Recognising Complications

If you take good care of your aquarium, it is rare for your fish to fall sick. However, there is no guarantee that you will never have to treat your fish for a disease. By maintaining proper water chemistry, pristine water quality, feeding your pets a variety of high-quality fish foods, and providing them with an optimal habitat and suitable tank mates, you can avoid most complications that arise.

Common Reasons

Almost all fish-related complications come from the creatures being stressed, which weakens the immune system. There are a myriad of factors, including but not limited to:

• Shipping
• Poor water quality
• Improper water chemistry
• Inadequate filtration
• Improper diet
• Overcrowding
• Lack of day/night cycle (leaving the light on)
• Injuries
• Aggression from other fish
• Inadequate habitat

• Don’t purchase new arrivals at the aquarium. Make sure that they’re at least a week old, and remember to acclimate them to your aquariums after bringing them home, spending around 30 minutes doing so.
• Make sure there is enough foliage for all your fish and rearrange decorations if necessary, so as to dissuade established territorial fish from harassing the new pets.
• When introducing new fish to your aquarium, keep them in the dark for a few hours to allow them to adjust to their new environment

Solutions

Quarantining new fish could be a possible solution, by keeping a separate ‘Quarantine Aquarium’. This would reduce the chances of introducing a disease organism into your aquarium. It also serves as a place to safely treat sick fish if or when necessary, without introducing chemicals to your main tank. This tank could also be used to isolate bullies or fish that are being picked on, as sort of a ‘solitary confinement’.

You could also make use of equipment such as Ultraviolet Sterilisers, which kill disease-causing organisms, suspended algae and help keep water. You should change your steriliser every 10 months or 7,000 hours of operation to maintain peak performance.

Recognising

But most importantly, is the ability to recognize any issues that arise so that they may be addressed. To do so, you should be able to understand your fishes’ ‘normal’ behaviour, so as to observe any irregularities. A good time for observation is when fishes are feeding.

• White spots
• Cloudy eyes
• Bloody patches
• White body film
• Torn / ragged fins
• Loss of colour

• Gasping at the surface
• Shimmying
• Rubbing against decorations or the substrate
• Cowering
• Refusing food
• Dashing around