Something a little different.

I came across this and found it applicable to the blog.

Sick Fish

It seems that there are some people out there who have experienced sick fish while trying to keep them. I would guess that most people have, especially when first getting started. I will address some common mistakes that can lead to sick fish when you first set up your aquarium.

The first is cycling the tank. When you put your fish in your aquarium they will put their waste into the water and they may not eat all the food that you put in to feed them. This waste and excess food breaks down to create ammonia. Ammonia is toxic to fish, you don't need very much to make the fish sick or kill them. There are natural bacteria that will eat this ammonia, but it takes time, about 2 weeks, for them to grow, so in the mean time you fish are being poisoned by the water. These bacteria excrete nitrites as waste which is also poisonous to fish, but no need to fear another type of bacteria will come that eats the nitrites, again about 2 weeks, this bacteria excretes nitrates. Nitrates are only harmful to the fish in large amounts, the amount varies by type of fish so find out how much is okay before bringing the fish home.

So if you get an aquarium bring it home put water in it and your fish, you will be poisoning them for about a month, which many fish can't survive. Some fish that can survive the poisoning are weakened and get sick with illnesses such as the infamous ich and die anyway. To prevent this you should cycle your tank before introducing your fish.

To cycle your tank what you need is your tank, some pure ammonia, fish food, a shrimp, or some other seafood meat uncooked, and a water test kit. The water test kit is very important so if you don't have one you should go to you favorite fish store and get one. Once you have your tank all setup how want it, ie got your substrate, plants, other decorations, filter and heater in place, etc. and all filled up with water you add the ammonia or ammonia creation stuff. The process will be faster if you get pure ammonia, don't use the stuff with perfume added, because the fish may not like the perfume. Add about 1tbs of ammonia to the water (depending on the size of tank, check aquahobby in my links section for more specific details, they have very high quality resources there) each test, and test the water about 1hr or so after. The numbers for ammonia should go up then down, and when the ammonia starts going down the nitites should start going up. When they both get to zero do a partial water change to get rid of the nitrates and your tank is ready to add fish, but don't add to many at a time.

You should do partial water changes when the nitrates get to high (20-40 ppm depending on type of fish), you shouldn't have to worry about ammonia or nitrites but do continue to check them.

If you use an ammonia maker, instead of just ammonia it will take longer to get ammonia into the tank because the ammonia maker has to break down. Once the cycle is done remove remaining ammonia maker from the tank.

Stress is anothing thing that contributes to fish getting sick. Some things that contribute to fish stress are temperature swings, change in water pH, being moved, or any other big change in their environment. So try to keep the water the same by using a good heater and make sure the water you add to the tank is the same temperature as the water already in the tank. Try not to use pH adjusters in your tank, instead get fish that like the pH of your water.

One thing to keep in mind when adding water to your tank is to use a dechlorinator, the clorine in tap water will kill the bacteria that is keeping the toxins out of the water and can damage your fish's slime coat.

What is a Fish?

A fish (bony fish) is an animal that lives in the water and swims around. They have scales and fins and usually eyes, though some don't. Fish control their depth with a swim bladder. Which is basically an air bag that they can inflate and deflate to allow them to go up or down.



Sharks do not have a swim bladder like fish, they use bile to control their depth. Evidentially sharks don't have bones or overlapping scales either. The sharks in my tank are not really sharks they are just fish that look kind of like sharks.

OK now back to fish. Fish live in fresh water, salt water, and brackish water. Fresh water is water that does not have salt in it, it is found in rivers, lakes, and ponds and so are fish. Salt water is water with lots of salt in it and is found in the Oceans, and two lakes the Dead Sea and the Great Salt Lake. Fish live in the oceans but not in salty lakes. Brackish water is water that is salty but not as salty as the oceans, brackish water is found in estuaries where rivers meet the ocean. Different types of fish live in fresh water, brackish water, and salt water.

For the most part fresh water fish can't live in salt water and salt water fish can't live in fresh water. Though there are exceptions like Salmon that live in the ocean except for when the are going to reproduce when they swim up the rivers to lay their eggs. Another exception is the Sea Cat, also called the Silver Tipped Sharks, and some other names I cannot remember. The Sea Cat is born in fresh water river and as they grow the move closer to the ocean. So one way to look at it is that the bigger they get the saltier they like the water.

The fish are alive

So last night I fed the fish and they ate the food. They seemed to be fairly hungry because dinner was late, though Oscar didn't really eat very much, just 3 pellets. Tuke and Cissy were very excited to get food, but then again they always are.

The africans cichlids are still making too many babies and wont eat them. They are getting too plentiful for their tank. But at least we are getting some with color now. Chips babies are all white and brown and mostly ugly, but It appears as though Grover and Damian are having babies and they are a nice blue. Now to figure out what to do about all the babies.

We did put one in with Oscar to see if he would eat it, but he didn't and the baby is growing up fast in the tank and isn't worried about the Sharks or Oscar.