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FAQs on Brackish Water Quality

Related Articles: Brackish Water Quality, pH, Alkalinity, Water Changes,

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Ammonia and nitrite problems, with a GSP 4/16/08
Hello,
<Hi Eric, Pufferpunk here>
I started a 10 gallon tank about six months ago. I bought a spotted puffer and every thing went well. Two and half months ago I decided to buy a 50 gallon tank with a whisper power filter 300 gallons per hour, a submersible 200w heater.
<Good move--adult GSPs need a minimum of 30g. He should be very happy in that large tank.>
I made the mistake of putting my fish in before the tank cycled. Luckily he made it.
<A single, young GSP in a 50g tank shouldn't prove to be too much of a problem, as his wastes will be diluted & will cycle within a month or two. As long as you do proper water changes, the puffer should be fine.>
Three weeks ago I took my water and had it tested.
<Best to have your own test kits: ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH & a hydrometer to check the specific gravity for your brackish puffer.>
My ammonia nitrate and nitrite levels had all dropped. I bought two more fish. What they called leaf fish and a wild card.
<Hmmm... never heard of a fish called, "wild card".>
I was going to get another fish so I had my water tested first. My pH had dropped to 6.2 and my ammonia level was up.
<Good thing you didn't get another fish!>
They suggested I buy pH test, pH up and Amquel. I treated the
tank with the Amquel and the pH up. My pH didn't go up. I went to a different local fish store that had been around for a long time. I brought them some tank water. My ammonia was still up pH was down. They sold me some pH up buffer. My pH has gone back up. I also bought a freshwater test kit.
My ammonia is still up. This was the point when I started doing the thing I should of done first research the web. <Definitely! While Amquel may put a Band-Aid on the problem, it is only a temporary fix & actually will hinder the cycle. pH buffers again, are only temporary & will cause the pH to fluctuate, which is more stressful than a low pH. The best way to solve your problem is with large, frequent water changes.>
I was only changing 5 gallons of water a week. 5 days ago I changed 5 gallons of water. 3 days ago I changed
10 gallons. I'm still not testing good. My pH is 7.5. My ammonia is 1.5ppm.
<Anything over 0 is very toxic to your fish, same with nitrite.>
My nitrate is 15ppm. And now my nitrite is at 0.25ppm. I used a API liquid test kit. I was thinking about changing more water but afraid if I change to much I might mess up the biological filter. What should I do?
<The biological bacteria necessary to establish a balanced system does not live in the water column. It is on surfaces: glass, decor, substrate, filter media. You can change as much water as necessary to keep the levels from being toxic. (I change 90% weekly on my discus tank.) You may want to start with 25%, 2x/day & then do 50% or more daily, until the water parameters are good.>
Upon researching WWM I realized that my puffer should be in a brackish tank.
<Correct>
Had a couple of questions. My tank is a glass tank, will the salt corrode the silicone seals?
Not at all. These are the same tanks used for keeping marine fish.>
I have had my puffer for 6 months he is still doing fine. Do I need to change my tank to brackish soon to save my puffer?
<The answer is yes. 6 months is a very short time for a fish that can live into it's teens. If not kept in brackish water (high-end BW as an adult), it will develop a stressed immune system, causing problems with disease & shortened lifespan.>
I do realize that the other two fish will have to go into another tank.
<You are right. They will not appreciate any salt at all (well, I can't say anything about the "wild card" fish...)> Any other advice would be greatly appreciated.
<In case you didn't see this article on GSPs: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/BrackishSubWebIndex/gspsart.htm
Another good site on puffers: www.thepufferforum.com.
Enjoy your puffer! If fed & cared for correctly (eats crustaceans) you should have a darling pet for years to come. ~PP>
WWM site has been helpful.
Thanks Eric

Ammonia in a puffer tank 4/8/08
Hello,
I have a cycled 20 gallon long aquarium with 2 filters, a BIO-wheel 150 and a Whisper 10. The tank is at a SG of 1.003-1.004, temp is 80F, Ph 8.0 and is moderately planted with Anubias, Val.s, Java fern, Sags and Onion plants. The tank inhabitants are a grape sized F8 Puffer , 2BBG's and a 2" Knight Goby. I feed the tank once a day sparingly, frozen krill or frozen bloodworms, enough for the puffer to supplement his daily snails and leave manageable scraps for the gobies, who all seem to be getting plenty of food, plus the Knight Goby munches algae quite a bit. I always rinse the frozen cubes in a net and never let the "juice" into the tank. All the fish are active and healthy.
<All sounds fine, but Knight Gobies are predatory and will eat the Bumblebee Gobies sooner or later.>
My question is this, I have read/known that ammonia and nitrites are supposed to be 0 in an established tank and that nitrates under 10 (I think), and that weekly WC of 25%-30% needs to be done. I test my ammonia in the AM and it is fine, but after a few hours following feeding I get traces of ammonia, under .25, but still present.
<You *must* have zero ammonia, 24/7, 365 days a week. If you're detecting any at all, it means one (or more) of three things: overstocking, under-filtering, or overfeeding. You can add a 4th item to that list in terms of maturity; cycling a tank the old fashioned way takes at least 6 weeks, possibly slightly more for a brackish tank.>
So I have been doing daily WC's of about 2 gallons. I haven't let a daily go since I noticed this, because I was afraid to let it go till the next AM to recheck, since I have never witnessed this with any of the other tanks I keep, but this is my first puffer tank and I wanted to be cautious.
<Wise.>
Is the ammonia supposed to be neutralized instantly with a properly working bio filter or does it take an hour or two?
<The ammonia comes from the gills of the fish as a waste product, and isn't so much from the food itself as the background excretory product of normal metabolism. It is directly equivalent to urea production in your body: the kidneys constantly remove the stuff and convert it into urine, and not just when you're eating. In other words, the amount of ammonia produced by the fish is more or less constant (there may be some variation, but it isn't between "none" and "lots"). Under normal circumstances, the amount of ammonia produced by your fish will be exactly equal to the ammonia consumption of a healthy biological filter, so that the net effect is that zero ammonia is detectable at any given moment.>
I was wondering because I have no nitrite readings.
<If you have high levels of ammonia but no nitrite, it usually means you have inadequate, or at least immature, biological filtration. What's happening is that the filter is converting only a small amount of ammonia into nitrite, and that nitrite is converted immediately into nitrate. So review filtration, in particularly concentrating on how much biological media there is, how old it is, and how you are looking after it (washing biological media under a hot tap for example will kill the bacteria).>
Also, even though I have 2 filters with a combined gph of 250, is the BIO-wheel model I
have's ( the 150) actual BIO-Wheel too small to colonize an efficient colony or should there be enough nitrifying bacteria throughout the tank, the gravel, plants and filter pads that I do not need to upgrade to a larger BIO-wheel model given my gph?
<Gravel and stuff just sitting on the bottom of the tank will have next to now useful effect. Undergravel filters work because the water is pushed through a deep bed of gravel; gravel by itself presents too little surface area to the water to help without the pump. For a 20 gallon tank, any decent filter with a turnover of at least 100 gallons per hour should be adequate for these sorts of fish. So it's more likely an issue with maturation or maintenance than the mechanics of the filters themselves. Do also throw out junk like carbon and "ammonia remover", and instead make sure the filter is optimised for biological and mechanical filtration. Hope this helps. Cheers, Neale.>

