The Puffer Forum

1) pH - 7.6
ammonia - .5 ppm
nitrite - 1.0-3.0
nitrates - 0 - 20
freshwater
2) 20 U.S gal, regular tank, crushed argonite sand, plastic plants, and one GSP
3) been feeding him a rotation of frozen bloodworms, snails, and freeze dried baby shrimp; Use Jungle Start Right to dechloronize, and used some Stress zyme
4) no major changes...
5) the tank is about a half-month old...

Ok, so I've got a few confessions to make. Confession #1...I used starter fish to jump start the cycle in this tank (they turned out to be ich carriers). Confession #2 I definately didn't wait long enough for the tank to cycle, just about a week and a half...In my mind, if I had 4 fish producing waste, and then removed them and put in only one fish, the conditions would balance themselves out. I realize that it's totally wrong, and the bacteria need a longer time to grow. I bought the GSP last Sunday, and only today I've noticed that his color was much worse than normal, and that he appears to have ich. Before today...despite being stressed from the water conditions, he had a healthy appetite, improving color, and rarely paced the glass. I don't have anyone I trust to get used filter media from. After I bought him, I did 50% water changes for two days, but realized that I couldn't keep this up lest I hear from my land lady about my water. So I plan to change it again in a few days. And I'm sorry for the vague water conditions above, I have a crappy test kit (strips), and an old liquid test for ammonia.

Anyways, I had hopes that he would survive the cycling, he seemed pretty healthy and was always exploring. But as far as treating this ich, I'm not sure what to do. I read the article on using the aquarium salt, but I've been thinking...Freshwater ich is different from saltwater ich right? I was planning to bump up the SG this Sunday, would increasing the salinity (at the safe level I've read most of you suggest) along with the temperature kill them off? Will increasing the salinity do major damage to my growing bacteria? Please give me your opinion...And I'm sorry for breaking the goldren rule...I just don't have anywhere that I can buy pure ammonia from. And I didn't want to wait for food to rot in there for weeks...I've learned my lesson!

Yes, using the marine salt is better in the case of a BW fish than Aq salt but the WC are stilll necessary to remove the free-swimming cycts from the water column & substrate. Are you not supposed to be keeping fish in your apt? I mean, we're ony talkiing about 10g every couple of days...

See if you can get some tetra Safestart to finish up the cycle. Add it to the filter & skip WC for a few days. You will have to do a good, 80% WC before you add it though. Get that temp up too.

Thank you, I'll get on it tomorrow. I can keep fish in my apartment, but I made a mistake of not washing my sand beforehand, and I wasted ALOT of water trying to clear up my tank over the course of a few days...And now it's obviously clear; I'm not afraid to do regular water changes, but this month I've already used a lot and my landlady...is kinda crazy. Thanks again, I really appreciate it.

That's what we're hear for!

Good luck!

One more question...I'm not going to find Tetra Safe Start in, say, a Petco, am I? Is there a reason some retailers may not stock this?

It should be there...

That's one of the places you may be more sure to find it in. Check for expiration dates.

I'm sad to say that they didn't carry that product...and I couldn't find it on either of the Petco or Petsmart websites. *sigh*

drsfostersmith.com

Don't forget the DFS rebates. Info stickied in Gen Disc.

Well, I've started the treatment a few days ago, and have been making WC about every other day...how long should I keep this up?

21 days