The Puffer Forum

Ph 7.8
ammonia 8.0
nitrite 0.25
nitrate 5.0

i did a water change after and i hope the ammonia will go down. my gsp looks healthy but from my water test result, could it be very harmful for him?

Yeah, ammonia is very harmful. Your little scaleless puffy will get ammonia burn on his gills and other bad things.

They make products that you can put in to your tank that will remove ammonia from the water. I believe it is called AmQuel.

Your ammonia is going to turn in to nitrites (harmful) and then to nitrates (not so harmful).

It sounds like your tank isn't done cycling yet.

edit -- was going to add you should probably also invest in some biospira to help your tank cycle or you'll have to do lots of water changes to keep the toxic (ammonia & nitrites) down so they don't kill or injure your fishy.

Just my .02

so i should do water changes everyday till it goes down?

i also have a film on the topo suface of the water. what should i do with that?

do large water changes and get biospira.... Also, get PRIME to detoxify the ammonia

I would do many large, consecutive water changes NOW, until you get that ammonia down to 0. Then do them accordingly, as many as necessary/day, to keep them as close to 0 as possible. What test are you using? At 8, your fish should be dead or at least showing some signs of stress. Do not use any ammonia remover or your tank wil not cycle. Your best bet is to get Bio-Spira ASAP, from a reputable dealer that can guarantee it has been kept cold & add it to your filter. What size tank is your puffer in & how big is he? Are there any tank mates?

no tank mates.
29 gals.
i will buy another bio-spira
api test kit
so no ammo- lock for now?

Definately no ammo lock, but keep doing water changes until you can get the biospira.

Amquel or Prime are both good at making the ammonia a bit less toxic.

The slimy layer on top might be due to not enough water circulation, but is probably all the protiens and stuff from food.. I would feed the puffer very very sparingly over the next few weeks while the tank is cycling.

so when i add the prime should i put amount for whole tank or just the amount of water added. and also i am using aquaclear 50 which circulates 200gph i think and i have a air stone strip. is this not enough for the 29 gal tank?
thanks

When you are doing a wc only need to add the amount of prime that corresponds to the amount of new water.

I believe the bottle says if you're adding Prime directly to the tank, you have to add for the whole tank. If you're dechlorinating in a bucket, than you add for what's in the bucket. As long as you're doing such large WC (80%-often), I'd dechlor for the whole tank. It also helps to detoxify ammonia.

From the Seachem site:

DIRECTIONS: Use 1 capful (5 mL) for each 200 L (50 gallons*) of new water. For smaller doses, please note each cap thread is approx. 1 mL). This removes approximately 0.8 mg/L ammonia, 1.2 mg/L chloramine, or 3.3 mg/L chlorine. May be added to aquarium directly, but better if added to new water first. If adding directly to aquarium, base dose on aquarium volume. Sulfur odor is normal. For exceptionally high chloramine concentrations, a double dose may be used safely. To detoxify nitrite in an emergency, up to 5 times normal dose may be used. If temperature is > 30 °C (86 °F) and chlorine or ammonia levels are low, use a half dose.

damn 80% wc. i just did a 50% right now and added half a cap of prime. so just keep doing these big wc.

mikeKICKz wrote:so just keep doing these big wc.

Yep.

And keep testing that water 2x/day. You may have to do several W C to keep the levels at 0. Your best bet is to get Bio-Spira.

before i did a wc today.
ph 7.4
ammonia 8.0 still
nitrite 0
nitrate 5.0

my could wont clear up either. should i upgrade my aquaclear 50 to a 70?