Nitrates 05/24/08
Hey guys! I have a couple of questions for you tonight. First off thanks for your help so far; you've helped me and my fish so much! I have a ten gallon brackish system (SG 1.008...I'm slowly raising it to 1.010) with 6 mollies.
<Too small for Mollies; Mollies are big, active fish that eat a lot and are very sensitive to poor water conditions, particularly rapid pH changes and nitrogenous wastes. Mollies are a "squeeze" even in a 20 gallon tank. The sheer number of questions we get about sick Mollies should make the point that lots of people keep these fish *the wrong way*.>
Three of them are black mollies, one being a fry, 1 silver mollie, and two golden cremecicle lyretails (according to LFS). I have had a problem with high nitrate levels for weeks now. The highest level I measured with Mardel 5 in 1 Test Strips was 40ppm. I know this is outrageously high so in combination with weekly water changes (around 25%) I have added Amquel+ in hopes of lowering the nitrate levels.
<40 ppm (or mg/l) nitrate isn't all that serious. For aquarists in urban areas where the water has been treated umpteen times before it comes out the tap, 40 ppm nitrate is pretty normal. In freshwater tanks this amount of nitrate is very toxic to Mollies, but in brackish water you should be okay, particularly if you're otherwise keeping the water quality good (i.e., not overfeeding, doing big water changes, and providing ample filtration). Adding "nitrate removing" chemicals to the water is a total waste of time/money in this system. I'd make the point that SG 1.005 is ample for Mollies, and if the saving on salt expense means you can do twice as many water changes, this would be a massively more useful way to manage your aquarium. Mollies certainly don't need SG 1.010 to do well.>
For three days in a row I added Amquel+ to the water 1 teaspoon a day and the nitrates went down to about 5ppm. I then stopped the Amquel+ treatments. This was Thursday the 13th that I started the Amquel+ treatment. My male cremecicle lyretail has the shimmies (I think). Anyway he will randomly shake like he is having a seizure. I am guessing this is from the nitrate levels.
<Yes, "the Shimmies" is associated with environmental stress, but I honestly doubt nitrate is the issue here. I'd be reviewing ammonia/nitrite levels first, and then looking at things like temperature and pH stability. Social behaviour, i.e., aggression, could also be an issue.>
Right now he is separated from the rest with a tank divider.
<Likely only stressing him further...>
My black fry Squirt is with him...she is bigger than the size of his jaws so I am not worried about him eating her and just in case I have to breeding plants in there so she can hide. My other fish seem well, however, Nile my black male mollie picks on Ira, my smaller silver mollie. I'm not sure if this is aggressive courtship or irritability due to insufficient water quality.
<Male Mollies are highly aggressive, and in a 10 gallon tank there's no way your males are getting along. In the wild a single male will be staking his claim to all the females within a given area, and all other males are forcibly driven off. Under aquarium conditions we can squeeze males into a single volume of water, but there's no guarantees that the dominant male will tolerate the weaker males. Indeed, the usually don't, so we wind up with fish that are getting chased and nipped all the time.>
The pH is at 8.2, the alkalinity is 240, the hardness is around 250, and the nitrites are 0. What's up with the nitrates, why do they keep rising?
<Your fish constantly produce ammonia, and the filter turns that into nitrate. Water changes is how we reduce the nitrate level. If you find the nitrate levels are too high, then there's three things you can do: [1] more water changes; [2] keep fewer fish; [3] make sure you aren't overfeeding.>
I have another tank, 20 gallon long that I'm cycling. Its been set up for two weeks now at SG of 1.010. I just started put in a small amount of fish slaked in to kick start the production of good bacteria.
<I'd simply take 50% of the media from the old tank and put it into the new tank's filter. Instant cycling, if done properly (i.e., the filter media is kept wet and not exposed to large changes in temperature or water chemistry.>
I plan on waiting two more weeks before I transfer my adult mollies to the bigger tank. What should I do in the meantime about the nitrates? Should I keep Blade (the one with the shimmies) separated?

