The Puffer Forum

Alrighty, this is half question, half statement...

My lil guy, Travis, needed to have his whole tank torn down today. Blue Green Algae had taken over and EM/Blackout treatments had not worked.

I elected to tear down the whole tank, clean the sand and treat the plants (19:1 Water/Bleach dip, followed by several rinses and a 2g bucket bath in water dosed with enough Prime to condition a 30g tank)

Now... Instead of subjecting the poor little guy to a whole teardown i elected to move him from his 5g home to the 32g tank i just set up and cycled for the Dwarfs i'm getting on Saturday. I followed proper bagging and introduction procedures and the lil guy is now swimming around the 32 cautiously checking out the plants for snails (and eating the 2-3 that were in there... very tiny specimens)

My concern is over his coloration. He went very pale about 5 minutes after i introduced him. I don't know if that is just from stress from a new environment, or if it is something to do with the water (did a full API test panel, everything but mineral levels) He's still swimming around and his eyes still show a bit of an iridescent blue-green sheen.

this is about 45 minutes later now, and he's still looking okay, but i want the opinions of my fellow puffer keepers...

(32g tank, moderate level of plants. water panel OK, running same temp as his usual tank, 79*F. Ammo/Nitrite/Nitrate = 0/0/3. GH= ~110ppm KH='good' on test panel. PH=7.3 Trace minerals all nominal)

Probably just the new environment, he should settle in soon. The only other thing I could think of would be a change in light, if the wattage is a light stronger then that could cause him to be slightly pale for a bit too.
Either way he should be fine within the next few days.

Alrighty, it's actually a lower wattage light, and he's more or less 'back to normal' in the coloration department, but he's pacing the glass a bit now. Methinks that's because the living room is usually quite a bit more active than his little tank in the bedroom.

Ahh well.. I get to go to work tomorrow (I'm the aquatics guy at a LFS) i'll pick up some more plants and get all that sorted, new puffs for my tank come in tomorrow, but i have to pick them up on Saturday...

In other news, Looks like my boss wants to put me in charge of the fish meds at the store... apparently no one there has ever heard of Metronidazole or Praziquantel....