The Puffer Forum

I need you guys to help me now more than ever before. I know that my 10 gallon tank is too small. However I need to find out whats with my GSP. It all started when I began to feed him intermittently. I would feed him as little as once a week or every 4 days! I did this for about 2 months or so. In the beginning he was still plump healthy looking and looked happy. I enjoyed how he never turned dark colors and was never hanging out by the filters. He would greet me every time I looked into the tank due to his starvation. All of a sudden last Thursday my two hermit crabs are dead, my GSP is skinny and black colored on his tummy and he keeps getting sucked into the filter pipes. I don't know whats going on. I think my Ammonia is about less than .25 and my nitrates are probably less than 10. Nitrites are 0. I think it could be a parasite. I guess it could also have to do with that starving diet I put him on. I wanted to simulate the wild environment and let him go days with out eating. I also liked the added benefit of low ammonia and nitrate levels. However I have since last Thursday began feeding him every 48 hours and soaking his food in jungles parasite tablets.


Check out my youtube vids to see his current state.

http://youtu.be/0v8EECdpWXI


http://youtu.be/5Gm7QJmeZtY

Small active puffers like gsp should be fed every other day at full size and upto 6 times weekly whilst growing. The fact you are showing ammonia is a big problem, what's your waterchange schedule? What are the test results of your tap water? To rule out a faulty test kit test some bottled water. You will likely need to do some huge waterchanges to help him. It might be he has now outgrown the 10g

Remember that most hobby test kits do not and can not distinguish betwen ammonia and ammonium ion. A positive ammonia reading in meaningless if a good conditioner/dechloinator has been used in the last 24 hours. If such treatment has not been used, you need to do more frequent (daily) water changes of 50%b or more until your filter bacteria recover and ammonia is undetectable 24 hours after a water change.

The tank is much too small or the fish is severly stunted. A ten will do for QT for a new and tiny GSP, but that needs upgrading after QT.

Please decribe your filter and it's upkeep as well as your water change schedule.

I do a weekly 3 gallon water change. I have two filters running one aqua tech 10 gallon filter and a aqueon 15 gallon filter. Both filters are just the carbon pads. I forgot to mention that I began to wash my carbon pads 3 months ago and maybe thats why I have lost significant bacteria. I thought I would have kept my bacteria from my sand bed.

99% of your tanks nitrifying bacteria live in your filter, you should have proper foam pads in there not just carbon, never wash filters under a tap you need to do it in tank water. With a gsp in a 10 g I would be doing 3G waterchanges daily.

Should I get some bacteria in the bottle like start right? Will my bacteria recolonise if I stop washing the filter pad?

U should dump the carbon and replace them with at least foam pad. And yes. Use the safe start.

I would not suggest dumping the carbon until foam has been in place for some time to preserve any bacteria present, and I would add Starteight also.

To expand and clarify bertie's message about 99% of the nitrification bacteria being in the foam - that is correct IF the foam and water changes are handled properly. If not handled properly, the nitrification bacteria will still be present, but scattered and much harder to support relyably.

HTH

IMO, that filter is total CRAP! Buy your fish an Aquaclear 70 (or larger) & pour Safestart into the filter.

Filter pads should be regularly cleaned on a rotation basis in tank water. Your bacteria will recolonize, but add foams.