What do I do about Nile?
<You can't do anything; he's expressing absolutely normal behaviour for the species: attack all males in his line of sight!>
Am I doing the right thing with my new 20 gallon tank?
<A bigger tank is always better! Easier to keep, nicer for the fish, less likely to go wrong.>
Thank you!! Any advice is greatly appreciated!
Alia
<Good luck, Neale.>

Re: Nitrates 05/24/08
Thanks Neale! I added the fish to the new tank. Blade, the one with tbd shimmies, looks fantastic! Healthy appetite, moving around, no signs of shimmies...Nile is surprisingly timid in the tank. When I first put him in he hid by the filter and under the fake rock formation. I'm sure he will resume back to his dominant ways with time. I think my nitrate problem was caused by over feeding. Mollies are very good at convincing you that they haven't eaten enough. How often do you recommend I feed the five of them and how much? Thanks so much!!
Alia
<Hello Alia. Feeding fish the right amount can be difficult... most of us have trouble estimating the right amount of food to keep ourselves healthy! The old rule of thumb is that fish should be given as much as they can eat in 1-2 minutes. But I feel that wildly overfeeds most fish given that what we offer tends to be high protein, high calorie food. So instead be more observant at feeding time. For a Molly about 5 cm/2" long, 2-3 flakes half the size of your little fingernail should be ample. This is especially true if there's algae in the tank for them to graze. Fish should be fed once to twice per day, but rarely is feeding adult fish more often than this helpful. Fry can receive up to six meals per day, but these should be small since they're stomachs can't hold much. Moreover, water quality will plummet if you don't do this. The aim is that the fish should maintain gently rounded bellies but should never look fat or bloated. A healthy fish should be lean but not hollow bellied. Underfeeding a fish is difficult because of their "cold blooded" metabolism. They don't have a constant demand for calories that would be used to maintain high body temperature (as is the case with mammals). Fish can simply adjust their growth rate and metabolism to however much food is about. This is a useful trick that allows many species to last for very long periods (weeks, even months) without food. Skipping meals once a week isn't a bad idea at all, and Mollies will simply revert to being algae grazers on such days, helping to keep your tank algae-free in the process. Remember, Mollies evolved to eat algae, and so green foods are the best. You can buy algae flake formulated just for them, but failing that almost any soft green food will be taken too, such as Sushi Nori, blanched curly lettuce, thinly sliced cucumber, tinned peas, cooked spinach, etc. Also remember to use some high fibre foods periodically, such as brine shrimp and daphnia. These help "clear the system", keeping them in tip-top health. As anyone who's kept them knows, Mollies are outstanding fish, but it's a myth that they're "easy" and they really will repay all the extra efforts you taking. Cheers, Neale.>

Re: Nitrates 05/25/08
Wow thanks a lot for your advice! It just so happens that I have Sushi Nori! I currently have them on live bearer fish flakes and I admit I have been over feeding them :(. That's a great idea about skipping a day of feeding! I'll have to try the make your mollie meals. I have frozen brine shrimp and blood worms. Do you know if they expire...if you keep them frozen?
<Greetings. Wet frozen (as opposed to freeze dried) food should last for many months. While the food might be 'safe' after more than six months, some of the vitamin content will inevitably be lost, just as is the case with frozen human food. So very old frozen food is perhaps best disposed of. Cheers, Neale.>

Re: Nitrates 05/25/08
Perfect! Thanks so much Neale!
<You're welcome. Cheers, Neale.>

Nitrates 05/23/08
Hey guys! I have a couple of questions for you tonight. First off thanks for your help so far; you've helped me and my fish so much! I have a ten gallon brackish system
<Hard to keep such small volumes stable...>
(SG 1.008...I'm slowly raising it to 1.010) with 6 mollies. Three of them are black mollies, one being a fry, 1 silver mollie, and two golden cremecicle lyretails (according to LFS). I have had a problem with high nitrate levels for weeks now. The highest level I measured with Mardel 5 in 1 Test Strips was 40ppm. I know this is outrageously high so in combination with weekly water changes (around 25%) I have added Amquel+ in hopes of lowering the nitrate levels.
<Not a long-term fix>
For three days in a row I added Amquel+ to the water 1 teaspoon a day and the nitrates went down to about 5ppm. I then stopped the Amquel+ treatments. This was Thursday the 13th that I started the Amquel+ treatment. My male cremecicle lyretail has the shimmies (I think). Anyway he will randomly shake like he is having a seizure. I am guessing this is from the nitrate levels. Right now he is separated from the rest with a tank divider. My black fry Squirt is with him...she is bigger than the size of his jaws so I am not worried about him eating her and just in case I have to breeding plants in there so she can hide. My other fish seem well, however, Nile my black male mollie picks on Ira, my smaller silver mollie. I'm not sure if this is aggressive courtship or irritability due to insufficient water quality. The pH is at 8.2, the alkalinity is 240, the hardness is around 250, and the nitrites are 0. What's up with the nitrates, why do they keep rising?
<... metabolic processes, bottlenecks in small volumes... a lack of conditions that foster denitrification... See WWM re>
I have another tank, 20 gallon long that I'm cycling. Its been set up for two weeks now at SG of 1.010.
<Ah, good>
I just started put in a small amount of fish slaked in to kick start the production of good bacteria. I plan on waiting two more weeks before I transfer my adult mollies to the bigger tank. What should I do in the meantime about the nitrates?
<I'd move all the fish and the existing water to the new/ 20 gal. system...>
Should I keep Blade (the one with the shimmies) separated? What do I do about Nile? Am I doing the right thing with my new 20 gallon tank? Thank you!! Any advice is greatly appreciated!
Alia
<And read on WWM re Brackish Systems... Bob Fenner>

