Think he was a mistake

[mule231]

Hi guys this is my first post on this site after many hours of reading.

So I was sucked in while visiting my LFS, and ended up getting a 1" GSP. I was told he would live in my fresh water 30g tank with my other fish no problem.

I took him home and put him in my community tank and he went from being dull and grey (as he was in the shop) to bright green and more white on his belly. I thought great he looks like he is going to settle in fine, then I started to read some info on the web. Lesson learned there - research first

I came across this site and also www.**************.com and quickly found out they need BW. With this I though that I must have the name wrong and my GSP was not actually a GSP so the next day I went back to the store and had a look at the label on the tank. This confirmed they were GSP's. I was a bit mad I had been misinformed but the guy who sold him to me was not there and the others were busy so I just left. The others in the tank looked like they were about to die so Im pleased I saved my little puffer.

So my question is how quickly should I be adding salt to my tank? I have never catered for BW before. And also im going to have to make a choice between my current fish and my puffer I expect as I have a pleco, shark cat, striped cat, silver sharks x2 in my tank and from reading various places the only thing that will cope with BW is the shark cat (I got him from the same place and seem to have been misinformed about him too )

But my dilemma, I only have one tank, and I dont want to take the puffer back as now a week later he seems healthier in my tank then he was when I got him, and the others left in the store

 

[Tom500]

I wont be much help with the specifics of adding salt as i have no experience with BW fish, but im fairly sure you could keep a GSP (Green sopt puffer, for those like me who it took ages to figure it out lol) happy and still keep your current fish, i think all of the fish you have stated above have a bit of a tollerance to salt and im fairly sure that the GSP could be kept happy without damaging the others, but im not sure so better wait for some salt experts to give advice on that.

We all have to learn somehow, unfortunately some of us learn lessons the hard way, i know i have in the past.
Good luck with it, puffers are great fish

 

[Tom500]

I wont be much help with the specifics of adding salt as i have no experience with BW fish, but im fairly sure you could keep a GSP (Green sopt puffer, for those like me who it took ages to figure it out lol) happy and still keep your current fish, i think all of the fish you have stated above have a bit of a tollerance to salt and im fairly sure that the GSP could be kept happy without damaging the others, but im not sure so better wait for some salt experts to give advice on that.

We all have to learn somehow, unfortunately some of us learn lessons the hard way, i know i have in the past.
Good luck with it, puffers are great fish

 

[Mr_Altepeter]

While I am not an expert on BW by any means I will share a little story with you that may help put you at ease a little bit. I have always added salt to my tank to help with the stresscoats. However, I was not paying enough attention to the evaporation process. Kinda funny that salt does not evaporate, who woulda thunk it??? Over the course of about two months I drove my salinity up to 1.005 (I think, it's been a while) which I was told is pretty much BW salinity. I slowly added less salt during each WC over the next month to bring it back to an acceptable level (1.002 I believe) During this time frame of having the BW None of the inhabitants had any issues. The only reason I can think of is the slow process of getting up to the BW levels. I do have an Amazon Sword who suffered greatly from it and am still trying ot nurse it back to health.

I think if you keep salt in your tank then you may be ok. Momre informed people than I will really be able to help you out. In the mean time hopefully this helps ease your fears....

 

[mule231]

Thanks for the responses so far, it has helped somewhat...

I have another question though after speaking to the LFS where I got my puffer. I told them I was not really happy I had been misinformed and they they stated that I should add some tonic salt, but it would really have little difference.**now confused**

So is tonic salt different to normal marine salt? or to put another way what type of salt should I buy?

 

[Mr_Altepeter]

Heck I don't even know what Tonic Salt is. I would stay away form it, unless several others here post otherwise. Marine salt should be ok.

 

[jus85411]

aquarium salt(tonic salt) and marine salt are two different things. you should get instant ocean or tropic marin salt for the brackish change. only raise your salinity .002/week as you will kill off the FW bacteria if you raise it too fast. you can do .002/week or you can do it slower. as long as you dont jump salinity too fast the conversion will be fine and easy. i didnt think i would have as easy a time doing the conversion from fresh-brackish-marine for my GSP, but i did 3 tank size changes(3 gallon for 3 days, 29 gallon for 4 months, and now in a 75). its been an awesome experience as long as you take your time and do everything as you can

 

[mule231]

ok thanks, so they misinformed me again!

I have read and been told so much conflicting stuff about these fish its unreal.

So will adding marine salt to my tank to make the water brackish have an effect on my other fish in the tank? My pleco is my biggest concern he is my baby, and what about the others I have stated in my first post.

Thanks for you help with this by the way, I think I need to stick to one source of information and stop filling my mind with so much conflicting evidence and at the moment don't know what is best for my tank. I cant understand how these fish shops get away with selling the fish and giving out the wrong information

 

[earthstudent]

Many fish can handle some salt (<1.004) with no problem. Many even benefit from it. Not sure if the salt level the other fish can handle with be good enough for the GSP for life but can buy you some time. Either way, you will likely want to get that puffer in a different tank in the future anyway as they become aggressive and he may kill or injure some of your other fish.
I think your best bet is to get another tank set up with the same water conditions as your existing tank (as long as those conditions are good). Once the new tank is completely cycled, put the puffer in its new home and begin to raise the salt level in the tank slowly until you are were you should be for your puffers size and go from there.
Puffers are very active and will get board easily. I would not put him in anything smaller than a 30g tank. A 55g would be better.
When it comes to tank size, bigger is always better.

 

[mule231]

While I am not an expert on BW by any means I will share a little story with you that may help put you at ease a little bit. I have always added salt to my tank to help with the stresscoats. However, I was not paying enough attention to the evaporation process. Kinda funny that salt does not evaporate, who woulda thunk it??? Over the course of about two months I drove my salinity up to 1.005 (I think, it's been a while) which I was told is pretty much BW salinity. I slowly added less salt during each WC over the next month to bring it back to an acceptable level (1.002 I believe) During this time frame of having the BW None of the inhabitants had any issues. The only reason I can think of is the slow process of getting up to the BW levels. I do have an Amazon Sword who suffered greatly from it and am still trying ot nurse it back to health.

I think if you keep salt in your tank then you may be ok. Momre informed people than I will really be able to help you out. In the mean time hopefully this helps ease your fears....

What type of salt were you adding to your tank?