The Puffer Forum

I have 1 in my 40g--i think 2 may fit, if they get along.

Biologically the tank could be fine for two, but whether or not they will coexist is iffy and unfortunately unpredictable.

well i dont know what to do here but something is up, my second GSP was dead this evening when i got home but was not acting unusual this morning. i am begining to wonder if there was something wrong with them from the begining because everyone else is doin fine.
the only prob i am still having is my nitrate levels. they will not go below 40. nitrite is at 0, PH is around 7.8, kh is around 180, and salinity is hanging in around 1.004
i have tried changing the water, cleaned the gravel bed in the process, and changed outthe filter but nitrate will not drop, i still have some nitrate balancer which i mentioned in the 1st part of my thread but i dont know if its safe to use on the puffers and scats but i use it all the time in my FW tanks!
any ideas, this guy didnt even give me any warnings just 1 extreme to the next cause he was even eating this morning and color was normal after he woke up to feed!
i thought about getting an ammonia tester but if it was ammonia wouldnt my nitrite levels be testing higher?

well i may have found a possible clue to my problem all along or at least i am hoping so.
i got up to tinkle and on my way back to bed i sat down to smoke and watch some of the early morning activities under the moon lights and there to my surprise under the soft blue glow where tiny lil white spots dotting here and there on the 2 modestus puffers.
now i am assuming that even though they haven't showed up on the F8 and scats yet that they soon will since they all started in the same tank!
my question now is what do you guys recommend for treatment? :27: i done a quick read through on the post "treating puffers with ick" (nice job BTW puffer_archer) but nothing is really said on what to use to treat it except Melafix is helpful to treat any damage done to the puffer's skin.
i have always used Ick Guard in the past on all of my FW tanks whenever the problem come up but is says on the bottle "safe for FW fish and plants" as well as "do not use on scaleless, weak, sensitive, or small fish" but instead to use Ick Guard II. is this a safe alternative to use with the F8 and the scats or do you guys have other stuff that is better?
this also raises another question that i have ask myself a few times since i got into this "middle weight" class of aquatics. do i use stuff labeled for FW or SW since there seems to be nothing out there labeled for us in between people with brackish tanks. 1!)
i may be wrong but is there a point where FW stuff works when they are at FW stage, and SW stuff works after you raise the levels in the tank to a higher salinity? maybe I'm just not cut out for this brackish thing but for as long as i have had successful FW tanks i am not giving up that easy and will probably give some people in here migraine's or at least a good laugh until i get the hang of it! clubself

Try the article on ich that I wrote 1st. It does work.

not quite sure which one you are talkin about...could i get a link?

It's stickied near the top of the Hospital Forum.

so you are talkin about the PimaFix and MelaFix post?

nope, the "treating puffers with ich" sticky

ok, so so if i understand it right adding the salt and upping the temp with the water changes as described will fix the ick?

Yup