Re: Nitrates, Molly, BR sys. 5/23/08
That is great news! I was anticipating the day when I could add my mollies to the big tank! I just added the five adults! They look happy and are exploring ever nook and cranny.
<Ah, good>
I heard mollies like airstones, so I have added two. I wanted to add two more mollies. I was thinking two female Dalmatian mollies. I want to keep the bioload down so I think seven adult mollies would be plenty for a 20 gallon tank. Am I correct?
<Yes... plenty...>
I also am wondering about adding Olive Nerite Snails and a couple blue leg hermit crabs (ibanarius tricolor). How many of each would be suitable for a 20 gallon?
<Perhaps a handful of snails, two hermits>
And can I add some to my 10 gallon that I am currently housing my black mollie fry in/ quarantine tank?
<You could>
One last question...I have an Aqueon Power Filter 20(125 gallons/hr) and I am wondering about getting a protein skimmer. I have read about the wonders they do for reducing waste and unwanted nitrates. What kind, if any, should I get? Can/should I get one for my ten gallon or
could I even use my ten gallon as a refugium?

Thank you so much! I can't express how beneficial and helpful your site is!
Alia
<Am glad we both find it so. Cheers! Bob Fenner>

Re: Nitrates, Molly, BR sys. 05/24/08
Thanks again for your help! I'm going to order the snails and hermit crabs. I have been looking at your site about refugiums. I haven't found how to set one up. How do I go about doing that. Right now my twenty gallon tank is on top of a table and it is on the right side of the table because if it were any more to the left it would be exposed to the light from a window. Underneath the table I have my tank supplies including buckets for water changes, cleaning supplies, etc. Is there a way I can set up the refugium under these circumstances? Thanks so much!!
Alia
<Please read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/marsetupindex2.htm
The second tray down. Bob Fenner>

Chemistry, I guess... Brackish and plants 11/9/07
Hi Guys,
<Greetings,>
I have a 40 gal. tank that has 5" of 50% Floromax and 50% Fluorite. I let it cycle for about 6 weeks before adding plants. This eventually is to be a brackish tank with the following flora/fauna:
(1) bunch Egeria densa
(1) bunch Cabomba fucata
(1) bunch Myriophyllum simulans
(2) Nomophila corymbasa
(1) Cryptocoryne ciliata
(1) Nymphoides aquatica
These plants were added individually a week ago in 2" net pots.
<Hmm... not a fan of pots. Most plants do better freed from pots even if supplied in them. Gently trimming any damaged roots also helps stimulate new growth and prevents decay.>
After these species grow and offer some shade, I'd like to add:
(2) Bacopa caroliniana
Some? Sagittaria subulata
(2) Microsorum pteropus
Some? Fontinalis sp.
(2) Anubias barteri v. Round Leaf
Then, when these species grow out, I will add:
(6) Caridina japonica
(2) Jordanella floridae (a pair)
Then I will need to slowly bring the SG to 1.006 and add:
(5) Poecilia sphenops (1 male, 4 females) [these are already at 1.006 at the LFS]
Done!
<Raising the SG to 1.006 is overkill here and likely to stress the plants. While some of these are brackish water specialists (Cryptocoryne ciliata for example) most are not, and will not do well above SG 1.003. I tend to recommend planted brackish water tanks be set up to SG 1.003 and then the plants left for a few months to settle in. You'll soon learn which are flourishing and which are not. Brackish water fish are fine at this salinity, so no harm is done. Acclimating Mollies from SG 1.006 to SG 1.003 is something that takes 30 minutes in a bucket via the drip method or similar. Likewise acclimating Jordanella to brackish water from fresh. Amano shrimps are a bit tricky, because invertebrates on the whole are less tolerant of rapid changes in salinity. There are exceptions of course, the true estuarine invertebrates like Shore Crabs and Nereis ragworms, but Amano shrimps don't fit into this category. Yes, they are common enough in brackish water marshes, and yes, the larvae live in the sea. But Amano shrimps don't live their whole lives in estuaries, and my guess is you'll need to acclimate these over several hours.>
Lighting is at 192 W PC, half 6700K/10,000K "sun" light, half 420/460 nm
actinic with moonlight. Not ideal, I would like to replace the actinic with another "sun" lamp. I'm not big on the blue lighting. maybe for corals, but..
<Plants are generally much more adaptable to different types of light than corals (i.e., algae). Plants are, of course, far more advanced and sophisticated organisms. Because plants have a range of pigments, they can adapt to whatever wavelength is available. Up to a point, at least. So provided you have sufficient light (around 2 Watts per gallon) most plants will adapt to whatever lamps your hood contains. Something between 5500 and 6500 Kelvin seems to work well.>
Temperature is running at 77* F, but I'm trying to get it to 75* F.
pH 7.7, but I would like 7.5
<Trivially unimportant, and probably impossible to do given the calcium carbonate content of marine salt mix.>
NH4 0.00
NO2 .025
<Too much.>
NO3 2.5
dKH 3.3
<Ideally needs to be raised to at least 5 degrees KH, but water changes and marine salt mix should take care of this.>
My tap water is hard (12 dKH extrapolated from GH) in SE PA and I add it after a week or so of aeration and circulation.
<OK.>
I have a media bag with aragonite (an attempt to raise dKH naturally, I don't like chemicals) and activated charcoal in my filter (converted skimmer) with 2 mesh pads on top of each other that I rotate (clean one at a time) for continuous biological filtration.
<Carbon filtration is pointless in my opinion. Replace that part of the filter with crushed coral. That'll take care of the hardness.>
10% water changes weekly.

