mattbeau
Fish Crazy
Sorry this is long but its complicated.
Ok this is what I did and this is what happened,
I’ve been reading that puffers will enjoy smaller granual substrate dark if possible like sand or slightly larger.
The LFS run-
I picked up some “black beauty” a black shiny granule gravel about the size of 1mm diameter or less. The puffer was eating brine shrimp but not a lot, was trying to eat the snails but only seemed to bug them more than anything else so I was going to try frozen bloodworms.
The move-
Moved the puffer to the community tank, stats are all the same for both tanks-
Nitrates 20
Nitrites 0
Ammonia 0
Ph 7-7.2
Temp 80
Every thing should be fine since he would only be there a short while.
The gravel change-
1. I siphoned all the water from the puffers tank into a 5 gallon bucket
2. I took all the old gravel and moved that to a pot
3. I poured out the remaining water (1 gallon) from the tank into the sink
4. I put the new gravel into the tank,
5. I filled the tank completely with water
6. I siphoned all that water back out into the sink, I did this twice.
7. I Poured the old water back into the tank
8. Add the normal additives during water change, amqual plus and novaqua
9. In the process I also damaged his water heater, I move the communities water heater over to the puffer’s tank since his is smaller and would run the risk of dropping temp faster.
10. I put some of the old gravel into the filter media, waited about an hour for water to clear and watched the puffer, who seemed pretty mad.
11. Put the puffer back into the tank. And tried to feed him the new blood worms.
He basically ignored me and what I was doing, I figured he was still pouty since he was sitting on the bottom, I figured ok he just needs to cool off and get to know the new gravel. Turn his light off and let him be.
Check him in the morning and he’s sitting in the gravel in a different spot, it was early so I figure he’s sleeping, his fins were still fluttering about though.
Today’s LFS run
Pick up 3 batches of plants, an air pump an air stone, a new heater and a master test kit (the mardel kits start costing a lot as much as I use them.
I return home, Look in the puffer tank and what do you know he’s dead, no sign of infection, or parasites, not all puffed up or anything, just lying on his side
Check the water with new kit
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0.25
Nitrates 5
Temp- 80
PH 6.0 (weird), Community tank is still 7 with new test kit. Tap water is also 7
Also all the snails are dead that were in there, not by the puffer, just folded up in there shell
What on earth did I do to drop the ph so fast? Can black beauty do this? A web search shows:
“Black Beauty is another affordable sand used for sand-blasting and is sold at home supply/hardware outlets. It’s not really sand but powdered iron slag. It can be quite sharp so it’s not recommended for fish that sift a lot of sand such as Tanganyikan sandsifters. Furthermore, these very fine particles contain iron, which means they are not inert.
http
/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/sand.php
Ok this is what I did and this is what happened,
I’ve been reading that puffers will enjoy smaller granual substrate dark if possible like sand or slightly larger.
The LFS run-
I picked up some “black beauty” a black shiny granule gravel about the size of 1mm diameter or less. The puffer was eating brine shrimp but not a lot, was trying to eat the snails but only seemed to bug them more than anything else so I was going to try frozen bloodworms.
The move-
Moved the puffer to the community tank, stats are all the same for both tanks-
Nitrates 20
Nitrites 0
Ammonia 0
Ph 7-7.2
Temp 80
Every thing should be fine since he would only be there a short while.
The gravel change-
1. I siphoned all the water from the puffers tank into a 5 gallon bucket
2. I took all the old gravel and moved that to a pot
3. I poured out the remaining water (1 gallon) from the tank into the sink
4. I put the new gravel into the tank,
5. I filled the tank completely with water
6. I siphoned all that water back out into the sink, I did this twice.
7. I Poured the old water back into the tank
8. Add the normal additives during water change, amqual plus and novaqua
9. In the process I also damaged his water heater, I move the communities water heater over to the puffer’s tank since his is smaller and would run the risk of dropping temp faster.
10. I put some of the old gravel into the filter media, waited about an hour for water to clear and watched the puffer, who seemed pretty mad.
11. Put the puffer back into the tank. And tried to feed him the new blood worms.
He basically ignored me and what I was doing, I figured he was still pouty since he was sitting on the bottom, I figured ok he just needs to cool off and get to know the new gravel. Turn his light off and let him be.
Check him in the morning and he’s sitting in the gravel in a different spot, it was early so I figure he’s sleeping, his fins were still fluttering about though.
Today’s LFS run
Pick up 3 batches of plants, an air pump an air stone, a new heater and a master test kit (the mardel kits start costing a lot as much as I use them.
I return home, Look in the puffer tank and what do you know he’s dead, no sign of infection, or parasites, not all puffed up or anything, just lying on his side
Check the water with new kit
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0.25
Nitrates 5
Temp- 80
PH 6.0 (weird), Community tank is still 7 with new test kit. Tap water is also 7
Also all the snails are dead that were in there, not by the puffer, just folded up in there shell
What on earth did I do to drop the ph so fast? Can black beauty do this? A web search shows:
“Black Beauty is another affordable sand used for sand-blasting and is sold at home supply/hardware outlets. It’s not really sand but powdered iron slag. It can be quite sharp so it’s not recommended for fish that sift a lot of sand such as Tanganyikan sandsifters. Furthermore, these very fine particles contain iron, which means they are not inert.
http
/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/sand.php
