Mike’s Fish Tank – Trouble-Free Fish Tank

I’d like to give you a few hints on having a trouble free fish tank. A lot of people start setting up aquariums in the fall. Here is some simple advice to help you have a healthy tank.

Go easy on fish the first 5 weeks. If it’s a 10 gallon tank, then start with 3 or 4 small fish the first month. a 20 gallon tank, go with 5 or 6 fish, 30 gallon, 6 or 7 fish, a 55 gallon tank 8 or 9 fish and so on.

Fish produce urine also known as ammonia. It takes at least 5 weeks for a good bacteria to grow. That good bacteria will actually eat the ammonia. Too many fish, too much ammonia, and you will have sick fish. So go easy the first 4 to 5 weeks. Let that good bacteria  grow before you start adding a lot of fish. Tropical fish like warm water, around 78 to 80 degrees so be sure you have a heater and a good thermometer. Goldfish like cold water, so you do not need a heater. Only add an algae eater when you see algae in your tank. A newly setup tank will have ammonia and certain fish do not like ammonia. So stay away from, neons, guppies, catfish and sharks.

Those are the main fish that will do better if you wait til your tank is 6 or 7 weeks old. Be sure to buy a siphon. It’s important to siphon water from the bottom of your tank every month. I usually tell people to siphon out 25% of the water. If the tank is dirty, siphon a bit  more. If less dirty, then siphon a bit less, maybe 10%. Don’t dip water from the top. That will not help the tank.

You want to siphon from the bottom. That way you will get all the excess food and fish waste out of the tank. Feed your fish carefully. Too much food will cloud up your tank fast. Fish should be fed 3 or 4 times a day but small amounts. When you feed ,watch how much  food falls to the bottom. If a lot is trickling down to the bottom, then you fed too much.

A newly setup tank will start cloudy, then clear up a bit, then cloudy once again. After that it should clear up and stay clear as long as you are careful how you feed. A power filter is a must. They hang on the back of the tank. The cartridge inside the filter should be changed about once a month. In some case you may have to change it more frequently.

The most common fish disease is ick. It looks like the fish has salt all over the fins and body. It’s a stress disease. If a fish gets too hot or too cold, it may come down with ick. Other causes are dirty water, pounding on the tank, aggressive fish and even loud noises in the room the tank is in can cause ick. It can be easily treated. There are several types of ick medications. The important thing is to catch it in time. If you wait til the fish is covered, it’s harder to treat. Check your fish daily. Look for the tiny white spots, and if you see any add the ick medication as soon as possible. There are other fish diseases such as fungus and bacterial infections. If you see anything on your fish that doesn’t look like white spots, call us 753-9213, we’ll help you diagnose the problem and give you a medication to treat it. As always if you have any questions, email me at friskyy@hotmail.com.

Pets A Plenty is located in the Blockbuster Video Plaza, Rte 281 Cortland, 753-9213. Open 7 days a week. We now have a website. www.petsaplety.biz. check it out. I post care sheets, coupons, new animal arrivals, contests and more. Any questions, email me at friskyy@hotmail.com

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