I would like my tank water to be in the neighborhood of 11dKH.
<Brackish water fish don't really care that much. The marine salt mix, and a bit of crushed coral in the filter should maintain adequate carbonate hardness. Unless you observe wildly fluctuating pH levels, then your hardness content may well be sufficient.>
Do I just need more time/maturation, or is there something I'm not doing properly?
<Seems fine.>
Does Fluorite/Floromax buffer to the acid side? It's hard for me to believe that my tap water is that hard/alkaline (we lie on a limestone bed) and when it hits the tanks it loses all that carbonate.
<Plants will remove carbonate if there is insufficient carbon dioxide in the water. This "biogenic decalcification" is rapid and potentially serious.>
I can deal with the couple of degrees of temperature, but I need to lower the pH by about 0.2 and significantly raise the alkalinity it would seem.
<Why? What do you think you will gain by such a small pH change? Carbon dioxide fertilisation may well be useful in this instance. But otherwise the thing with brackish water fish is to remember they are adaptable. They don't have narrow, fixed chemical parameters. Provided you do adequate water changes an thereby ensure the pH stays on the basic side (between 7.5 and 8.2) and the nitrate levels stay relatively low (less than 50 mg/l) they will be perfectly happy. Your Mollies, for example, can adapt between freshwater and salt water in about 30 minutes, and Jordanella do just as well in soft and acidic water as in mildly brackish. This is obviously completely different to keeping a marine aquarium, where maintaining water conditions within a very tight band of values is essential.>
I would appreciate your thoughts.
Also, your site is fantastic. I've researched lots of aquaria here and have done well with most of them. (My bad on the ones that went south.) Thank you so much for your efforts.
Mike
<Good luck, Neale.>

New brackish tank. Salinity for Ceylon puffers, 17 Feb 2007
Hello!
<Hi Anna. Marco here> <<Yes... he's new! RMF>>
I’ve been reading through your pages and haven’t yet found my answer! I have my 20g tank set up for 2 Ceylon puffers.
<Too small in the long run>
My local store told me that 2 teaspoons of salt per 10 gallons of water is appropriate, but I am now having my doubts after reading several different sites.
<Well done. Two teaspoons per 10 gallons is not enough.>
My puffers are happy and healthy and eating very well!! So I don’t have concerns for their health yet, but I would like to know, if I need to adjust their water to keep them healthy as long as possible?
<They will need high end brackish or marine water and live more than 10 years. Please read http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/cav1i1/green_spotted_puppies.htm. Care for your puffers is the same, although they are getting slightly larger than T. nigroviridis>
They are so funny, If I put in one chunk of food (muscles and crab are their favourites) they will both go for the piece and have a tug-of-war lol They have got to be my favourite fish!!! Many thanks for your help, Anna
<Welcome>

KH hardness for a Tetraodon nigriviridis ... GSP 4/8/06
Dear Crew,
<Catherine>
Hello again,
I have a GSP about an inch big in a 120 litre tank. just a quick one ! I have just tested the KH of my puffers water and
it is 13dKH which is 232.7ppm KH do you know if this is suitable ?
<Yes... as you likely are aware this is a brackish to (with size/age) marine species... and these values are in line with such water>
Also, I cant seem to translate oz per gallon into specific gravity,
<Ounces of? Salts? For mixing, actually pre-mixing, best to use a "given" volume of both/all... blend, circulate in a dedicated container and store for a week or more before use>
apparently I'm aiming for about 3 oz per gallon (imperial), but to get to this I have to go up 1.002 a day but I don't know how much that
would be in oz per gallon, math was never a strong point of mine.
Thank you
Cat
<... Mix outside the system... Please see the Brackish subweb on WWM re this species, brackish water preparation: http://wetwebmedia.com/BrackishSubWebIndex/BrackishSubWebIndex.htm
Bob Fenner>

Making Brackish Water 1/26/06
Good Evening!!
<<Good Evening to you too.>>
Is it alright to use the same salt used in saltwater tanks, for brackish water tanks?
<<Not only is it alright, but it's the only way to make brackish water. Lisa.>>

Gill Flukes, Nitrite, and an Alternative to Formalin 1/25/2006
Dear crew,
<<Luis>>
I have a spotted bracket <<Brackish>> water puffer fish.
<<Do you know the species?>>
His name is Fatso and he is about 7 inches.
<<How old is he? My guess he is a Tetraodon fluviatilis, or Ceylon puffer.>>
He has been healthy for the most part. I recently had a problem with Nitrite. I resolved the problem thru water changes.
<<Please keep an eye on water changes and feeding to avoid this.>>
However, two days ago I noticed the puffer was a bit lethargic and yesterday it did not wanted to eat his frozen shrimp.
<<Defrosted, I trust. Your puffer is probably quite stressed from ammonia and nitrIte exposure. What SG is the water? NitrAte and pH readings? Tank size?>>
I had to give him a treat (live crab) to have him eat something. He was also trying to "scratch" using the ornaments and the filtration tube. Today he was still been lethargic at times and I noticed that one of his gills was closed. This concerned me and let me to search his condition online. Reading about this in your website has led me
to believe that "Fatso" is having problems with gill flukes.
<<Possible.>>
The recommended treatment seams to be formalin bath and/or dips. Unfortunately, someone else in your website noticed that Formalin is banned in California. So here are my questions:
1)What alternatives do I have to the formalin treatment here in California?
<>
2)How exactly does a medication bath work with a puffer? (since it’s not wise to take them out of water)
<<Remove from the tank with a bucket or scoop of some kind, never a net as they may puff with air that they cannot expel.>>
Thank you in advance for your help,
Luis
<<Please do get back to me with the questions asked above so I can help you more thoroughly. Glad to help. Lisa.>>

