The Pet Fish Care Blog

White spot disease is a dreadful disease among tropical fishes. It is caused by a organism called- ichthyophthirius multifilii. This disease is also called as Fish Ich. The affected fish would be so lethargic in its movement. It will always rub its body against the wall of the aquarium. It will go off-feed. Finally you can notice white spots all over the body.

It is always advisable to separate this fish from its counter part. Then start treating the fish in a secluded tank. It is always change the water on daily basis of this affected fish tank. Treat the fish with ich with potassium permanganate to remove the white spots on its body. This treatment should be followed for three days.

Although the disease is the equivalent of a skin infection, it can easily be fatal. So consult a fish specialist to get rid of this dreadful condition

Mouth fungus is the fungus like growth that appears on the mouth and the body of infected aquarium fish.  Even though, it looks like fungus growth, it is a bacterial infection caused by chondrococcus columnaris. It is also known as false fungus. This disease is contagious, spread very fast among the other fishes that live together. If one fish is infected, all the aquarium fishes will surely be the victims of this and will die if not treated adequately.

The mouth fungus bacteria are common in all freshwater aquariums. Fishes that are handled rough will be affected soon by this bacterium. The water quality and diet of the fishes are important factors in preventing this disease. The fishes that are living in poor water and are given inadequate food are more prone to mouth fungus disease. The infection could also occur through fish nets. This bacteria doesn’t affect fishes that are living in healthy surroundings.

The chondrococcus columnaris attacks mainly the cat fish and the viviparous fishes like guppies, mollies and swordtails. The bacteria get into the fish through small cuts in its body or through the mouth and gills of the fish.

White or grey spots around the gills, fungus like growth around the mouth and head of the fish are the main symptoms of infection from columnaris bacteria. Initially, as the infection spread, the white spots become yellow or brown. The mouth of the fish will be fully destroyed by the bacteria making it difficult for the fish to eat. In later stages, the gills will be affected and breathing becomes difficult.

It is always better to prevent the infection by keeping the aquarium clean and healthy. As once affected the invasion of the disease is fast, it is important to treat it in the initial stage itself. Mixing copper sulphate to the aquarium water is a very effective treatment for this problem. Mixing 10 to 20 milligrams of chormycetin in one litre of aquarium water is also proved to be a good medicine for mouth fungus.

There are many fish foods available in the market that are rich in oxytetracyclin which has anti bacterial effect.If the fishes are highly affected that they stopped their regular feeds, it is best to treat with antibiotics which are available easily available  in most of the veterinary pharmacies.

The infected fishes need to be isolated immediately after they are found to be with the symptoms. They can be placed back after the disease is cured, which approximately takes four weeks.

The columnaris bacteria grow on the organic wastes. Always remember to change the water at regular intervals. Clean all the gravels inside the aquarium so that the waste removal can be done effectively. Anti fungal, antibacterial drops are available in the local pet shops that are to be added as 3-5 drops helps in preventing the attacks of bacteria and fungus in aquarium fishes.

All the new fishes must be placed in a separate tank for two weeks in order to prevent any disease spread that they carry from the previous aquarium.

Do you know Bettas are native of Southeast Asia? In ancient days Bettas are mostly noticed in the rice paddy fields. The rice paddies are not so deep as you think. It is just ten feet depth only. Regarding Betta origins there are so many theories. In the wild, the Bettas are usually dull colored and short finned. Due to natural selective breeding, they have developed the bright colors and longer fin types.

As many know, Bettas are also known as “Siamese Fighting Fish”. The Betta fishes are native of the following countries of South-east Asia-

• Thailand
• Malaysia
• Indonesia

In nature, the basic color of Betta fishes is yellow. The genes responsible for basic color may present or absent in the Betta fish. If your Betta fish contains blue gene, you can expect bluish green, metallic blue, or royal blue. Most of us like to go for beautiful royal blue owing to the reason of mixture of the other blues.

Betta origins are the wonder of genetics. Yes!!! Nature played an important role in Betta fish color and fins.

So, you have decided to rear pet fishes in your drawing room. Then, you should know the perfect list for maintain the same. Before bringing the pet fish to your home, you should know the basics of pet fish care.

Following are the calendar of operations for better maintenance of the fishes in your home aquarium.

Day-to-day Activities

You should not use soap to wash the bowl, which may act as a precursor for death of your fish. If you want to use your own well or bore water, you should treat the water with a special fish conditioner. The water should be changed once in 2-3 days. Your fish in the bowl should be fed daily.

