The Puffer Forum

i treat most of the water before it goes in the tank but its such a long process doing it 5 gallons at a time

I can imagine. When did the change in your fish start happening? I wonder if you water treatment plant changed the way they process your water? If they were fine until a couple weeks ago then I would bet that there wasn't as much ammonia in the water at the time.

I think that ammonia levels that high are dangerous to humans as well. It kind of worries me that the official are letting levels get that high in drinking water.

could be one of the many downfalls of living in the ghetto of fargo nd ha ha ha

If you can get an ro/di it would really help. I use ro/di on my saltwater but not on my freshwater tanks. I also have a 55 gallon drum that I store the water in, with a powerhead and a heater to get the temp right and disolve the salt before the water change. With my ro/di, my water goes in with amm. .50-1.0 and comes out amm. 0. The waste water (as they call it) comes out with the same amm. level as the tap.

One more question: Do you add the salt then the water or Water then salt? When I mix salt then water I get very cloudy water that will not clear up. When I get my water then add my salt my water is clear. Just a thought.

i just put my salt in a 5gal bucket then add water and stir. is that what you mean? i guess i didnt understand what you meant........just woke up

I've always been told you should fill the bucket with water first, then add the salt. Supposedly if you add too much salt to water the calcium can precipitate out? And if you put the salt in the bucket first, then add the water, the first water you put in the bucket will pretty much immediately precipitate calcium because its way too much salt.. does that make sense?

Anyways, I fill my buckets with water first, stir in the salt, they are cloudy for a few minutes but crystal clear after they sit 5 or 10 minutes.

jeff_purdon wrote:i just put my salt in a 5gal bucket then add water and stir. is that what you mean? i guess i didnt understand what you meant........just woke up

Yes that's excatly what I mean.
Salt then water= cloudy water.
Water then salt = clear water.
Just as Myaj said put the water in the bucket then add salt. You water will be much clearer.

well i'm gonna have to give that a shot. thanks guys

i may have possible success here finally! my ammonia is almost down to zero and my water is clarity is improving slowly. i got rid of that piece of driftwood that seemed to be shedding basically. maybe that was my clarity problem. as far as the ammonia goes for now i'm just gonna have to just keep an eye on the levels and keep treating till i can afford something else. drastic change in the fish too. i watched them on and off pretty much all day and didnt see any signs of stress and they were busy buzzing all over the tank and seemed to get excited when i walked up to the tank. i really appreciate everybodys help here. i'd buy the beer if you lived in fargo!

Thats funny, my puffers LOVE water changes. They get excited just seeing the gravel vac go in the tank. They swim around like they are getting a new gift, lol. Maybe they were just tired at the time? What do you feed them? I was feeding them brine shrimp for a long time until I realized that it shouldn't be a staple food so I mixed it up with blood worms, mysis shrimp etc. They are much less sleepy now and don't sit at the bottom as much. Sounds like they are doing better though and thats a good thing =)