The Puffer Forum

So, I got my substrate for the puffer and my finally populated my feed =). 9 ghost shrimp with a small handful of snails. Now they are happily feeding on some algae wavers. Just need to keep cycling the water for the new puff...getting closer and closer. =)

Quick question: Do ghost shrimp and snails need light? Wasn't sure if they had a preference.

Also, anyone have advanced betta knowledge? My betta Freddy, is really sick =( He "blew up" under his pectoral fins, and his right side is slightly bigger than his left. He has been super lethargic, and not defecating the last 2 days and finally, I called the LFS-- they said either a bacterial infection in the intestines, or dropsy (=O) and they gave me "Bifuran." So I put it in his tank, and it perked him up after a while, and he is actually defecating now. Anyone else have anything like this happen before? Makes me sad...never been so attached to a betta before, and I don't want him to die.

Snails prefer darker tanks and I don't think the shrimp would be too bothered by darkness. Hope your betta gets through this

Snails would do better with some algae growth in their tank - fresh vitamins in effect, but it is not essential. They do not prefer the dark. They are algae and unhealthy plant grazers, so are creatures of the light unless predators force them into a nocturnal lifestyle.

MTS will go nocturnal readily under predator pressure, but they too prefer the diurnal lifestyle. They should not be used live for puffer feeding - their shells are too hard.

The good feeder snails, common pond snails and Ramshorn snails, are strongly diurnal.

HTH

RTR wrote:Snails would do better with some algae growth in their tank - fresh vitamins in effect, but it is not essential. They do not prefer the dark. They are algae and unhealthy plant grazers, so are creatures of the light unless predators force them into a nocturnal lifestyle.

MTS will go nocturnal readily under predator pressure, but they too prefer the diurnal lifestyle. They should not be used live for puffer feeding - their shells are too hard.

The good feeder snails, common pond snails and Ramshorn snails, are strongly diurnal.

HTH

I just got the little "pest" snails from a Petsmart. I think they are just the common pond snails. Might have to look at obtaining a few ramshorn. They had a ton of them in their tanks, and their manager refused to kill them off with snail killer. They said that their "snail killer" was a goldfish they moved tank from tank. So he gave me a handful-- I hope that the procreate haha. I will go get them a light then if they need it. Stupid me, in my hurry to get home, that was the one thing I forgot to get = / it's easily remedied though.

@Bertie, thanks, me too! Never been so attached to a darn fish before, and I was in tears talking to the woman yesterday telling her about Freddy. He seems to be doing better, but this is a great lesson in life that will teach me to read up and ask more about their feeding habits before I just feed him. I thought I was giving him the right amount, and it turns out, I was over feeding.

RTR wrote:Snails would do better with some algae growth in their tank - fresh vitamins in effect, but it is not essential. They do not prefer the dark. They are algae and unhealthy plant grazers, so are creatures of the light unless predators force them into a nocturnal lifestyle.

MTS will go nocturnal readily under predator pressure, but they too prefer the diurnal lifestyle. They should not be used live for puffer feeding - their shells are too hard.

The good feeder snails, common pond snails and Ramshorn snails, are strongly diurnal.

HTH

My snails only really come out at night, I did not realise they were smart enough to realise they were safer at night. Lol snails are a lot smarter than I realised. You learn something new everyday, especially with rtr around

You're lucky petsmart still gives you snails. Mine will no longer do it because they are afraid I'll get them in trouble if my tank becomes infested with them... but thats exactly what I want! lol.

Salmon wrote:You're lucky petsmart still gives you snails. Mine will no longer do it because they are afraid I'll get them in trouble if my tank becomes infested with them... but thats exactly what I want! lol.

LoL the guy couldn't figure out why I even wanted them, but when I told him it was for food for my upcoming puff, he was like "Oh." But they had a TON of them! And several gold fish in some of the tanks eating them too LoL

Had to euthanize Freddy. ='( He started to pine cone.

Aww..goldilocke, I'm so sorry

sevenyearnight wrote:Aww..goldilocke, I'm so sorry

Thank you seven. Dumb dropsy. Now I have a 5 gallon tank and I am not sure what I should put in it. I was thinking about another betta, but I am afraid of it going through dropsy again. I don't want to get another fish just to have to put it in freezing water 7 months later. = / Any suggestions anyone? I have boiled everything in the tank, and sprayed the tank with vinegar and let it sit. It's now cycling, eventually will be ready for another fish.

I don't know, 5 gallons is kind of limiting. I had one set up for a snail breeding tank, but they over populated it and I moved them all to my 35 gallon.
I'm not a fan of smaller than 10 g tanks, too hard to properly stock and maintain. Maybe an african dwarf frog or two? I'm not sure if that's big enough for them though.

Again, I'm sorry for your loss.

Thank you again seven. I know I did the right thing. It just sucks. Good thing I found this forum-- I would have never known the ways to euthanize a fish. At least he didn't suffer...

As for my puff tank, I was wondering if some of you experts could help me with interpreting my water test results. I just got my water test kit today =) it's an API marine test kit: tests for PH, Nitrate, Nitrites and Ammonia.

Test results as follows:
PH: ~ 7.8
Ammonia: 0 < x < .25 ppm (it really was between the first and second colors.
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrates: 5.0 ppm

I know it probably still needs some work, but at least it is a start. =) I'm still learning, so I know abouts what the numbers should be, not necessarily what they mean and why they need to be at a certain range. Thank you for your help and your understanding!

The fish constantly excrete ammonia, mostly through their gills, and also from their vent. Ammonia is toxic, responsible for many fish deaths. Even though they do excrete it, it's a small constant amount, so any readable amount in the water column is toxic to them. The first group of bacteria to populate the tank adhering to surfaces within, will break down ammonia to nitrite. Nitrite is still toxic, so in comes the second group of bacteria to break down nitrite and convert it into nitrate. Nitrate is much less toxic and can/will be present in cycled tanks and is safe in small amounts. For sensitive fish like puffers, the nitrate should preferably be under 10, but definitely under 20.
An established aquarium will have substantial numbers of those groups of bacteria, so ammonia (NH3) and nitrite (NO2) should read 0, and a low reading of nitrate (NO3)
If the tank loses its ammonia source, the beneficial bacteria will die off.

pH is important to keep stable, but only as a gauge of overall water quality. Fish do not have an ability to externally read pH, but the parameters that effect pH can be harmful. Seeing a change in pH is just a signal that some thing with the water chemistry is off.
It is important to not add commercial buffers to your tank as this can greatly effect your water chemistry adversely.

I also just saw that you have the marine master kit, your ammonia is likely zero, that color chart is slightly ambiguous. What is the SG of the water you are testing? A good way to find the true color for zero is to make a batch of RO water mixed to whatever salinity your tank water is, then you can compare the test vials.