The Puffer Forum

Ok well, i just got these little guys like a month or so ago, had a few black bellies, changed their diet a little bit (I'm now feeding them frozen krill which they love!) I had a problem with one of them bing a little too skinny so i asked the local pet store owner who pointed me in the direction of the krill and now he's plumping up. when i got them they were in fresh water and I've slowly been adding salt water to the tank (sea-pure 1.022 gravity adding it to fresh water) i run it through a bottle i put a charcoal filter into as to make sure its filtered before entering the tank. i do about a cup per week on Fridays after i change the water (25%). They seem to be doing really well no problems aside from one (which may not be a problem at all i don't know and thats why I'm asking lol) they from time to time curl up and then just float around lazily they don't seem bothered by anything, and when i tap on the tank or wave at them they straighten out and swim towards me just fine. I don't know if this is unusual behavior but they just look like they are having fun. Any input would be great as I'm a first timer.

Also i have 4 of them in a 30 gal tank(i know big oops) but i have a 100 gal tank coming which I'm not looking forward to setting up and cycling at all lol
They have a 85% sand/ 15% pebble substrate plenty of line of sight breakers and they all seem to get along very well, so this curling up thing is my only problem at this point in time.

Thanx much!

P.S. Im not sure if i posted in the right spot and if i didn't i apologize!

Hiya,

If you want to keep these guys happy and healthy your're going to need a hydrometer (to measure the salt) and a test kit...

can't see any reference to these so i'm assuming you don't have them?

You need to be raising the salinity by no more that 0.002 a week so as to prevent damage to the good bacteria in the tank....

I'm not sure i understand your message, are you mixing up salt with water from a packet... or are you getting ready made saltwater from the LFS or soemwhere else? Why are you putting the new water through carbon first?

Do you have a filter in your tank as well as just filtering the new water?

My puffs do sometimes spin round with their tails anchord by their sides, as long as they're bellies are white and they are active, not showing laboured breathing etc then the should be fine...

but you need to vary their diet alot more, add mussles, cockles, snails etc...


Can you clarify how you are adding the salt and then I can be sure it's not going to causing the tank problems.

Also, if possible, could you post up the information that's shown in red at the top of this page? That would help a lot with diagnosing some of this.

Mine swim around with their tail curled beside them when they're scared, it seems. If I hold a little dollar-store robot in front of the tank (yeah, it's weird, I know, but it was randomly sitting on my desk), they curl their tails and swim away from it. I feel bad about doing it, but it kinda intrigued me. At first I thought it was because he was red, as I read something about puffers not liking that colour, but then I tried it with the blue version (yes, there are TWO of them), and they did the same thing.

I only did it a couple times, though, because I don't like frightening my babies!

Yeah it's perfectly normal for puffers (especially when small) to swim with there tail curled. It generally helps them keep balance and turn.

Yeah sorry i wasnt to specific to be honest i dont have any REAL specifics on the ph or anything. The tank has been well cycled and been kept up well, it was previously a freshwater tank untill i put a cichlid in there and it ate all my other fish so i got rid of him and it was running with no fish in it for a few days untill i saw these puffers and fell in love lol. i did a little reserch on them (wasnt enough) and everywhere i looked said they were freshwater and nothing about being brackish so i bought them thinking the tank was fine and later found out that hey need to be in brackish water. So to answer a few (what i can) more questions tank mates are a couple of tetras who are taking to the salt change incredibly well. Puffers diet is currently krill and some freeze dried bloodworms (as NO ONE seems to sell snails or anything of the like in my area) the tetras are fed regular tetra flakes (which the puffers also like to snack on). The salt i bought is this sea-pure purified sea water, its already "mixed" so to speak with water and the gravity is about 1.022, yes i have a filter on the tank i just run the saltwater im adding through another charcoal filter before adding it into the tank just cuz im being cautious, i add about i cup every week, like i said its already a liquid so theres no mixing i just dump it into my filter bottle thingy i made and let it drip in. I currently dont have any supplies for testing. i didnt buy any yet because the tank (many years ago) was a salt water tank and figured i would just use all that but now cant seem to find the box i put them in. i will be buying new testing things tomorrow before work and will test and give you the readouts on all that. As i said before they "seem" to be doing VERY well, the one littlest one is a little too skinny but hes getting better now that ive been feeding them krill. All in all their demeanor is good i just hope they hang in there untill i can get the new tank cycled. (speaking of) does anyone know any good fish-less cycling products?

Thank you for your time and answers!
Jeff

Also i was re-reading your answers and i saw that you mentioned something about them not liking red lol my substrate is white sand and a little red gravel here and there and now i myself am intrigued because they will not eat anything that makes it to the bottom of the tank. They pick at it from time to time but once it makes it there they leave it alone lol does anyone else have this problem too? I heard that they are sloppy eaters so this came as no shock to me. but if they really dont like red ill have to do something about that gravel lol

Test kits expire so your old test kits won't work anyway just so you know.
The best way to fishless cycle a tank is by adding pure ammonia to a tank. There's an article on fishless cycling in the library, there's also a feed article which you will probablly find useful.