Micro-lift Bio Blue in Aquarium? 10/6/05
<Hi, Pufferpunk here>
Do you know if Micro-lift Bio Blue would be okay in my brackish water aquarium? It is supposed to keep the water clean and blue. It says its safe for animals, but what about fish in an aquarium? Thanks in advance.
<I don't suggest adding any unnecessary chemicals to a fish tank, or pond. Regular weekly water changes are the best way to keep an aquarium clean & crystal clear. What kind of fish are you keeping in your brackish tank? Are you using marine salt & measuring with a hydrometer? ~PP>

High Ammonia and Nitrite Levels 10/10/04
<Hi, Pufferpunk here>
I have a brackish water tank with 3 Columbian sharks and three other fish.
<How large is this tank? Columbian sharks can grow quite large (up to 18") & require at least a 75g tank, just for them. What are the other fish?>
The tank is now about a month old and has just passed a case of ICH last week. I have been testing the ammonia and nitrite levels for the passed 3 weeks and they have been very high. It started with the ammonia levels being at 5ppm and the nitrite being at 0.25ppm. I have added ammonia lock and performed weekly 30% water changes. I have just performed another test and the ammonia is reading 2ppm exactly what is was prior to the last water change, however the nitrite level has increased dramatically to almost 4ppm!! Why is this happening?
<It sounds like your tank is cycling. You cannot just add a bunch of fish into a freshly set-up tank.
See: http://www.piranha-fury.com/information/default.php?id=cycling
http://www.aaquaria.com/aquasource/cyclingbasics.shtml
http://faq.thekrib.com/begin-cycling.html
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/estbiofiltmar.htm>
I have been vacuuming the gravel with each water change and washing the tank ornaments, Is this a good practice? Or am I removing the good bacteria from my tank?
<For now, I would do huge water changes to keep the toxic ammonia & nitrites from poisoning your fish, while not disturbing the bacteria growing on your decor, tank walls, gravel, or filter. You can try to add AmmoChips to your filter & AmmoLock to the water.>
I would like to know how I can manage my tank and bring the levels of ammonia and nitrite to zero.
I suggest you buy some of the good bacteria you need here: http://www.aquaria.info/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=8859&start=90&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight= You will need to register at that site, as that is the only place to get it right now. If you do get a hold of some Bio-Spira, make sure you do a 90 % water change, before you add it, if you have been using any ammonia-removing products.>
I am aware that the tank needs to build its internal biological filter. I have been told that it takes about 4 - 6 weeks for this process to take place, is this correct? What should I do in the mean time to keep my tank in good shape?
<Water changes, water changes, water changes. Try to keep the toxic levels as low as possible, so as not to cause permanent damage to your fish. Eventually, the "sharks" will prefer to be in very high levels of BW or even better, SW. ~PP>
I appreciate your help and input in this manner.

High NitrItes 4/1/04
I changed out 60% of the water four days in a row before I added the Bio-Spira. Do you think there could still be enough Fritz residue to cause this kind of effect on the Bio-Spira.

I just had my husband run the nitrite test again. He got the same result I did. Way off the chart. I have checked and checked and checked because this just doesn't make any sense to me either. I used the nitrite test (NO2) from my Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Master Test Kit (which doesn't contain a nitrate test -- I had to purchase that one separately). I also used my nitrite test (NO2) from my Kordon Aqua-Tru Master Test Kit. Both tests use the "color chart" method. The Aquarium Pharmaceuticals nitrite test chart ranges from blue=0ppm to fuchsia=5ppm, whereas the nitrate test ranges from yellow to red. The Aqua-Tru nitrite test chart ranges from clear=0ppm to fuchsia=.75ppm, whereas the nitrate test chart ranges from clear to red. I ran both types of nitrite tests on my tank twice and on my tap water twice all test results were fuchsia.
<Sure sounds like the right tests.>
I don't see how my Puffers are still alive if their nitrites are still too high to read after diluting the aquarium water by 75%. I will admit that they are pale but they aren't gasping for air and they are active. Should I change out 60% to 80% of the water tonight to keep them that way or will I be sucking out all of the Bio-Spira along with the nitrite? How in the world is this possible?
<I had a BW tank crash once & for 2 weeks I was doing 80% daily water changes & adding Amquel & AmmoLock & still couldn't get the levels down at all. I didn't understand how I could do an 80-90% water change & still have ammonia & nitrItes off the chart, until I found a dead carcass (a skeleton by then) inside an ornament that was fouling the tank. Any chance of that? (I'm grasping at straws here.) After finding the body & adding B-S, the tank was testing normal within 48 hours. During that time, my ammonia was over 8 & any nitrItes over 5. I know that the only thing that kept the poor puffy's alive were the water changes (sometimes 2x/day). They have survived 2 other crashes in their lifetime & seem to be doing great still. I would keep doing water changes, but don't disturb the gravel or filter, just in case the B-S has attached itself to it. The most important thing right now is to try to keep the levels down. Search every inch & lift all ornaments out of the water. That was my problem--because there was still a little water in the tank & the suction wasn't broken inside the ornament , so the carcass & water inside got moved with the ornament when I cleaned under it. Again, I'm just trying to consider everything I can think of. Weird that your ammonia is 0 though. Maybe your ammonia test is really off, but you're using a FW one?>
Karen
<Let me know how it goes. ~PP>