Weekly Activities

You can clean your larger fish tank at least once a week. some of the fish owners advocating the practice of changing only 10-15% of water weekly once. All the other practices that are performing in the day-to-day activities should be repeated in the weekly activities.

Montly Package of Practices

Syphon out the bottom level gravel in your aquarium tank. The waste hides and debris in the bottom of the aquarium should be removed without fail.

Annual Maintenance Tips

Check the size of the fish in such a way that it won’t be too big for the bowl. This is the right time to change the present bowl to a larger one. Do check the air supplies and filters. If they need to be replaced, please do so.

Hope you have taken the above points to have a perfect pet fish care. But these points doesn’t hold if you are away from home leaving your pet fishes alone. So, read my next post Pet Fish Care
during travel.

You should maintain a perfect temperature of the waters in a fish aquarium because this is a basic step in pet fish care. The temperature of a fresh water fish  should be  between 74-78  degrees Celcius.

If the aquarium temperature tend to fall, you can make use of aquarium heaters to control the water temperature.

The tropical fishes would be healthy only during the small optimum temperature window, which means 76-80 degrees Celcius. Any time you buy a new fish, you should strict on to this optimal window. If the temperature sligthly above or below this range, your fishes life would be in danger.

To have a healthy pet fish care, please keep this point in mind to maintain a hale and healthy life of your fish.

So, you have decided to own a pet fish. It would definitely be a rewarding and exciting experience. But you should ask the question of - “How to take care of a pet fish?” well before you buy a pet fish for your home. Yes! You should know answer for this query, which is where pet fish care tips can come into the picture.

If you adhere to the following simple tips to take care of a pet fish, your fish will live long ever than you expected.

1.  Try to give more space for your fish TO ROAM inside the bowl or fish tank. You should keep in mind that the life of fish is also just like that of other animal. It will be growing daily.

2.  Don’t Overfeed your fish. Fishes don’t know that they are hungry or not. So they’ll eat continuously if you feed them for every hour. So feed them at least twice daily. For example a small gold fish of 30 gms requires only a  a finger full of food twice a day. That too you can sprinkle over the water on the tank.

3. Cleaning of the bowl should be done at least twice a week. Scum can build up on the glass and the dirt glass made the water to be unfit for the growth of the pet fishes.

4.  Don’t handle the fishes regularly! As they are cold blooded animals, handling them will lead them to succumb. Don’t treat fishes just like that of dogs or cats.

5.  Fish in bowl is not easy to care than the one in the aquarium tank for tropical water fishes. Hence it is advisable to raise the tropical fishes in aquarium tanks.

6.  The water should be changed twice a week. The new water to be introduced in the tank should be allowed to stand overnight to make the chlorine settle down at the bottom.

I am damn sure that your fish will lead a happy and healthy life if you strictly adhere to the above tips. Now you can easily answer the question to the person who is asking- “How to take care of a pet fish?”. Am I correct?

Salt water aquarium is also known as marine aquarium. The installation of salt water aquarium is an expensive and time consuming affair. Once established, the salt water aquarium needs to be maintained properly for the comfortable living of the inmates, the fishes. There are several things involved in maintaining salt water aquarium for healthy and healthy living of the fishes. Let’s discuss about it here.

The water level must be checked daily. The chemical content of the water needs to be monitored once in two weeks.  The PH, nitrate, nitrite, ammonia and temperature should be maintained at right level. One should know the required level of the chemicals mentioned above for the fish that you had purchased. Any deviation from the permitted or required level is unacceptable. There are chemicals that are available in fish shop store to maintain the chemical level, just buy and use them.

The salinity of the water required to be monitored. In case the salinity is more, de-chlorinated water must be added. If the salinity is less, required quantity of salt must be added. Every week, ten percent of the water in the tank needs to be replaced with chlorine free water. Once on a month, it is better to replace twenty five percent of the tank water in the same way.

The salt water aquarium must be kept clean and neat. The tank should be free of algae. Monitor the side, bottom and top of the tank for algae. If noticed, clear the same at once. The filters that are provided in the water tank must be checked once in a week. The alkalinity of the filter pads must match with the manufacturer’s direction. If not, the same needs to be replaced at the earliest.

The debris found in the tank and gravel placed at the bottom of the tank must be cleared thoroughly. The temperature of the water tank needs to be monitored. Water heaters are available which can be purchased and kept ready for usage in case of emergency. One has to spend sufficient time in maintaining the salt water aquarium for quality living of the lovely inmates that provide entertainment to you and your family.

