tell you that they cycle has worked, if you do get some readings it will be easier for you to do big water changes with fresh than having the complication of salt as well.

Once the fish are in and settled, you can begin to add salt on the first water change by pre-mixing the salt with warm water, it needs to be completely dissolved so the use of an airpump with airstone or a powerhead will help you to acheive this Once it is completely dissolved it will be ready to go into the tank with the water change.

so i got my puffer and now i'm wondering if i should put in a powerhead.

No powerhead is necesssary. How did you cycle the tank so fast? Did you use Bio-Spira?

yea i used prime and stability. on the second day i used bio-spira.
regarding feeding, i should feed every other day right?

mikeKICKz wrote:yea i used prime and stability. on the second day i used bio-spira.
regarding feeding, i should feed every other day right?

Depends on the size of the puffers if they're really small a feeding every day would be good and then space the feddings out as they get bigger.

there is a blurry/fuzzy texture growing on my lake rock and on my gravel. is this something to worry about?

A newly set up tank will go through lots of algae phases.. brown slimy stuff, maybe some fuzzy stuff, etc. If its white and fuzzy, it could be uneaten food laying on the bottom and rotting, growing a fungus. In that case you'll want to siphon it out. If its more of an algae (black, green) then its probably just a usual "new tank" break in period and will likely go away as the tank matures. I wouldn't recommened scrubbing anything while your bacteria is still getting settled, unless like I said its due to rotting food or dead bodies (snails, fish, shrimp, etc).

If there's any sunlight shining into the tank, or you are leaving the tank lights on for more than 12 hours a day, algae will love that, so that's something you can change if its causing a problem.

Be sure to cotinue keeping a close eye on the tank parameters.

tank parameters?

mikeKICKz wrote:tank parameters?

Ph, Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate Readings. You want your ammonia and nitrite readings to be 0, Ph to be stable, most likely in te 7's from your tap water and nitrates ideally not going above 20, the lower the better on the nitrates.

isn't my Ammonia levels be high right now. and is it recommended that i don't dont any water changes as of now.