The Puffer Forum

I need help from anybody. I am not having any luck with gsp's. I have an aquarium totally cycled. I have a really good power filter and air pump with bubble tube for extra air. Temp is 78 degrees. Zero ammonia zero nitrate. My Gsp did fine for about three weeks and then got dark in color and then went down hill. I'm not sure if any fish stores in town really know how to take care of these. They net them, they put the stress coat in and then go home with me. I've read a ton on these but do I need to do anymore? I have driftwood, two artificial plants and a gargoyle decoration. Just regular stones. PH is 7.6 approx. Tank is freshwater now because they are in freshwater at the stores. ??? Any suggestions? Only Danios as tank mates..

0 Nitrate doesn't make sense. There should be some nitrate. Did you mean nitrite? What kind of test kits do you have? How old are they?

How big is the tank?
What is the filter you have?
What chemicals are you adding?
What kind of water change schedule do you have?

GSPs do best when they have a full 30 gallon tank to themselves with lots of water current and decorations. They also need marine salt to stay healthy. Before you buy any new fish you'll need to answer these questions and decide whether you have the proper setup to keep a GSP.

I did mean zero nitrite sorry. I use Doc wellfish test kits. I have an aqua clear power filter. I haven't used any chemicals in the water other than prime at my water changes. I do a weekly water change. The aquarium is a 20 gallon but I have a 40 started. (I have read a million help sites and so I started that one.) The GSPs they sell in town are about 1 1/2 inches in size and are kept in fresh water. I know they need some salt and I start slowly adding it at the water changes but it is still basically fresh water since the salt barely registers yet.

The 40 gallon would be a very nice home for a single GSP. They will appreciate the space and territory. Since you have an already established tank, you can use some of the filter media from it to do a fishless cycle. Check out the library for an article on how to do that.

If everything in your tank checks out, it could very well be that you just have had very bad luck with GSPs. It's very common that they arrive in very bad shape, what with collection from the wild and transport in over crowded conditions.

The best thing to do to try and ensure their survival is to choose the healthiest looking specimen and to move them into an already cycled tank with an SG of ~1.004 or so.

What size AquaClear filter is it? I assume you have well water if you are not using any chemicals? How quickly are you adjusting the specific gravity?

She said she's using Prime.

Thanks PP. I missed that somehow.

Its the power filter that does tank sizes between 10 and 30 gallons. I don't remember what model or anything..