For fish lovers, investing in aquarium is more than hobby. There are two major types of aquarium. They are marine aquarium and non-marine aquarium. In Marine aquarium sea fishes are kept and in non marine aquarium fresh water fishes are kept. The field of aquarium is so developed now, that we can change the temperature of the aquarium by switching on a water heater. We can provide intense or dim light that makes the fish life comfortable inside the aquarium.

In addition to the temperature control system, you have so many other water purification systems which can be used to increase the oxygen availability, reduce the level of toxic chemicals and clean the debris in the water tank. Some equipment is mechanical, some are electronic and some are biological.

In addition to this, wonderful equipment called automatic food distribution cum fertilized dosage system is also available. This equipment is of immense help as it takes out the hassle of remembering when to feed, what to feed and how much to feed.

The fish lovers will be astonished to know that fish tanks are now available in different sizes, colors, materials etc. You have tanks that are fitted with advanced electronic equipments. Many different equipments are available that help to improve the comfort of the fishes that are placed in the aquarium, be it fresh water fish or marine water fish. One must learn about the requirement of fresh water fish, marine water fish and cold water fish before starting the aquarium. One must know about the dangerous fish that are not recommended foe beginners like piranhas.

Let’s discuss about Gasteropelecidae family here.

1. Gasteropelecidae- this family include fishes that can fly [hatchet fishes]. These are found in northern reaches of South America. Distinctly deep figures are their characteristic features. These fishes have the ability to fly. They could do so by raising the chest fin and attempting to float in the sky, hence the name flying fish. The fish owners are advised to have a hood above the aquarium if they have flying fish. The hood should be placed at least 15 feet above the tank to prevent these fishes from falling out of aquarium.

2. Carnegiella marthae- this species is also known as blackwing hatchet fish- the origin of this species is Peru, Amazon area, and Venezuela. This species can attain a size of inch and a bit more.  The keel, ridge and chest will be black. This species perform better in aquarium. They are easy to maintain. Easy food habits, good breeding in captivity and calm temperament are the reasons why people prefer this. These fishes breed much like hyphessobrycon.

3. Gasteropelecus Levis or silver hatchet fish- the origin is Amazonian lower region.
This can grow an inch more than the blackwing variety. They have silver body with parallel stripes of blue- black tinge. They are not averse in sharing the aquarium with other fishes. They require clean water and its breeding habit is similar to blackwing variety and hence under study. Their breeding habit in captivity is yet to be understood as the study is on.

Like Gasteropelecidae family, fishes belong to cyprinidae too have very interesting species. The fishes will have bigger body and bone when compared to gasteropelecidae. They are found in Europe, North America and some parts of Asia and Africa. Few species have barbell fins instead of adipose fins. The Indian counter part is known as mahaseer. This is a fresh water fish. They have toothless jaw, soft fins, and round scales.

Aquarium is wonderful to have. It is lovely time passing for many. There are many research papers which say that fish watching cools down the temperament and are good for hypertensive patients. But aquarium is expensive and bit difficult to maintain. For beginners fresh water aquarium is the best as salt water aquarium is much more complicated than fresh water aquarium.

For fresh water aquarium, one need water tank, filter, heater, thermometer and some gravel. Let the tank be filled with water, preferably well water. Don’t rush to place the fish in it. Let the water remain in the tank for about a week. Let the biological filter cycle go on during that period. Then start placing the fishes in it.

Which fish to select?

This is invariably the first question that prop-up in every one’s mind, the moment they want to go for fresh water aquarium. There many species to choose from. You get fresh water fishes in all sizes, all shapes and all colors. Some species will live comfortably with other while some other species will fight and eat the other.

The best way to select is by going round the fresh water fish shop in your area. Observe yourself and find out which catches your eye. Discuss with the shop owner or the salesman who can also advise you in selection. Make sure that the species you had selected can live together in same tank.

For beginners, various types of cichlids, gold fish and rain bow fish are good. Cichlids are available in different colors. They can grow large [Up to three feet in wild condition.] The rainbow fishes are multicolored as the name suggests. These fishes are from Australia. Rainbow fish is very colorful and look very pretty. If you are looking for small size of fish, then you can buy neons. These neons will not grow bigger but look wonderful as they have fluorescent stripes on clear body.

Fresh Water Fish Aquarium Maintenance and Care

The water level must be maintained properly. The temperature and the PH of the water are very important for the survival of the fish. Frequent fluctuation in the temperature will kill the fish. Likewise the some fish such as discus will die if the PH of the water is not conducive. The filters are must for the fresh water fish aquarium for increasing the oxygen availability. It is better to have water heater handy to use in case of emergency especially during winter. The levels of chemicals such as chlorine and ammonia needs to be monitored periodically as both these are harmful for the fishes.