The Puffer Forum

Hi LilGreenPuffer, OK i won't move him.
i got this multi-purpose bio-support from the LFS, it says 300 million live bacteria per teaspoonful, use to set up and maintain a fgresh or salf water aquarium, helps eliminate toxic ammonia and nitrite and helps clean a dirty aquarium

I just did the water test again

ph 7.4
ammonia 0~0.25
Nitrite 0
nitrate 5

This is great! It means that your cycle is almost over! As soon as ammonia and nitrites both read 0, you're done!

Don't add any more Bio-Support. The bacteria has died since it was packaged, and the bodies only increase the amount of ammonia. Unfortunately, Tetra SafeStart, Bio-Spira, and Dr. Tim's are the only formulas that contain live bacteria. Another way you can tell that it's no good is that it says it's good for either SW or FW. Bacteria from FW would die if put into SW so quickly, and vice-versa. So, even if the bacteria was live, that's something else pretty fishy about it.

OK! I will not put in the bio-support in any more. i will go home and double check the water condition and hopefully congo will get better soon. it seems like he has short back fin if i wasn't mistaken. yesterday he seems like he is trying to swim but can only swing the fins only. i'm not too sure what's going on but he seems more active that's for sure.

That's great. Just keep doing what you've been doing, and keep us updated.

somehow I feel like the congo can't swim, he is trying really hard to swim now but i'm not too sure but something happened to his back fin so he can't swim i think so what should i do?

Ummm. This might be out of my league. Does it look damaged?

I just checked the water,

ph 8
ammonia 0.25
nitrite 0.25
nitrate 5

beapeman wrote:I just checked the water,

ph 8
ammonia 0.25
nitrite 0.25
nitrate 5

You're still in mid cycle, keep up the water changes!

By the way, you don't need to keep checking ph. Might save you some time and test solution.

Thanks everyone for the advise. the congo wouldn't survive until now without you guys. I just did the water change again. the congo doesn't move so much and i'm a bit afraid since when i brought congo back, he has bite at the rear end of body which i believe was by fighting between the congos in the LFS. I'm afraid if the poor water condition infect his read end and cause him not be able to move so much afterward. I'm not too sure if this is the problem and would like to know if I need to medicate him or not, does anyone have any thought?

Melafix! Do you have any?

if that's the case what kind of medicine should i give it to him? i was checking his read end and part of his read end colour is different than the rest of the body. I just took him out of the tank with a container try to see if he eats anything and he doesn't even look at the food and has really hard time swimming so to prevent the infection what's the best medicine to give? if you have any idea please let me know thanks.

no I don't have melafix. I will have to buy it tomorrow. how should i treat the congo when i use the melafix?

The dosing directions are on the bottle.

Can you post a picture? That would help a lot to see if there's something wrong with his rear.