High Nitrite Levels 3/31/04
Hi,
<Hi, Pufferpunk here>
I have a long 30 gal. 36" 13" with 2 Arius seemanni ~4" each 2 Angels ~5" each and 2 Plecos ~7" each. I have an Emperor 280 filter with about 6 oz. of carbon. My nitrite is elevated ~1 ppm and my Nitrate is at ~40-50ppm ammonia is 0. I have been doing reg. water changes of ~5 gal. every week. There is about 1 tsps. sea salt per 2 gal. of water. Why wont my Nitrite go down. It has been like this for about 3 months.
<You have way too many large fish. Your tank cannot handle the bioload you have in there. Just those Plecos alone (which will be growing to 18"), are huge waste producers. The angelfish & Plecos do not like salt. The other 2 catfish you have in there are brackish water fish that will grow to 18" each also. For now, I would up your water changes to at least 50% (which is what I do on all my tanks weekly anyway) & set-up a BW tank for the catfish (they will eventually need close to a 100g tank). The 30g is ok for the 2 angels, but maybe you could trade in those Plecos for some dwarf species.
Thank You -Joey
<Good luck with your fish ~PP>

Bio-Spira Isn't Working?! 3/31/04
Sorry to be a nuisance, but...
<Never!>
I used the Fritz Turbo Start 700. It appeared to work at first. The ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings all dropped substantially. Unfortunately, they all rose again after 48 hours. I went back to making 60% water changes daily. :(
A friend of mine came to town and brought me some Bio-Spira.
<Lucky you!>
I put it in my tank. The ammonia and nitrate levels dropped to near nothing. The nitrite levels, however, rose beyond measure. I changed 50% of the water and gave the tank a second dose of Bio-Spira. I took another reading again and the ammonia and nitrate and still near nothing but the nitrite level is still off the chart. I diluted it by 75% to see if I could get a reading and it was still off the chart, so it is more than 20ppm. I checked my tap water directly and it has no traces of nitrites. I also used a second type of nitrite test to make sure the one I was using wasn't faulty but it had the same type of reading. I am at a loss as to what on earth is going on? How can the nitrites be so high when everything else is so low? Do you have any idea what is happening? Should I keep doing 60% water changes? Should I put some Amquel+ in the tank?
<A couple of things I am thinking: Are you absolutely sure you don't have those tests backwards? NitrItes & ammonia should be 0. NitrAtes should be 20, or below is even better. I think you have the nitrItes & nitrAtes mixed up. If you are positive you are not mixing them up, then maybe the Fritz product did something to the Bio-Spira. Please check again & write me back. Make sure you address it to Pufferpunk, as I generally answer puffer Qs & they may put your Q into someone else's box. (Not that someone else couldn't answer this Q, but I am familiar with your problems already.)
I am now out of Bio-Spira and cannot get anymore until Marineland starts producing it again sometime this summer. The store my friend got mine from only had one left. (Sigh).
Please let me know if you have any ideas. And thanks once again. Karen
<Don't panic! ~PP>

Brackish systems and ammonia
Hello PP,
<Hi there>
Sorry the link didn't work. For some reason they never seem to work in my emails. Maybe its a Mac thing.
Ananda posted the following...
"I actually don't know which type of ammonia test will detect free ammonia after Amquel+ has been added to the tank. As far as getting the Bio-Spira... the stuff has to be refrigerated, so it would probably be better if you can pick it up at a store. If you can't get Bio-Spira locally, you may want to consider boarding your puffers at an LFS until you get the tank cycled. Meanwhile, with an ammonia reading of 3.0, a 60% water change is not out of line...."
<I agree with Ananda. I've done as much as daily 80-90% water changes to keep ammonia & nitrite from getting to toxic levels. I don't see any problem w/ordering Bio-Spira online. The Fish Store has a good rep for getting the product to you still cold with ice packs.>
In response to that -- I live in a very small town in Western KY. There is one small PetSmart here and two VERY tiny "Mom & Pop stores." The people who run the stores have very limited knowledge of anything other than freshwater fish and do not carry, and cannot order, Bio-Spira. Unfortunately, this also rules them out for boarding my Puffers.
I changed 30% of the water again tonight. I will try changing 60% hereafter and continue using the Amquel+ until I can find some refrigerated Bio-Spira on the Internet. I went to http://fishstoretn.com/bio_spira.html earlier today. They are out of the Bio-Spira for freshwater until sometime this summer. They do, however, have Bio-Spira for saltwater. I am guessing I need
the type for freshwater though. <right> I will try emailing the owner as you suggested. How much water will I need to replace to dilute the ammonia remover enough for the Bio-Spira to work?
<I'd do an 80-90% water change.>
If I make 60% water changes daily, is it possible that my Puffers may pull through this?
<Maybe, I as I mentioned before, I have had success w/large water changes when my BW tank crashed 3 different times.>
So far their only symptom appears to be paleness. Instead of
their normal chocolate brown they are more of a caramel color.
<Keep an eye out for rapid breathing. It would also be a good idea to add an airstone, as ammonia depletes the water of O2.>
The only thing I can think of that could have brought this on was my
conversion of the tank from freshwater to brackish. I did it over a two week period. I raised the SG from freshwater to 1.005 brackish and the PH from 7.0 to 8.0.
<Hmmmm, not too sure about that, since I usually recommend raising it .002/week & that really isn't far off at all.>
Once again, THANK YOU!
Karen

