The Puffer Forum

I'm not sure if I should worry, but hopefully someone has seen this before. My GSP Chopper is sitting on the bottom (which he does in the morning) of the tank with 2-3 little things coming out of his bottom. Looks kind of like white pearls I assume it is white (I have a black light that turns everything white or clear, a greenish color) and it looks like perfectly rounded balls. He has his white belly, eats like a pig (clams on the half shell, shrimp and as many ghost shrimp as he seems to come across) and I did a 15% water change yesterday.
Tanks is in its final stage of cycle (I think....)
PH- 8.2
Am- 0
N02 - 0
N03- 20-30 (difficult to determine exact color, but has been coming down from 40 when it was at the highest)
The only real changes in the 10 days they have been in this tank was adding about 20 fake plants (which I soaked & rinsed in very hot water). May have stirred up some gunk, but this was 5 days ago. Other 2 puffs are doing good. Thanks for the help!

Get that nitrate down with lots of WC. If you can't keep it down with WC, your tank is overstocked. You need to adjust the white balance of your camera, to remove the blue.

Have they ever been treated for IPs?
library/hospital/internal-parasites-pre ... treatment/

Thanks PP. The good news is I think Chopper is fine! Right after I posted, he no longer had the poo hanging. I may have over reacted. When I cleaned the tank Sunday, I had been feeling guilty about not having sand in the big tank for the Puffs to sit on. I couldn't imagine the substrate could feel comfortable on their scaleless tummies. So I took a round, shallow plastic container and filled it with sand from their old tank. I then placed it in the area where I see they seem to like to sleep. I dug a hole in the substrate, placed the dish and built the substrate around it. So they now have their own custom sandbox! Anyway, I think Chopper might have had sand stuck to the poop, which happened before in the other tank, but because of the lighting I couldn't see the contrast.

I did treat the Puffs for ips w/Melafix when they first came home. I have been doing 2- 15% WC per week and the N03 is slowly coming down, but because I have finally gotten the ammonia & N02 down to zero, I've been worried that if I do too many WC during this initial cycling phase, I will be interrupting the cycle and causing the cycle to "restart" each time.

Overstocked tank??. I have 3- 2 inch (or less) GSP's living in a 75g tank with no other fish, coral or rock. How can this tank be overstocked?

You don't have to worry about recycling your tank. Why don't you bump the water changes up to 30% once a week to help bring that nitrate down

supgirl wrote:

Overstocked tank??. I have 3- 2 inch (or less) GSP's living in a 75g tank with no other fish, coral or rock. How can this tank be overstocked?

Your tank "might" not be overstocked if they are small juveniles...but it will be as they grow. I have 2 adults in a 75, and if I put another one in, the upkeep and bioload would just be too much. When they get big, you can forget about doing 15% water changes...it takes me at least a 50% water change to just get all the vacuuming done after a week's worth of eating and pooping. In addition, I doubt 3 would be able to swim and have their own territories in a 75. For 3 a 90 gallon would be better.

They start off little and cute....and then one day they turn into this~ nerf footballs with teeth and bad attitudes

Goodness, PC. Is that the same GSP from your avatar???

Pufftastic wrote:Goodness, PC. Is that the same GSP from your avatar???

No I rehomed the one from my avatar...when I first got into puffers, I fell for the trap of getting too many puffers...so I turned them into a marine lfs and they sold them full marine and they got good homes.

This is a baby pic of the puffer pictured above

Melafix will do nothing for IPs. It it an antiseptic treatment for fin rot, scarring & light bacterial problems.
Is this a fully SW tank with live rock, protein skimmer & power heads?

purplecandle wrote:

supgirl wrote:

Overstocked tank??. I have 3- 2 inch (or less) GSP's living in a 75g tank with no other fish, coral or rock. How can this tank be overstocked?

Your tank "might" not be overstocked if they are small juveniles...but it will be as they grow. I have 2 adults in a 75, and if I put another one in, the upkeep and bioload would just be too much. When they get big, you can forget about doing 15% water changes...it takes me at least a 50% water change to just get all the vacuuming done after a week's worth of eating and pooping. In addition, I doubt 3 would be able to swim and have their own territories in a 75. For 3 a 90 gallon would be better.

They start off little and cute....and then one day they turn into this~ nerf footballs with teeth and bad attitudes

OMG! What a cutie How old would you say this cutie is and how long have you had it.

He is approx 3 years old. I got him in 2010..I think he was from Wal-Mart, got the other gsp I have at the same time. When I got them they were both blind and super skinny. Now they are both healthy...and huge. Need lots of space! And food!

Pufferpunk wrote:Melafix will do nothing for IPs. It it an antiseptic treatment for fin rot, scarring & light bacterial problems.
Is this a fully SW tank with live rock, protein skimmer & power heads?

Sorry, my mistake. I used PriziPro for IPs, I was using the Melafix for eye cloud. No, this tank is a future full marine, but is still only at 1.12 salinity. Have been increasing .002 per week. Have no live rock or power heads, but did get a protein skimmer. I know it won't do much until I'm up to full marine. Have been thinking about adding power heads or another Aqueon 75 filter. Not planning on adding anything else to the tank other than some soft Coral sometime down the road or a few crabs.

purplecandle wrote:He is approx 3 years old. I got him in 2010..I think he was from Wal-Mart, got the other gsp I have at the same time. When I got them they were both blind and super skinny. Now they are both healthy...and huge. Need lots of space! And food!

Wow!!! I love him. So is he 5-6 inches long? My 3 puffs came were brought home from Wal Mart as well and were in pretty sorry shape, but knowing nothing about brackish/saltwater fish I'm so happy each day when I come downstairs and they are swimming, happy and breathing. It's been a long 6 weeks, but I'm learning lots (I hope) and hopefully in 2-3 years, my little puffs will look like yours. I've already told my Husband I want him to start looking on CL's for my BIrthday present. I want to get. 125+ gallon (long/not tall) tank to upgrade thes guys into. I will show him this photo, so he understands why it is necessary. We have never seen any photos of GSPs bigger than a couple of inches, so he doesn't understand why we can only have 3 fish in a 75g tank. I would love to see more photos of your Baby when you have time.

Here are my adult 6"ers:



If your nitrite is high, you must do larger WC. At least 50%/week. I'd do 2x/week, until you get them <20.

They are Very cute! I saw one of these guys in another photo of yours, but could not determine the actual size. They are GSPs? How old are they?

As for the WC, I would gladly do one daily until the N02 comes down, I was just worried about interrupting the initial cycling stage. I was afraid I might be screwing things up by doing the previous changes, but I just could stand the thought of the Puffs in polluted water.

There is very little nitrifying bacteria in the water column. It lives on surfaces, IE: substrate, glass, decor & filter media. Drain away!