The Puffer Forum

lisalisa wrote:That's ok...just making sure I'm not going crazy If your source turned out fine (both?) than I agree to call it a night, you've got it down to a possibly non lethal level (positive, i guess?). Check it and do another large water change tomorrow morning, and go get some more bio-spira.

sounds like a good idea, thanks again for your help. Ill update tomorrow.

You're very welcome...tomorrow I may be relying on you for some help!

One word of caution about mixing salt in 5 gallon buckets: Use tight fitting lids - preferably screw-on like "gamma seals" (US Plastics Corp). I drill a small hole in the lid for an air line, attach a stone, and mix overnight.

Full buckets of water left lying around are a real hazard to little ones and some pets.

JOSHBOX wrote:you guys keep going back to salinity but thats not the issue. It seems to me like they are both suffering from nitrite poisioning. Id really like to solve that issue before I go on adding salt to my tank.

Josh. Are you sitting comfortably? Rub your eyes and read. It's true, GSPs prefer brackish water. Right. But that was NOT the reason I gave for adding salt.

The reason I gave for salting the water was to counter nitrite toxicity. At just a specific gravity of 1.001, the nitrite will be MUCH less toxic to your puffers. Really.

So, you see, you win on both counts. By adding marine salt, you are providing better conditions for your puff, AND reducing the harmful effects of the nitrite.

Adding salt now is, in my opinion, (aside from changing the water like a crazed maniac 24 hours a day) the BEST THING you could do for your puffers in this situation.

If that doesn't squarely address your problem, then I don't know what does.

Frustrated - trying to help you and your fish,
John.

Well today is really sad Nitrites went down to about .3 overnight but looks like I was too late to save one. The other is doing very well in comparison to yesterday. Now I still plan on going to my LFS to get more bio spira today but I was wondering if you guys think I should get another GSP if they have one or another fish or I should just stick to one. Thanks again for all your help guys

How big is your tank?

20G I know they will need more room later in life but they both had very adequate space for the time being. When necessary I will be able to move them to a bigger tank. I am just worried since they got along so well and were very playful together I dont want my only one to get sad. I am also concerned that one fish might not produce enough waste to feed the bio spira.

One puffer in a 20 will provide sufficient waste for the B-S in my opinion. Also, I don't think your puffer will be sad by itself.

Personally, I wouldn't add another fish until you have the tank stablized, and I probably wouldn't add another until you have the bigger tank set up and cycled with the correct SG.

A single puffer will be highly interactive with you...which is fun.

Eric

I just did a 50% water change and will add bio spira directly to my filter as soon as my temperature hits 78. nitrites look like they are just above 0. Looking very promising. Any other suggestions?

what temp is your tank now? you didn't add cold water did you?

OK so, I was able to bring my nitrite down to 0 with bio spira and a 50% water change. My fish was still really sickly even though nitrite and ammonia were 0 so I added 4tbsp of salt to my water to bring salinity to 1.004 which was also reccomended to me and it seemed to be helping my GSP at first but now he is acting a little worse than he was this morning. Do you guys have any other suggestions of things I could do?

What you need to do know is keep your water parameters steady and hope for the best. A warmer temp may help him recover quicker, say 80f instead of 78. Make sure to feed a variety of nutritious foods and clean up afterwards.

If he pulls through, congratulations on doing everything you could for your pet. If you're not so lucky, and the little guy passes on, congratulations on doing everything you could for your pet.

At least now you're armed with some knowledge and experience so that any fish you keep in the future will do much better.

Thanks, im gonna raise the temp and wait this out, hopefully he can make it :-/

Good luck!!

Wow what an improvement, Thanks for all your help guys. Today he is doing better than ever. Hes gained almost all of his color back and is swimming about. He ate very well today also. There is only one strange thing I am noticing is that he sometimes scrapes his body against my decoration rock like he has an itch or something. I have heard of a fish disease called ich so would that be some kind of symptom. Otherwise thanks very much for your help.