Stressed Gsp Please Help

[erk628]

Substance is what ever you have at the bottom of your tank like sand or gravel etc. I would recommend you get a liquid test kit tommorrow if possible because the test strips are just to inaccruate.

 

[herguitarist94]

Substance is what ever you have at the bottom of your tank like sand or gravel etc. I would recommend you get a liquid test kit tommorrow if possible because the test strips are just to inaccruate.

oh i have gravel, and ill try to get the liquid test kit asap. ill let you know when i do but i talked to someone and they said the high pH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate are because i just set up the tank, for now im going to let it sit and do a test about every week and after they begin settling down (about 3 strait weeks of the same results) i can get the fish.

p.s. my SG (specific gravity) is at about 1.013 now

 

[erk628]

Do as you wish I've done all I can do here, just so you know you were told wrong by this other person. After the three weeks and you put your new GPS in then your true cycle will begin and you will be were you were a few days ago a fishin cycle wondering why your fish doesn't look happy.

 

[jennybugs]

HG...I think you need to do some more reading before you carry on too far. As erk has said, the links in his signature are some worthwhile reading material and you really want to be understanding that before you go any further and think about salt mixing etc. If you can't afford the liquid test kits at the moment then wait until you can, maybe. Trying to cycle a tank relying on the readings of test strips really isn't the best and most accurate way to go about it.

If you leave your tank completely empty for now it won't do it any harm. Read up about cycling and testing the water, do research into how to mix up salt water and what gsp's need as that changes as they get older, and then start afresh. Rushing into things isn't the best thing to do if you havbe to ask loads of questions while you're in the middle of it all. Best to read up first and then get an understanding of what to do and what your intended fish needs before filling up the tank etc

 

[herguitarist94]

okay i just read the entire thing. i was told by someone that insted of ammonia i can just put some food in and it will help the bacteria grow and wait a week or so and test it again.

 

[jennybugs]

Cycling with flake food will take longer than a week to complete.

 

[Bebobb]

Fish food IS a source of ammonia. But it is very hard to tell how much ammonia you are adding. Make sure that you read up on fish-less cycling, and truly understand it. You will then need a bottle of PURE ammonia. I would reccomend a bottle of ammonia over fish food any day. Fish food will cost more than the bottle of pure ammonia will. I suggest that you read a few care sheets on GSP's and then go to the brackish forum and ask some questions.

I think that I have read somewhere that you have to mix the salt in with the water in a seperate container and not your tank. So if you were doing a water change, and you just filled up your 10 gallon bucket up with more water to put in your tank, you would mix the salt in the bucket and not the tank.

Also, Erk. It is not "substance" it is "substrate." Substrate is what is at the bottom of your tank. I really do reccomend that you purchase a liquid test kit. I have used test strips, and I have also used liquid test kits. I have to say that the liquid test kits are a lot more accurate than the test strips are. You can find them on eBay for much cheaper than you could find them in the store. You might have to wait a few days for it to come to your house, but I would say that it is well worth the wait.

On the other hand, maybe GSP's aren't for you. No offence, or anything. You could set up a dwarf puffer tank... And you could have probally 4-5 dwarf puffers in a 20 gallon tank. I hope that I have cleared a few things up in this post. I also hope that I didn't help confuzzle you any more! Hope you have a nice day!

EDIT:

Cycling with flake food will take longer than a week to complete.

Won't any cycling take longer than a week to complete if you don't have mature media?

 

[herguitarist94]

okay. and its not flake food its freezedryed bloodworms. but anyway, ill go check ebay for some liquid test kits and ammonia.also what kind of test kit would i need for brackish water, fresh or salt water test kit?

 

[Bebobb]

I'm not sure that the blood worms will produce as much ammonia as the actual flake food would. I would highly reccomend that you purchase a bottle of PURE ammonia.

On the hand of test kits... I would buy a salt water test kit. I have just done some Googling, and found out that a fresh water test kit doesn't read all of the parameters correctly in a brackish tank. I didn't get really in depth, so I would either do some research on it, or wait for another person to reply as they could prbally give you a better answer than I could.

 

[herguitarist94]

okay im leaving in a little bit. ill try to pick up some ammonia and saltwater liquid master test kit

its just normal ammonia you find in walmart right? nothing special?

 

[Bebobb]

Pure ammonia will only list ammonia and water as ingredients. Chelating agents are ok. Without going into great detail, that is simply a bonding agent that keeps the ammonia and water "mixed". If it lists dyes, fragrances or surfactants, you don't want it. If the bottle doesn't have an ingredient label, shake the bottle. If it foams, it won't work. A few air bubbles that disappear immediately are ok.

I got that quote from the fishless cycling page on this forum. It can be kind of tricky to find the correct type of ammonia.

 

[herguitarist94]

Pure ammonia will only list ammonia and water as ingredients. Chelating agents are ok. Without going into great detail, that is simply a bonding agent that keeps the ammonia and water "mixed". If it lists dyes, fragrances or surfactants, you don't want it. If the bottle doesn't have an ingredient label, shake the bottle. If it foams, it won't work. A few air bubbles that disappear immediately are ok.

I got that quote from the fishless cycling page on this forum. It can be kind of tricky to find the correct type of ammonia.

okay sorry it took so long to reply guys. i just got back from pets mart and got a liquid ammonia test kit (only ammonia) and the results (according to the saltwater chart because i have a SP of 1.014) and it looks like about 1ppm which is really confusing. is it beginning its spike of ammonia, or ending it? which would mean my nitrates would start spiking right? since i cant test the nitrites or nitrates very accurately (because i have strips for those ), how can i tell if the ammonia is starting or ending its spike? just wait a couple of days and see if it goes up or down? also i bought some little snails for my future puffers (the little ones), and figured id let them breed in the tank while its cycling, and i put a tiny tiny piece of algae wafer to feed them with, and i dont see any snails, i think there under the rocks, say they don't eat the algae,because they die or something, will that effect the cycling?

 

[jennybugs]

Cycling with flake food will take longer than a week to complete.

Won't any cycling take longer than a week to complete if you don't have mature media?

Yes, why? I was just making the comment to the OP as I really don't think the basics of cycling have been understood.

 

[herguitarist94]

Cycling with flake food will take longer than a week to complete.

Won't any cycling take longer than a week to complete if you don't have mature media?

Yes, why? I was just making the comment to the OP as I really don't think the basics of cycling have been understood.

can you help with my last post? the one above jennybugs

 

[jennybugs]

okay sorry it took so long to reply guys. i just got back from pets mart and got a liquid ammonia test kit (only ammonia) and the results (according to the saltwater chart because i have a SP of 1.014) and it looks like about 1ppm which is really confusing.

You're confusing me here...SP of 1.04? Do you mean specific gravity (SG)? How did you measure that?

is it beginning its spike of ammonia, or ending it? which would mean my nitrates would start spiking right? since i cant test the nitrites or nitrates very accurately (because i have strips for those ), how can i tell if the ammonia is starting or ending its spike?

Keep up the testing.
It will still rise if you are doing something to cycle the tank i.e. adding a source of ammonia.
I'm afraid I don't know what stage you are at or what you are doing to your tank at all now.
Did you clean it all out and leave it empty and have a read/try to understand about cycling as recommended? I get the feeling you haven't yet.

also i bought some little snails for my future puffers (the little ones), and figured id let them breed in the tank while its cycling, and i put a tiny tiny piece of algae wafer to feed them with, and i dont see any snails, i think there under the rocks, say they don't eat the algae,because they die or something, will that effect the cycling?

You will most likely find that snails will die during a cycle. Best to have a completely empty tank for cycling really without anything alive in it.