The Puffer Forum

My F8 has changed overnight, he hangs at the back of the tank just surfing the glass and wont come to the front of the tank when I feed him which he always does and really wont eat anything at all.
He also hangs around the bottom of the tank a lot as well, his belly is white and his color is good. Tank parameters are...0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrite, 20 Nitrate pH is at 7.0, water is basically still FW I am doing slow BW changes each week with 1.002. Water temp is 80 F, tank is crystal clear, filter is running great and I'm banging my head against the wall! He has been a very active and curious fish until a day ago, cant figure it out. Any thoughts?

Thinking that my pH was a little low I just rechecked my pH using the liquid kit and its 7.8, threw the paper strips in the garbage!

Forget about pH. Get the SG up to 1.005 & the nitrate <20.

Forget about pH. Get the SG up to 1.005 & the nitrate <20.

Yes was going to do a 50 % W/C and replace with 1.004 but nervous about crashing my tank, you think that its a safe range and not cause a problem?

That's fine. How large is the tank?

its a 20 gal tank

Yea get the sg up over the next 2 week or so, I assume you are at 1.001? If so jump to 1.003 now and then 1.005 next week and he should be good

Thank you! I'll post how things are going over the next week.

Yes please keep us posted, don't raise your sg by more than 0.002 per week or you risk crashing your tank

Good evening everybody, I just did a 50% W/C and got the tank SG to 1.002. How long in your experiences should it take for me to see a difference in my little buddy? Thanks again for all your guidance!

AM update, no change seems even more lethargic constantly surfs the back of the tank very slowly up and down, doesn't swim around the tank at all. I soaked his bloodworms in a little crushed garlic this morning and then dropped a few right in front of his face, he looked at them and totally ignored them, his color has seemed to fade a little, not as pronounced as it was, belly is still nice and white.....very frustrating to see him like this! Like I said in my earlier post he has been super active and a crazy eater just two days ago and nothing changed in his environment at all except the addition of two ghost shrimp for dinner which again he totally ignored but they seem happy anyway!

Why didn't you move up to 1.003 as Pufferpunk suggested? The fish need a bit higher density and more stable alkalinity. Do you have a liquid-based test kit for alkalinity/carbonate hardness? Check out the alkalinity of your tap water after 24 hours standing. If your tap water is not at least high moderately hard to hard, you may need to supplement the sodium bicarbonate. Stable alkalinity is as important as stable specific gravity and direct application to the tank is moderately high risk. Too many hobbyists kill fish by osmotic shock trying to adjust alkalinity in the tank rather than via the make-up water with partials. If your tap water is hard you should have no alkalinity issues.

HTH

API test of pH for tap water after 24 hrs. is 7.5, never see a fluctuation in pH at all as I test it at least once/week when I test all other parameters. I do weekly W/C of 40 to 50%, this morning my water test results are 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrites and 5.0 Nitrate. SG is currently 1.002, I will increase to 1.004 next weekend when I do my W/C.

pH is not the same as alk. I think going up to 1.004 will help. Please continue to test other parameters. Something is off. Any sprays, paints (or similar chemicals) used around the tank? Try some live worms.