The Puffer Forum

He's looking good. Patterning is similar to mine.

Boxermom wrote:I'm starting to believe Sabahensis is just a a color/pattern morph of Ceylons.

While I dont disagree they are closely related to the Ceylon it just being a morph I dont agree with there's not enough evidence There are Ceylon variants and they all seem to exhibit the same patterning with subtle differences. You would think if it was just a funny patterned Ceylon that after 5 months in captivity at a low SG I have mine I would be in all sorts of trouble with him having ailments because he isnt in high end brackish. The Ph and water hardness could be a factor to him doing well but i'm not a scientist so I can only go on personal experience.

Perhaps many moons ago a Ceylon populated an area of lower end brackish and patterning evolved into this. Anyone got a time machine.

Sounds like we still can't decide what he is yet.

I have a question about Ammonia test kits for saltwater. Will they work for brackish? The reason I ask is I only have a fresh water test kit. I would like to go and buy one, do you have any recomendations to which kind to buy. I just want to be positive that the new tank does not spike on me.

Thanks, Al

I use the hagen mini master test kit it has charts for fresh and salt but at lower brackish I go off the fresh readings.

Hilly wrote:I use the hagen mini master test kit it has charts for fresh and salt but at lower brackish I go off the fresh readings.

I have the Hagen Ammonia test kit but the water just went cloudy with the Brackish water. It did not show any yellow! Thanks for the advice.

Al

Allan wrote:OK the new home for our GSP is ready to prep. I am reading if I raise the SG too fast I will kill off the FW beneficial bacteria I already have in this well established FW tank. I am reading about SW beneficial bacteria being different. My problem is our GSP is in a SG of 1.010 at the moment. I really don't want to bring the SG down so that I can put him or her in their new home. Should I be worried if I bring the SG up in the new home to 1.010 over night? If so will I have to re-cycle the tank?

Why didn't you cycle the tank at 1.010?

Pufferpunk wrote:

Allan wrote:OK the new home for our GSP is ready to prep. I am reading if I raise the SG too fast I will kill off the FW beneficial bacteria I already have in this well established FW tank. I am reading about SW beneficial bacteria being different. My problem is our GSP is in a SG of 1.010 at the moment. I really don't want to bring the SG down so that I can put him or her in their new home. Should I be worried if I bring the SG up in the new home to 1.010 over night? If so will I have to re-cycle the tank?

Why didn't you cycle the tank at 1.010?

I am not sure what your question is? Are you asking why I didn't re-cycle the tank at 1.010? I squeezed the heck out of the sponge from the old tank into the new tank before I moved our puffer.

Al

You said you are preparing a new (larger?) home. How are you cycling it? If you move everything over from the old tank (substrate, decor filter) then add more substrate & larger filter, all the bacteria that was supporting the pufffer previously will be there to support the puffer in the new tank. After about a month-6 weeks, you can remove the old filter.

Are sabanhesis from the same regions as GSPs? If they both breed in fw or nearly so, they could theoretically hybridize even though their adult needs are different...

Pufferpunk wrote:You said you are preparing a new (larger?) home. How are you cycling it? If you move everything over from the old tank (substrate, decor filter) then add more substrate & larger filter, all the bacteria that was supporting the pufffer previously will be there to support the puffer in the new tank. After about a month-6 weeks, you can remove the old filter.

Sorry for the later reply. I thought I had replied but it does not appear to be here. All I was able to move over to the new tank was a 5 gal pail filled with the water from the old tank. I squeezed the heck out of the old sponge from the old tank into that bucket. The subsrate in the old tank was blue decorative yukky stuff, not going to be in the new tank.

I am keeping up with frequent (2 days) 30% water changes and checking the water once a day. So far everything is great, our puffer loves his new home. I plan to make water changes every 4 days after this Friday. I will still keep checking water parameters.

Thanks again for everyones advice and concerns.

Al

Moving water does nothing, and squeezing a sponge doesn't do much more. Only very tiny amounts of the good bacteria are in the water column, its all on surfaces like gravel, decor and the filter. And it takes time to propagate from those surfaces to others, especially in a larger tank. Basically your tank is uncycled and needs to be cycled. You need to be doing DAILY water changes until the cycle completes.

Boxermom wrote:Moving water does nothing, and squeezing a sponge doesn't do much more. Only very tiny amounts of the good bacteria are in the water column, its all on surfaces like gravel, decor and the filter. And it takes time to propagate from those surfaces to others, especially in a larger tank. Basically your tank is uncycled and needs to be cycled. You need to be doing DAILY water changes until the cycle completes.

Thanks for your comments, unfortunatly this is the best I can do. I would love to be able to do daily water changes but time will not allow this. Also keep in mind that this tank has been running for a long time. I did ask the question earlier if bringing up the SG kills all the FW bacteria in the tank. I don't think anyone answered that question.

As far as squeezing the sponge filter goes, is this different for brackish water? I have had great success with cycling my FW tanks with this method. I have done it countless times. We currently have 32 tanks of FW in our fishroom, and I would have to say all but the first tank where cycled this way.

Thanks again for your comments and please keep them coming, I am learning alot.

Al

I am kind of confused here.

this tank has been running for a long time

Were there fish in there you removed, before you placed the puffer in the tank?

Was it a FW tank & you just added enough salt to match the puffer's previous S1.010?

I answer to your Q, either way, if the tank was a "cycled" FW tank & you raised the SG that high, whatever bacteria was in the filter squeezings you added was killed off by the FW & whatever FW bacteria was in there previously, was killed off by adding that much salt. So BM is right, your tank is uncycled--if I have all this correct.

Pufferpunk wrote:I am kind of confused here.

this tank has been running for a long time

Were there fish in there you removed, before you placed the puffer in the tank?

Was it a FW tank & you just added enough salt to match the puffer's previous S1.010?

I answer to your Q, either way, if the tank was a "cycled" FW tank & you raised the SG that high, whatever bacteria was in the filter squeezings you added was killed off by the FW & whatever FW bacteria was in there previously, was killed off by adding that much salt. So BM is right, your tank is uncycled--if I have all this correct.

Ok I will try to make things clearer! The sponge squeezing came from the tank the puffer was in previously so it was not a FW sponge squeeze, it was a Brackish filter sponge. I did raise the SG up to 1.010 in the new tank and killed off all the FW bacteria as you mentioned. Thanks for clearing that question up for me. So my tank is not starting from ground zero if I am correct in assuming that I did get some Brackish bacteria from the old filter.

I removed the fish that where in there (Hemichromis stellifers) to another FW tank in the fish room. I have been keeping an eye on ammonia and Nitrites and so far we have zero on both. I have fed the puffer only twice since he has been in the new tank and I have been careful not to feed too much. So far so good and I hope I havn't freaked anyone out! I care deeply about all of our fish and I am trying to give them the best care and environment I possibly can.

Al

As long as you keep an eye on the parameters & do water changes accordingly, you may be good to go.