The Puffer Forum

I have 2 Gsp in 55 gal tank all my water parameters are in a healthy range i just started adding salt and sg is only 1.001/1.002 i first used tetra safe start to cycle as fw and am now using api stress zyme that is safe for fw or sw i also used tetra easy balance when first started tank about 6 wks ago the larger gsp aka chubbs is looking pretty good has slight color change from time to time turns light gray on hid sides the smaller gsp aka dart has been getting darker and darker over last couple days and is almost black in color i just began adding sw mix yesterday and sg is very low

Ive done 10 percent water changes weekly and test water almost daily and my feeding shedule is 2 days on 1 day off 3 days on 1 day off i feed them krill snails uncooked shrimp and ghost shrimp

gsps go black when they are sleeping or resting....could be nothing...just incase slow down the salinity and make sure you are not exceeding your SG by more than .002 a week... maybe someone else knows more about this stuff... I haven't messed with it in a while

The fish is not sleeping or resting and the salinity has only been raised around 1.001 my hydrometers lowest reading is 1.004 but the arm in the hydrometer has barely raised not even halfway between 1.000 and 1.004

provide us with the information above in red. that will help us narrow down your issue.

How did you mix and dissolve the salt? If it was improperly mixed it could be dissolving in the tank causing the death of good bacteria, which would cause an ammonia spike.

Need your parameters to know for sure.

How's their appetite? Swimming normally?
Stop with the Stresszyme, the tank's already cycled, you don't need to add more bacteria.

Nitrates are staying between 20/40 nitrites are reading zero ammonia was up a little but did 20 percent water change ph is 7.8 and i mixed salt in bucket with power head for 24 hrs

The only way to lower nitrate is with water changes. Should be <20.

What can i do to help with ammonia and everything else spiking during sw mix being added to My tank i use a mixture of distilled water and my tap water which is well water and is hard and alkalinity is up there but test strips say it's a safe level

50% water once a week when the parameters are under control. Because of the ammonia spike I'd do daily 20% water changes. Get the ammonia under control before worrying about the salinity. How long has your tank been established?

I used tetra safe start when i started the tank about 5 or 6 wks ago now i am ready to begin adding sw mix to achieve a light bw my gsp is slightly under 2 inches and he was in fw at fish store so i don't want to do too much too fast

wesb219 wrote:I used tetra safe start when i started the tank about 5 or 6 wks ago now i am ready to begin adding sw mix to achieve a light bw my gsp is slightly under 2 inches and he was in fw at fish store so i don't want to do too much too fast

When did you add the safe start? You said easy balance which IMO is something different from safe start. Safe Start and to a lesser extent StartSmart are good bacteria that get your tank cycled fast. Most other products = waste of money.

Assuming it was SafeStart, did you add it at the same time as fish? The bacteria has to have something to feed off off, either fish waste from a hardier fish like zebra danios, or even better a measured ammonia source like pure bottled ammonia etc.

When I've used safe start, I've added fish and safe start at the same time. Cycle is completed within a few days and stable within a week. But if you changed water while the bacteria was getting established, the SafeStart bacteria didn't have time to get established. Instructions say don't change water for at least a week. When I've followed them, the product has worked flawlessly. The last time was about a year ago; since then I've had other tanks I could move filter media from to get the bacteria colony jump started.

One last option - based on what I've observed at stores while watching puffers before I picked one up, all crammed together in those little tanks, one or more of the GSPs is almost always dark (stressed) because there's no space for them to hide really. Could it be conflict between both puffers? I defer to PufferPunk et al on this one, but just a thought.

I'd also be sure to add Safestart directly to your filter, as that's where you want the bacteria to colonize 1st. At this point, I'd either add another bottle of Safestart to the filter or keep up with daily WC, keeping the ammonia/nitrate as close to 0 as possible. 2x/day, if necessary. Don't add any more salt, until your tank is stable. What SG is it now? How much salt have you been adding?

I did add the safestart when i added the fish and didn't change the water for at least a wk or longer i haven't added much saltmy hydrometers lowest reading is 1.004 and the arm is only raising to slightly above 1.000 so my salinity is still very low and now my surviving puffer the larger of the 2 i had is starting to Change from his regular color to a very pale almost milky white color and I've been doing wc every day