Chemical Additives

[BigC]

Ok lets spark a bit of interest here, (maybe)
I am of the belief that the aquatic hobby today is fueled by too many chemical additives, weither it be for diesease eradication, water changing (buffers etc), cycling speed reduction. Reading these boards it has become apparent to me that a lot of livestock is being lost due to this trend which surely cant be right.
Do the membership agree on certain points I have made and also is there a solution to seeking alternative more natural methods.
Regards
BigC

 

[rdd1952]

I agree 100%. I use dechlorinator only other than some ferts for plants. And knock on wood, in 2 and a half years, I have never had any disease in either of my tanks. I've had some algae issues which I was able to correct naturally but nothing else.

I believe that too many people use chemicals as a crutch rather than solving the problems they have. And in some cases, I think the use of one chemical causes another problem which they use another chemical for which causes another problem and so on. I guess it kind of comes down to how lazy some of us have gotten. It's easier to pour a capful of something in the tank than actually do a little work to fix something. Snails for instance, come to mind. I hate those things and picking them out by hand is a pain in the rear and time consuming but I refuse to pour a snail killing chemical in the tank and wonder what else I might be killing.

Unfortunately, education is the only way to solve the problem but as long as the LFS are making money selling these products and the staff at so many of them are as unknowledgeable as the people they are selling to, it's not likely to change. The internet and forums like this will help as I'm sure a lot of people on here have learned that chemicals aren't the end all answer to their problems.

 

[BigC]

Excellent reply RD.

 

[orange shark]

I agree.

I believe that newbies are pressured into using chemicals when they first start because they think it will help. When I first started fish keeping I was told to use tetra easybalance but I stopped after about 2 months after learning more about it. I doont know whether treatments count in chemicals but the only treatments I have used are easybalance and fin rot treatment. After the fin rot was cured I used no chemicals and I have had no deaths since Ive stopped.

orange shark

Oh yeah I use dechlorinater and plant fertiliser aswell.

 

[Tolak]

I totally agree with this, the best preventive medicine is fresh water. I looked into having a well drilled some time ago, that way I wouldn't have to add dechlor. There is no way I could justify $2,000+ for water changes.

I was talking with a dog breeder yesterday; she runs a certified organic farm besides breeding terriers. She believes, and I agree with her, that there are too many chemical additives in human, as well as dog food. The parallels between her beliefs in dog breeding, and my beliefs in fish breeding were really amazing. She has some of the best-looking dogs I've ever seen; it was worth the 13-hour road trip.

The big magic cure is fresh water, if you keep up on large weekly water changes you will have few, if any problems, and any slight problems I've had are often cured with just fresh water.

 

[-germ-]

I agree in principal but it must be said that as concerns newbies who have their heart set on performing a fish in cycle, that there are some products out there that could seriously alleviate the stress placed on their fish.
I personally think there should be a thread just covering products used and their effectiveness in the eyes of members who have used them.
This would help steer people away from wasting their money on what are overpriced or ineffective or simply pointless products.
Realistically this would be massive and the size of it would probably discourage/hamper anyone from taking away decent information covering whatever product they are inquiring about.
I hope after christmas to perform a small set of cycling experiments journalled on this site, in part to prove that one certain product (SeaChem Purigen) prevents the need for fishless cycling when correctly used, although feedback in advance would be appreciated, i think such a topic may cause some controversy?. But also to test the use of bacterial additives and the improvements (if any) they make in cycling time.
I must say that the only things now added to my tanks are dechlorinator, along with marine gravel as a buffer.

 

[Benauld]

I concur that there are to many chemicals used in conjunction with one another. I use dechlorinator, plant food and that is it. I will not touch anything that alters my pH other than RO water/bogwood. However, I don't think that this thread should put people off medicating their tanks. I see this as being a completely different issue.

For instance, I have recently had an outbreak of whitespot from some newly introduced fish. Now that it is in the tank I have no option but to medicate for the welfare of my fish. If there was some form of biological control, believe me, I would use it. However, there isn't so I chose the lesser of two evils.

Just for me to get this straight, if this was a human disease lets say flu, (but in this case flu was a virulent killer), would you be against the use of antibiotics, opting instead for long walks, cold baths, and plenty of fresh air? My point is, there are some instances where mother nature just ain't good enough.

EDIT = Spelling

 

[rdd1952]

I don't think it's really a matter of not condoning using medcation. Obviously, if you have a tank full of white spot, you have to treat it but I think sometimes people see their fish acting a little funny and start throwing medications at it without even knowing what it is they're trying to treat. I'm certainly very inexperienced when it comes to medications and diseases as I have been very fortunate to have my tanks stay disease free so far but I do know that there are different type diseases, infections and parasites and that unless you use the right medication, you are just throwing money away.

 

[scorphonic]

I also agree...the only thing that should be added would be the dechlorinator and meds when required.

Thats it!!

 

[ArauraDiscus]

I agree but keep in mind a good many of these "chemicals" are simple compounds like NaS3 or NaS2. A good portion of these "bad"chemicals are found in nature, we just refine them and bring them to each other for use in aquariums. Without a few of these chemicals, we could not keep the aquarium hobby stable, and would not be as modern in it as we are today. Think of it this way. In a tiny 29 gallon ecosystem, can you really expect breakdowns of matter in to chemicals that would cause waters to be normally acidic, normally alkaline, or just normally the way that water is? No it's not possible inside a house in a 29 gallon tank. The environment these fish live in are vast, amazing, beautiful places that are self sustaining. A 29 gallon tank is not self sustaining. SOmetimes we need chemicals. But I agree sometimes they are erroneous.