Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide

Oxygen and carbon dioxide, both gases, play an important role in the life of the plants and animals in an aquarium.

Oxygen is required by both animals and plants. A good growth of vegetation and a water surface kept in motion by the filter guarantee the most natural supply of oxygen. If an additional supply of oxygen is needed, use airstones and air diffusers. The quickest and best method is to use a so-called oxidizer (follow the directions exactly).

When there is insufficient oxygen the fish gasp for breath and swim right under the water surface. If this happens, add oxygen immediately. If their behavior does not improve, check to see whether the water has been contaminated by adverse conditions, and take appropriate measures.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is produced during the respiration of fish and also by the bacteria in the filter and in tank bottom. It is an important pllant nutrient. Because the plants in aquarium consume large quantities of CO2, an addditional supply must be kept on hand., For this purpose use the simple CO2 systems recommended for beginners.

Water Hardness

The total hardness is measured in degrees of hardness (dH), as follow: 2-8 dH=soft, 9-16 dH=medium hard, 17-30 dH=hard. You can find out how hard you tap water is by contacting the local water department. If the degree of hardness of you water falls in the range of soft to medium hard, most fish will be comfortable in it. If the water is harder, you will have to soften it (see local pet store for help).

Installing an Outside Filter

At first glance installation of an outside filter seems quite complicated. If you follow the sequence of steps outlined here, however, and keep an eye on a few things, the filter will work on the first try. Proceed in this way:

• Attach the filter hoses to the filter housing.
• Open the filter housing and pour the filter mass between the strainers. (Don't add the substrate still pqacked in little bags, and don't use cotton wadding as a filter.)
• Dampen the gasket, place the motor head with the gasket on the filter, and tighten it.
• Connect the filter to the intake pipe (if at all possible, by means of couplings).
• Briefly suck at the return hose, using either your mouth or a mechanical aspirator, in order to start water flowing into the filter housing. The filter housiing will fill slowly with water.
• Connect the return hose to the nozzle pipe. The nozzle pipe should be attached below water level. Adjust the nozzles so that the stream of water flows horizontally from the rear toward the front pane.

Correct installation of the outside filter. The nozzle pipe must be below water level; the nozzles point toward the front.

What Happens during the Waiting Period

The completed tank must, as I have said, be "broken in " for a time. Let the filter and heater run, set the timer for the aquarium lighting for a cycle of 12 to 14 hours (from 8am to 10pm, for instance), and don't put in a single fish while the water is still cloudy. For the sake of the fish, wait patiently. Even without fish you will have much to gaze at over the next few days. The water will appear cloudy, even brownish at times. It will be full of little air bubbles, and a whitish slime may appear on panes. These signs are entirely normal. Subsequent developments will show you how the water becomes a suitable habitat for fish.

Aid Program for Fish Introduced Too Soon

If you have introduced you fish too soon and notice that they are not feeling well, take the following measures:

1. Every three days change one-third of the water and add some of the conditioning agent.
2. Test whether the fillter is still letting enough water through. If it is only trickling, clean the filter (see Filter Maiintenance).
3. Give food only in flake form, and little of it. Add vitamins to the aquarium water.
4. Do not fertilize the aquarium plants until the tank is broken in.
5. After about two weeks, the aquarium will have "calmed down." Now is the time to switch to a normal rhythm of maintenance.
6. Add new fish only after two more weeks.

Waste Products in the Aquarium

Even in well-maintained aquariums a great deal of debris is constantly produced. It consists of organic waste products that result from the elimination of the fish, superfluous food, and decaying animal and plant parts, These waste products continually undergo a process of transformation brought about by the bacteria present in the soil, in the filter,m and in the water. In this process nitrite--poisonous to fish--is created, then transformed into less dangerous nitrate. Major assistance in this process, iin which oxygen is consumed, is provided by the jplants.This means that there are usually noo problems with the nitrite-nitrate content--that is, as long as enough oxygen is present; you tank contains a good, diverse selection of plants; and the filter works perfectly.

What to Do in Case of Illness

Because diseases often spread through out the aquarium, it is important to take remedial measures at once. The following tips should be helpful:

• Only a few veterinarians are experienced in treating diseases of fish, and they generally are not available immediately. Many pet store dealers, however, can provide quick, reliable help.
• Make a note of all changes in behavior and symptoms of illness so that you can give the pet store dealer as detailed a clinical picture as possible.
• Don't reach indescriminately for some medicine. So-called broad-band treatment with a single medicine that allegedly is good for everything is of little use. For successful treatment you need a medicine precisely suited to the specific disease. Pet store dealers will guide you in selecting one.
• In medicating your pets follow the prescribed dosages exactlly. To give the proper dose you obviously need to know how much water is in your tank. Important: Never use medications and water conditioning agents simultaneously, or the effect of the medications will be largely neutralized.
• Make sure the oxygen content is high (see Oxygen and Cargon Dioxide).
• Clean the filter (don't use charcoal filtration while administering medications simultaneously).
• Try t determine the causes and , if possible, take remedial measures.
• Note: As a rule the entire aquarium populatioon has to be treated. Usuallly little is gained by placing sick fish in a quarantine tank, because apparently healthy fish may already be carrying the pathogens.

Supportive Measures

A kind of "sauna method" used in combination with other measures often works real miracles. When the temperature is raised, the disease causing organisms multiply. Acomplete outbreak of the disease results, and the medication is able to reach all the organisms before they become encysted again.

Here's how to do it:

1. Change one-third of the water, but do not add a water conditioning agent; the substances it contains will combine with the medications and render them ineffective.
2. Raise the temperature a total of about 7degrees f (4c) over two days, or about 3.5degrees f (2c) each day. The maximum temperature possible in the averate aquarium is just under 90degrees f (32c).
3. Administer the medication in the specified dosage. Too low a dose results in the formation of resistant strains of the organisms.
4. Give no food for three or four days.
5. As a rule the external symptoms or a disease will have disappeared after on week. Then lower the temperature again, feed as usual, and give additional vitamins. Otherwise leave the aquarium alone.
6. After one more week change one third of the water and add a conditioning agent.
7. Check the filter to see whether enough water is passing through.

What to Do after Giving Medication

After treating your pets with medications, it may be necessary (for example, if the water is discolored) fo filter the water through charcoal. Filter charcoal is a chemical filteriing material that alters the composition of the aquarium water. Put the dry filllter charcoal into a fillter bag and cover it with filter wadding, which will retain the coal dust. The effectiveness of the charcoal will be exhasted after about on week, aggter which it should be thrown away. Do not reuse it!