The Puffer Forum

So I finally got the levels where they needed to be for the little guy yesterday, seems more active in this tank.
One thing that has been bothering me, it hasn't eaten since Friday night, I mean grant it I've only had him a week now but it has eaten very well up until Saturday night, and I even tried again lastnight and it just kept swimming, even after putting the food right to it's mouth. Not too sure what's going on with that, I'll give it a day or so and try again.

Maybe someone can help me with this as well with my other tank, I'm running out of ideas.

Currently I have a 75 gallon tank at 80 degrees with a AquaClear 70 power filter with the sponge, active carbon and ammonia remove bag.
Also have an LED bubble wand in for added oxygen as well and an EcoBio block.

PH 7.0
Ammonia 2.0
Nitrate .5
Nitrite 0

I am at my wits end here, I have been doing every other day water changes but by the end of the day the water is cloudy again. The ammonia levels are through the roof even immediately after a water change. What is going on?

Tank is housing fish no larger than 3" at this point in time.
1 dwarf gourami
1 pink gourami
2 balla sharks (yes i know the potential size and will upgrade)
1 African butterfly
1 peacock eel

Everyone is in check and is acting fine, my eel is a little lethargic but still swimming and eating fine.

Not sure what else to do at this point, I have added some ammolock in to keep the fish safe from the ammonia. Should i try replacing my filter media?

Don't replace the media, you'll lose what bacteria you have.
Call you water company and ask them what your KH is, if it's low, bacteria has a harder time functioning.

Looks as if my tank is going through an odd cycle stage, not sure if I understand why. Only assumption is because of the horrid ick outbreak I had and all the frequent water changes from it.

Any ideas on why the bugger isn't eating?

Stress, try snails or an earthworm.
Water changes won't throw off your cycle, but medication can. Or if you have insufficient KH.

So i've tested everything everyday for the past few days now, everything is PERFECT aside from the PH is ever so slightly low for it's liking.
I did finally get it to eat yesterday, threw in some dried seaweed and brine shrimp, goggled right up. Guess it doesn't like the blood worms anymore, I have been adding in a few baby snails a day, I am assuming they are getting eaten since I haven't seen any in the tank but the ones that are a little too large.

The coloring on it's belly is still a little off, sometimes gray, sometimes a mix of gray and white and it seems to be doing a lot of window shopping, I am assuming this is stress related and normal?

Gray tummy doesn't always mean stress, but it can. Balki gets a great tummy when he is hunting.

How low is the pH, and what does your tap water read for pH?

Tap reads around a 6.6, and tank reading is about 6.8

Your KH may be low, call the water company and ask them what the KH is parts per million.
Do you have aragonite substrate? This will help buffer your tank to an appropriate KH so your beneficial bacteria can function properly.
But, your pH is above 6.5, so that's good.

I tried this the other day and the women on the phone had no clue what I was talking about, I'll try calling again tomorrow and hope I talk to someone that knows.
it just looks a little sick, active, but its skin looks dull in places as well as its belly keeps going to black.

I was able to purchase a kH test kit for less than 10 dollars at my LFS. It might be worth it.

I'll look into that, my lfs hooks me up pretty often, might be able just to get them to test it for me.

Are the tank parameters reading any better/ did you figure out kH?

Go buy some Tetra Safestart & add it to your filter to boost bacteria.

I added safestart the first day and have been adding stability every day since.
I haven't made it to the petstore yet to test, it was a little more active yesterday, eating snails, but that is about it. Stopped taking blood worms, and will munch on brine shrimp a little.

Its due for a water change tomorrow, I'll run another test then.