The Puffer Forum

eieio, true, but wouldn't the bacteria in the sand die and cause an ammonia spike? After all, it is "live sand" for a SW tank... the bacterial strains are different. Even if it was a bag of "dead sand", still wet packed to would cause a spike / cycle IMO.

J-P, i see nothing about an ammonia spike here............, and do we know that the sand was for a saltwater tank?
Carib-Sea markets a similar product for fresh-water use, and for all we know, that might have been what was used.
but either way, no indication of an ammonia or nitrite issue, according to ~reefchik~'s post............

~reefchik~ wrote:The sand was new - some of that soft gold sand that supposedly has nitrate-clearing bacteria (not that I believe that stuff). Perhaps that can go bad? It was mixed half and half with aragonite. Still, no ammonia, no nitrite, used Dr. Tim's to set up the tank and filter....pure RO water and new filtration media (just a sponge), pH 7.5, temp 73.8.

Ugh...just sick about it.

"no ammonia, no nitrite, used Dr Tim's...................."

I know... but I didn't know they made live sand for FW tanks.. that is new to me Thank you

I agree with eieio in regards to how heartbreaking it would be if we knew how many poor puffers don't make it. In some ways it's surprising that any DO make it after all they go through to get to retail stores, and in the end, to us.

And also, puffers do die for reasons that I don't think we will ever quite understand. It just happens, is certainly not pleasant, but that's how it is.

Obviously, there is nothing live, about sand in a bag. Nothing but death in there.

Well, eieio, I don't know. Nothing chemically tested bad in the water, but there could have been some spoilage or something else. The bag smelled sort of musty when I opened it (not alarmingly nasty), but since I'm unfamiliar with that stuff, I didn't know if it was normal. Something else occurred to me...there was a packet of floculant or something, to uncloud the water. I used it earlier in the day. Anyone have an opinion on that stuff? I don't know what it really is.

I did a 90% water change after I took the congo out, and still have nothing but a slight trace of nitrate. I suppose I could put another fish in there to test the waters to to speak but I'm not big on sacrificing anything for experiment's sake. I'm just mushy that way

This is what I got:
http://tiny.cc/f6a4p

Yes, J-P, they do make it for FW. Really nice sand, soft and pretty color and all that, but maybe not the thing to use in a freshly set up QT tank for a puffer.

hrmmmm strange ...There was another member, I can't remember if it was here or at WWM that bought a similar product with that little packet for water clarification. They didn't use the packet and everything was fine but she cycled her tank anyway and used guppies to test it out. I think the entire cycling process took about 2 weeks (if I remember correctly). I thought it was strange because it was so quick.

I didn't depend on the sand to cycle, I was counting on Dr Tim's.

~reefchik~ wrote:I didn't depend on the sand to cycle, I was counting on Dr Tim's.

i doubt that tank cycling had anything to do with the loss of your fish
i also doubt that the Carib-Sea product had anything to do with it
Dr Tims works, we know that
"no ammonia, no nitrite, a slight trace of nitrate" = sounds OK to me.................
many other things could have caused the death of the little fish
i don't see anything here that contributed to his demise
i'm very sorry that you lost him
sometimes they just die

I'm just going to have to resign myself to that, I guess.
I just have this thing about making sure I have checked all variables so I don't repeat a stupid mistake

I really appreciate all the feedback and advice here. It's such a help to brainstorm things like this with others who know more than you do.

~reefchik~ wrote:I just have this thing about making sure I have checked all variables so I don't repeat a stupid mistake

this makes every bit of sense
except that i don't think you made a "stupid mistake"
don't beat your self up
and i hope you get another one............
they are wonderful little fish

You definitely need to get another Congo, they are interesting little puffers.

They seem dang near impossible to find in the US though. But I'm putting out feelers!

~reefchik~ wrote:They seem dang near impossible to find in the US though. But I'm putting out feelers!

it's not surprising that they are hard to find, considering the turmoil that's going on where they come from