Yes, please post up for test results so we have an idea of the tank. I've never had problems with my Ceylons picking food up from the ground, though. You'll have to try removing the red pebbles to see if there's any difference! It could be quite an interesting find, I must say.

Those tetras need to be moved, they will not tolerate the salt for long...

they are also likely to become puffer food...

let's be nice to all fish, not just puffs!


)

My puffers have slept with their tails curled , if they are checking out something of interest at times I have seen them curl their tails or sometimes if they are turning they curl their tail .

Knowing your water parameters is important. Also make sure krill is only used as a treat once in a while as it is not good for puffers on a regular basis. It has been know to cause problems. Feeding krill only is linked to causing lock jaw.

Check out the puffer library on this site!

Ok so I got these testing strips for everything, still nothing to check the salinity they didnt have anymore there the other night and told me to come back on tuesday... but Im sure they will be fine on that for now the rest of the stats are as follows:

Ammonia: 0ppm ("ideal")
Alkalinity: 300ppm ("ideal")
Nitrates: about 35-40ppm ("ideal")
Nitrites: .5ppm ("caution") <-- How do I lower this?
pH: 8.4 ("ideal")
and like I said Im not sure on the salinity yet

I just used these dip strips which I dont like very much, nor do I trust, so when I go out on tuesday to get the gravity meter Im going to pick up a liquid test kit because it seems to me (Im not sure Its been 10 years since I had the salt water tank) that if one of the paramiters is off there should be another one off to right? Maybe Im wrong, like I said its been a while. Also another problem arose, or should i say is recurring. The littlest of my puffers is now what i would call too skinny. i thought it was getting better he was shaping up well but now he looks like skin and bones again today(after looking fine yesterday), i was reading elsewhere on this page that someone had a similar problem and theirs had parasites? anyone know how to know for sure? or how to take care of the problem, and should i move him to a different tank?

Changing water reduces nitrites.

Yeah, if he's really thin, it's called Internal Parasites (IPs), and you can treat this with various medications (both home-made or store-bought). There is a good article in The Puffer Library under the Hospital section (at the top of the screen under the Learn tab). Your best bet is to treat the Internal Parasites as quickly as possible. Just make sure you soak their food in the medication.

As for your Nitrites being a bit high, they should decrease soon. The process for beneficial bacteria is as follows: bacteria builds up to reduce ammonia levels, which creates nitrite. Nitrite bacteria builds up to reduce the nitrite levels, creating nitrate. Nitrate is removed with water changes. Your cycling process should be complete soon. In the meantime, you might want to do a small water change to bring the concentration of Nitrites down a bit.

I also have to agree that dip strips don't work as effectively. You're best off to get a liquid test kit. Speaking of which, I have to go pick one of those up sometime... I think my roommate is getting tired of me using all of his, haha!

Alright first off i have to thank you all for all the amazing help, im going to go check out the "IP" thing and see what I can do. I was reading another post on this forum where someone meantioned a "python" and upon checking it out it would also be amazing im in the basement of a house so lugging water from the upstairs down here and vice versa its such a pain but i do keep regular water changes on fridays. aslo a side note i started hand feeding my puffers as to not see soo much waste because the night before last i noticed that a TON of leftover food was gathered under this log (and had some stuff growing on it ) so i scooped everything up and upon doing so mixed the water up a bit which might be a LITTLE of the water problem. tank is crystal clear today and no food collecting at the bottom lol but like i said you are all a godsend with your help! i appreciate it. ill probobly do a water change early this week and get all of the right tools for the job and recheck everything and let you know whats goin on with that. Now im worried about this IP thing. Should i quarentine him or would treating them all at the same time be the better bet?

Well, if you want to treat them all, I'd go with the Organic Pumpkin seed method. It's more natural, so treating all of your fish won't be as worrisome as using a medication. However, if you think he's dangerously sick, maybe set up a quarantine tank and treat him in an isolated condition. Supposedly, after you feed IP medication, they discharge the parasites, which could potentially mean re-infestation to other fish, so quarantining a highly-infested fish might be worthwhile. If he's just kind of thinner than the others (like one of my Ceylons), stick to a light dosing of the raw pumpkin seed and just clean the gravel the day after to pick up any waste.

Again, get the Python as quick as possible, as it makes cleaning up those food messes super-easy! Also, if you're noticing that everything seems to build up behind that log (for instance), you might consider moving it, or putting in a pump that points in that direction. The build-up of food indicates a stagnant area in your tank, which might be worthwhile to get rid of (if only to prevent more build-ups).

Hope that helps!