Crashed BW tank 3/20/04
<Hi, Pufferpunk here>
Hello again. I'm having a huge problem with my Figure-8s tank. Would you mind reading the following posting and let me know your opinion? Thanks. Karen
http://wetwebfotos.com/talk/thread.jsp?forum=14&thread=17771
<Although that link didn't work, I found your post. I agree with Lorenzo--you need to get Bio-Spira into that tank as soon as possible. If you have to do 80% daily water changes to keep the ammonia & nitrites down, then by all means do so (I have done this on a BW tank that crashed 3 separate times). Although upon diligent investigation, there were actual reasons for my tank crashing each time: 1st-after 2 weeks of daily 80% water changes, ammonia >8, nitrites >5, I finally found a skeleton of a small fish inside an ornament, 2nd-left the fish feeding to Hubby, while gone for 5 days--he decided the puffers looked hungry & gave them an extra shrimp, which I found fungused & rotting when I got home, 3rd-I raised the SG too fast. Each time, after fixing the problem & doing another 80% water change, I added Bio-Spira & the tank tested 0 within 24-48 hours each time. The 1st time I tried B-S though, it didn't work, because I had used all kinds of ammonia removal products, which will prevent B-S from working. You can try ordering B-S from this site: http://fishstoretn.com/bio_spira.html, but if they say they are out, email the owner of The Fish Store, Bernie, at: fishstoretn@aol.com. Sometimes he can scrape up some for folks.
Good luck & remember--water changes, water changes, water changes ~PP>

Which test kits for brackish?
Hi, I was wondering which test kit to use to track my pH, ammonia, nitrate & nitrite for a new brackish water tank set-up. Freshwater or saltwater test?
Thank you. Gina
<Ananda here. I use saltwater test kits when there's a chance that the freshwater test kit results might be thrown off by salt. Some kits use the same reagent for both freshwater and saltwater, but have different color charts. With those, if the tank s.g. is above 1.002 or so, I use the saltwater color charts. Hope this helps! --Ananda>

Brackish PH 2/08/04
Hi-
<Hi John, Pufferpunk here>
Question about Brackish aquaria critters (gobies and
puffers) and PH. Do they prefer things more alkaline or more Acidic-
<BW puffers (there are also FW puffers) & other BW fish, prefer a pH of around 8. This is accomplished by using crushed coral or aragonite as substrate.>
and can you regulate this sort of thing in a semi-salty environment? My tap water is naturally hard and most salt water aquariums have coral - which makes the water HARDER still. Does PH matter to these fish?
<Not as important as ammonia & nitrites, but w/the correct substrate, pH is not a worry.>
What about crustaceans?
<There won't be any crustaceans in a puffer tank, they'll be puffer food.>
Thanks, John
<You're welcome ~PP>

Test kits for brackish tank
Hi,
<hi, Pufferpunk here>
All of the test kits I can find are for fresh or salt water. I am using the jungle quick dip 5 right now, which has readings for both fresh and salt, but no brackish. the colors come out a bit weird for both, but pretty much on. I want something more accurate, is there?

Also, it looks as though one of my puffers may have some sort of cataracts? His eyes are a bit cloudy, he bumps into things, and I have to feed him with a pick. What can I do about this?
<Sometimes puffer's eyes look cloudy, depending on how the light hits it. If you are concerned, Melafix added to the tank can help.>
Thanks,
Dave
<You're welcome--Pufferpunk>

Help cloudy water?
<Ananda here answering the brackish questions...>
I seem to be plagued with cloudy water in my brackish set up. It consists of a white very fine mist.
<I've had that problem before. It usually seems to be due to insufficient biological filtration.>
The tank is 5'x2'x2 (150 UK gallons)
Filtration is 1 large Eheim external
<How many gallons is this rated for? Brackish systems require more filtration than freshwater systems. I prefer to go with filtration rated for systems at least double the size of my brackish tanks. I think you need more bio-filtration.>
1 402 internal power head (75 gal hr)
1 2000l pond pump in a sump
<Some concern here...your pond pump may include some materials that are not salt-tolerant. Please do check with the manufacturer on this.>
<Including the size of the sump, how much water turnover do you have?>
Water conditions are as follows
Nitrite=0
Nitrate=25ppm
<Ah, there's an indicator of the problem...check your ammonia levels, too.>
Ph=7.4
Dh= >21
Sg. 1.004
I have been told that the mist could be protein and that I am overfeeding, I used to feed a pinch of flake one pinch of dried river shrimp once a day in the morning and 4 cubes of frozen in the evening. I have reduced this to 1 pinch of flake once a day and feed the puffers individually with tongs 1 small snail each. I have combined this with changing 26gals of water every other day with carbon in my canister filter. I have yet to see any serious improvement. Although after water change there is a small improvement, this is soon lost.

I am finding this very frustrating as I have three other set ups all of which are fine these include a 3' foot tropical community 2' small African cichlid and 1 2' setup for a juvenile Nile puffer.
<Glad to hear your other tanks are doing well and that your puffer has his own tank.>
Am I over feeding if so how much should I feed? Would I be better off setting up a skimmer and increasing the salinity to 1.010?
<I don't think you are overfeeding now, but I would get some additional bio-filtration first. Protein skimmers will work to some extent on specific gravities as low as 1.006 (I tested that once with a DIY co-current airstone driven skimmer), but are vastly more effective at higher specific gravities.>
And finally would this protein leech it to the substrate and decor (lime stone and sand)
<Porous limestone may absorb some chemicals, but I am not sure if that is what you're asking.>
Livestock consists of 6 mono argus all these about 1.5 inches in height, 6 mono sebae from 1.5>4 inches in height. Plus 1 large scat approx 9", 1 small scat 3", 1 1" green puffer, 1 1" figure of 8 puffer and finally 3 small knight gobies 2".
<You will eventually need a larger tank to house all of these fish.>
Please help yours gratefully
Paul Davis
<--Ananda>

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