Posts Tagged ‘beginner advice’

Why Do My Fish Keep Dying?

The primary reason most freshwater aquarium fish die is poor water quality.  The main causes of poor water quality is:

• Insufficient filtration
• Insufficient water changes
• Insufficient removal of fish waste
• Too many fish for the size tank

The major problem with water quality problems is that fish don’t obviously die directly from poor water quality.  They die from opportunistic diseases that take advantage of a weakened fish, such as:

• dropsy
• internal parasites
• bacterial infections
• fungal infections
• etc

Many fish-keepers will attempt to treat the apparent disease with antibiotic, anti-parasite or anti-bacterial medications, but not the underlying cause – water quality.  Indeed, particularly in the US where antibiotics are readily available, many new-comers make a bad situation much worse by treating a tank with medication that kills off the colony of beneficial bacteria, leaving the tank uncycled.

It has been my experience that, in nearly all cases, fish that are showing obvious signs of illness will not survive despite the best effort and intention.  To be sure, there are many astute and experienced fish-keepers who can nurse a sick fish back to health, but such experienced people also know that prevention is far more effective than a cure.

Good Practices For Maintaining Fish Health

Filtration

Ensure the aquarium has proper filtration.  A rule of thumb is hard to come by, as there are a number of variables, such as volume of water, number and types of fish, amount of food used, etc.  Generally, I double or triple the manufacturer’s filter recommendation.  For instance, if a filter is rated for a 55G tank, I will use two to three of those filters on a 55G tank. That might seem excessive, but it does ensure good filtration and provides some ability to ride out the failure of one filter.

Water Changes

As with sizing filters, there is are a lot of variables that go into how much and how often to perform water changes.  Internet forums are full of recommendations… from 20% per month to 20% per week.  There is a sizable contingent of well intentioned people who insist that anything more than 20% per week is harmful to the fish.  I do not subscribe to that way of thinking – fish will not suffer from having too much clean water.  I perform 50% changes weekly on my tanks with good results.  It’s a lot of work, but the Python makes it manageable.

Removal of Fish Waste

Some fish waste is dissolved or suspended in the water and is removed through water changes.  However, far more of it hangs around in the form of poop at the bottom of the tank.  Tanks that have gravel on the bottom make this situation hard to see, and without a thorough cleaning of that gravel, bad things can begin to happen, even if the other suggestions are followed.  First, I would strongly recommend most people to skip the gravel, unless there is a particular need.  Spend the money on pieces of drift wood or similar things to cover the bottom.  These can be moved around when it comes time to clean.  Regardless, the fish waste needs to be pulled out weekly as part of the water changes.  A gravel vacuum, like the Python, can clean both bare bottom and gravel bottom tanks.  Bare bottom tanks have a distinct advantage in that it’s easy to see the waste and see that it has all been sucked out.  In gravel tanks, a thorough cleaning of all the gravel is needed to ensure getting most of the waste.

Too Many Fish

Again, there is not a 100% reliable method of determining a safe number of fish for a tank.  It is safer to start out with fewer fish, and add incrementally over time.

Thinking of getting an Aquarium for Tropical Fish: Aquarium advice I wish I knew from the start

Here are some pearls of wisdom I wish I had when I was starting out with my aquarium.

Starting Out and Buying Aquarium Stuff

Accept that you are probably going to kill some fish on accident.  You will either learn from the mistake or drop the hobby.

New Aquariums need to be cycled.

Small tanks are not easier to maintain than large ones.  The large volume of water generally provides a more stable environment for fish, and is more forgiving of mistakes by beginners.

Under-gravel filters suck.  You will hate them.  Also see the comment on gravel.

Unless you have a specific need, don’t put gravel in the bottom of your tank.  If it is not kept clean, it will contaminate the water, causing sick and dying fish.

Do not buy fish on impulse

Don’t rely on the tank size rating when buying a filter for your tank.  Most filters are rated on their flow without media, which will slow down the flow.  You want filtration that will turn the water over between 5 and 10 times per hour.  For a 10 gallon tank, that’s a 50 to 100 gph filter.  For a 55G tank, it’s 225 to 550 gph.

Canister filters are well worth the extra money

Maintaining a planted tank is much harder and more expensive than it looks

Spend the extra money and get a “master test kit” to test your water with (this is the kind that uses drops of reagent chemicals in test tubes).  The strips are not that reliable.

Online pet stores are MUCH cheaper for most food, chemicals and hardware.

Pet stores regularly sell fish that are entirely inappropriate for 99.9% of fish keepers.  Know what you are buying and whether you can properly care for them.

The employees of pet stores only appear to know what they are talking about.

Don’t accept the advice of pet store employees on setting up a new tank

Don’t accept the advice of pet store employees on how to treat a disease with your fish

• Pet store employees have a medicine to sell you to cure just about anything you can come up with.  The trouble is, medicine can rarely cure the cause of a problem. Read more…