Hi everyone.
For a couple of weeks I was thinking about getting a freshwater tank. So I was putting together how many fish I wanted in what size tank and which species. So looking to see which pet stores near me had which fish I happened to stop into my neighborhood petco. I was walking around checking out all the fish. And then one little fish caught my eye so I bent down to take a better look. The label said Leopard Puffer plain and simple. I instantly fell in love and named the lil guy "Diddy" (You know puffer fish so was thinking puff daddy the rapper, then broke it down to his nickname Diddy lol) The guy at Petco knew squat about him so I took my research home to the computer. Wow did I find out that he was not gonna be easy,.Brackish water...... what the hell is that. So I google'd it and found out about how to make a brackish tank. Looked up more on Diddy and found out that he is very agressive. Now after finding out about the brackish and agressive I sat down and contemplated what I would do. Because as I said I planned on having a freshwater community tank. So I thought and thought and thought. Butttt I already named him and had to have him to the freshwater tank idea went out the window so to speak. All excited I went to the basement found my old 25g tank and began cleaning it up. After that I went back to the store bought marine salt, a 100w heater, 5 in 1 test strips, a hydrometer and a Bio-wheel Penguin filter. I brought it home set it up. I set the specific gravity to 1.013 and the heater to 78 degrees farenheit. Let it run for one day and then bought Diddy. I knew he was in freshwater at the store so I put his bag floating on the water of my tank and poured a cup of my water in with his water. let him get used to it for an hour then introduced him to his new home. For the first day he just sat on the rocks. At that time I didnt know why he was doing that only thought he was being shy. The next day he was swimming around happy though and I got to take a good look at him. His top was brownish colored and his underbelly had black spots and occasionaly while swimming he would just shake really quick for a second. I googeled those symptoms and found two things it could be, Internal parasites or STRESS. I quickly ruled parasites out because he ate very well and his poop was solid not stringy and he didnt rub his stomach against the rocks. So I checked my strips and found my Ph was at 8.5 ish so I went out and bought Ph down stuff and got the level to 7.4. That cured the shaking but still his color was terrible. soo I continued researching online. Bum Bum Bum... I found out what a fool I was. NUMBER 1: Cycle a tank...I had no clue about that and was shocked to learn how easily you could lose a fish. NUMBER 2: Raise specific gravity up .002 a month from freshwater to brackish. I had dumped him from freshwater straight to 1.013. I quickly went out and got an ammonia test kit and tested the water. I found I wasnt that high yet but I was at like 1.0. So I tried to find a way to be able to save the fish. I found a product called cycle that helps fish endure the cylcing process and keeps ammonia and nitrate levels from getting to high. Its only been a day since I put in that cycle stuff. Is there anything else I can do to help him survive??? Please help me!
For a couple of weeks I was thinking about getting a freshwater tank. So I was putting together how many fish I wanted in what size tank and which species. So looking to see which pet stores near me had which fish I happened to stop into my neighborhood petco. I was walking around checking out all the fish. And then one little fish caught my eye so I bent down to take a better look. The label said Leopard Puffer plain and simple. I instantly fell in love and named the lil guy "Diddy" (You know puffer fish so was thinking puff daddy the rapper, then broke it down to his nickname Diddy lol) The guy at Petco knew squat about him so I took my research home to the computer. Wow did I find out that he was not gonna be easy,.Brackish water...... what the hell is that. So I google'd it and found out about how to make a brackish tank. Looked up more on Diddy and found out that he is very agressive. Now after finding out about the brackish and agressive I sat down and contemplated what I would do. Because as I said I planned on having a freshwater community tank. So I thought and thought and thought. Butttt I already named him and had to have him to the freshwater tank idea went out the window so to speak. All excited I went to the basement found my old 25g tank and began cleaning it up. After that I went back to the store bought marine salt, a 100w heater, 5 in 1 test strips, a hydrometer and a Bio-wheel Penguin filter. I brought it home set it up. I set the specific gravity to 1.013 and the heater to 78 degrees farenheit. Let it run for one day and then bought Diddy. I knew he was in freshwater at the store so I put his bag floating on the water of my tank and poured a cup of my water in with his water. let him get used to it for an hour then introduced him to his new home. For the first day he just sat on the rocks. At that time I didnt know why he was doing that only thought he was being shy. The next day he was swimming around happy though and I got to take a good look at him. His top was brownish colored and his underbelly had black spots and occasionaly while swimming he would just shake really quick for a second. I googeled those symptoms and found two things it could be, Internal parasites or STRESS. I quickly ruled parasites out because he ate very well and his poop was solid not stringy and he didnt rub his stomach against the rocks. So I checked my strips and found my Ph was at 8.5 ish so I went out and bought Ph down stuff and got the level to 7.4. That cured the shaking but still his color was terrible. soo I continued researching online. Bum Bum Bum... I found out what a fool I was. NUMBER 1: Cycle a tank...I had no clue about that and was shocked to learn how easily you could lose a fish. NUMBER 2: Raise specific gravity up .002 a month from freshwater to brackish. I had dumped him from freshwater straight to 1.013. I quickly went out and got an ammonia test kit and tested the water. I found I wasnt that high yet but I was at like 1.0. So I tried to find a way to be able to save the fish. I found a product called cycle that helps fish endure the cylcing process and keeps ammonia and nitrate levels from getting to high. Its only been a day since I put in that cycle stuff. Is there anything else I can do to help him survive??? Please help me!
