Acquiring a fish from LFS procedure questions

csababubbles · Dec 10, 2007

yea i talked to the owner and he started mumbling something about their hydrometer being off 2 points or something. well wouldn't they check into that? and who in the world uses a hydrometer, much less an LFS? its not like the guy was apologetic, very argumentative in that my readings must be off even though I explained I use both a refractometer as well as an American Pinpoint monitor that I calibrated that very morning. Does not matter anymore, just venting a little bit over here

leebca · Dec 11, 2007

It's hard getting accurate information from an LFS, sometimes. If they are close to me, I just get a cup of their water and test it myself.

You can treat/de-worm anytime if you are using a medication that is added to the food.

The bacteria in a biological filter can be finicky in the lowering of the sp. gr. Some will go into a state of metabolic stasis, others will continue on as if nothing is wrong/changed. Hard to tell. Just monitor things closely. About half the time the bacteria will stop working, adjust, then slowly start working again OR those that like the lower salinity will by natural selection take over.

Sounds like you're making good progress. Please keep us informed.

csababubbles · Dec 11, 2007

lee is it too late to freshwater dip or should i just continue moving forward with the hypo?

leebca · Dec 12, 2007

I wouldn't now. After the hypo keep the fish in quarantine to verify it is truly healthy. You can perform a FW dip on the fish on its way to the display tank, if you want or suspect you may have missed something.

The FW bath/dip is particularly good at getting rid of parasites and diseases that are not easily visible with the unaided eye.

csababubbles · Dec 12, 2007

wednesday update, salinity is down to 1.019 from 1.021 so far. going about a point a day at this point. puffer is eating everything except the clam I tried. did not understand to eat it so I took it out after an hour to avoid pollution. everything soaked in vita-chem (ran out of selcon so he will have to do until i get more). He is the most adorable puffer I have ever seen. Loves to stare at me through the cave I put in there for him. Then comes over and begs for food. He did puff up last night and I walked in the room in the middle of it. I wish I had my camera. He was about 4 times the size! No spikes like my porcupine puffer but still I bet it would make him hard to eat. He looked like a giant Oreo cookie. I don't know what caused it, check water parameters and they are all in line, so maybe he got spooked or he just felt like stretching.