The Puffer Forum

Today I bought the Freshwater Master Test Kit and I read through all the directions, and all the results and what they mean, I just wanted to check with some experts to make sure they are still correct for my GSP since it is a FRESHWATER test kit. Sorry if i sound like a noob...heh heh heh...

High Range Ph: 7.5
Ph: 7.2
Nitrate: 40ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Ammonia: 0 ppm

Those are all the results.

Also, I purchased some Instant Ocean Tablets. I was under the impression this will help turn my tank brackish? It was the only thing in the pet store that looked promising seeing as I couldn't find any marine salt. Any help is appreciated.

PH 7.8-8.2 is good but dont higher or lower if your tap is always like so its better to leave thanhave constant fluctuations and stress the fish. nitrates should be 20 at there highest. nitrite need to be zero as well as ammonia. to get your nitrates down do a massive water change once and retest it should lower the nitrates. since your nitrates are 40ppm if you do 50% water change theyll just read 20 so take more than 50% of your water out. make sure to condition the new water and add your salt if using it. how many gallon tank is it?

Its a 10 gallon tank (yeah yeah i know 30g per puffer....)

Also whats the SG in your tank? Do you have a hydrometer or refractometer to read how much salt is in your tank B/C if you add too much salt you could crash your tank killing your beneficial bacteria in your filter. When raising your salinity you dont want to raise more than .002 a week to slowly kill off the FW bacteria and allow the SW bacteria to grow.

puffers are dirty lil guys thats why 30g minimum is recommended for their own comfort and to keep pollutants down. or youll be constantly doing larger tan 50% water changes and he still wont be happy. Plus it doesn't take long to stunt their growth which screws up their immune system leaving the more prone to disease and not a very long life. get him in 30g or more he needs it.

Alright i'll try to upgrade to a bigger tank soon. This little girl is sucking all the money i have out of me lol. I dont have the Sg thing either. :\ Everytime i think I have all the right equipment theres always one or two more things to add

I feel exactly the same way too I went thru alot of hassles with these little guys. I just got mine about a month or so ago and have learned alot about their care and have seen huge improvements by just little tweaks in water chemistry and tank volume. I made the mistake of buying them from an uneducated pet store and now have probably spent 300$ on then since getting them in their own tank, equipment foods etc. but sadly today I might be seeing symptoms of ick from a new plant or puffer so know I gotta treat for a month I have never experienced as many probs with any fish as with these guys since I have always kept FW. thanks though to lots of insightful people here at TPF

You need to be doing more water changes and keeping those nitrates down. He's going to get stunted if you don't upgrade him soon.

always check craigslist.org for fish tanks they are very cheap and some times free in the 'free' section. just look up "fish tank" in the "for sale" section and guaranteed youll find a 30g full setup for like 50 bucks or less

I don't know what those IO tablets are but they sure don't sound like salt to me. Keep looking for marine salt. Any LFS that carries SW fish will have it. You could order a hydrometer/refractometer along with salt & tons of other goodies from: http://www.drsfostersmith.com. See the sticky on how to get rebates.