The Puffer Forum

oh yeah, also, what should I put the two Monos in to return them? Is a big gallon Ziplock bag full of our water ok just to drive them about 15 min away?

Yep. I think about 1/2 water and 1/2 air would work.

I just put them in a bucket.

OK. Another 50%+ done. The husband came home with a bottle of Bio Spira!!! I poured that in with the new Primed water and we shall wait and see. The Monos are back at the store and they even found us in the system and gave us a livestock credit for their price. Now it's just little Stimpy so I'm hoping he perks up again like he did after the last WC. So far so good.

Now that I have added the Bio Spira should I do another WC tomorrow or will that remove a lot of it and set me back?

I wish I had known you'd found Bio-Spira, I would have told you to put it directly into your filter, where the bacteria could colonize the best. Is that B-S for FW or SW? I believe the B-S available now, is only for SW.

I thought about pouring it into the filter. Should have done that with at least half. It was a bottle that would treat a 30 gallon or they had one for a 70 gallon. She said once you open it it goes bad fast even in the fridge so to get the 30 and use it all in our 37 gallon tank. I think it said marine but since I will be raising his salt once the ammonia is gone will that be ok?

He was making me nervous last night with his surface skimming and swimming into the water flowing out into the tank. This morning he is up and seems happy. He didn't want the shrimp pellets (who would blame him) so I'm going to hit the grocery store in a few for some frozen seafood. I'm going to test the ammonia level first.

MY BIG QUESTION NOW IS: Do I do another water change or let the BS stay in there and work? If he isn't interested in the frozen sea food what do I do about him eating?

I think you shouldn't do a water change but watch the ammonia over the day. If it hasn't gone down from this morning then it may not be working.

I've read some papers that say that the bacteria can be the same between FW and SW. Not all of the types but some of them. This means that it may still work, it just won't work as well as you won't be making full use of the bacteria available. Watch your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate over the day. If the ammonia is going down and the nitrates are going up or appearing then it's working. Nitrites may go up too, these are still quite toxic but not as bad as ammonia.

Thanks. I tested the ammonia (I created another post about it) and it's gone down significantly. It was between 5 and 7 and dark green in the test tube and this morning it was between 0.50 and 1.0 and a pretty light green. That is still higher than I want but way better. He still does some surface swimming and isn't bright white on his tummy yet but he's looking more active. Let's hope the damage isn't too bad and he can hang in there. He seems to be a tough one and has always looked the healthiest out of the three we started with.

I think it said marine

Wrong bacteria for SG <1.010.

It says it contains Nitrospira, Nitrosomonas, NItrosospira and NItrococcus.

I have a piece of shrimp shell on and tail in his tank and he picked at it for a while but it's attacking it like I had hoped. The ammonia is steady at around 1.0 like this morning.

Bio-Spira is made for SG >1.010. Keep doing WC, until ammonia is 0.

Ok. I will start another one now. Maybe it will keep from eating the rest of this King Cake I bought when I went to get his shrimp.

King Cake?

It's a Louisiana Mardi Gras tradition. We are in Houston Tx but my family is from Louisiana. It's awesome cake in the shape of a ring with icing and purple, yellow and green sugar all over the top. I bought a cinnamon one but was hoping for a cream cheese or blueberry! It's sneaky stuff that will call your name from it's box all day until you realize you've eaten the whole thing!

So I just finished another 50% water change and I'm almost out of Prime! I will check the ammonia again later today. He isn't surface swimming as much today but he's still not so excited about food. He picked at the shrimp so I will try that again tomorrow. I miss seeing him with a giant fat belly from all his eating.

So? What happened?