What Fish Stuff Should I Try To Get

[Fizban]

im going to the city/perth soon to see my aunt off cuz shes going to teach over in japan any way there a pet store near where we will be this is there web site http/members.iinet.net.au/~aquotix/ copy and past to check it out if curus any way i dont get to the city much so i thort i might ask about what stuff i should try to get cuz where i live you cant get much stuff if the fish gets sick i was hopeing some one could tell me of a few all rownd things i can try to get that will fix fish if they get sick some thing that can be uesed for more then one sickness or some thing that i should have cuz fish get that sickness alot ..............im thinking of seting up a new 25g tank for breeding fry as well so stuff i should get for that i need info on as well such as the sort of air filters that wont harm smalll fry ..............any thing that you think i should add to my wish list cuz they probly have alot more stuff then the small town shop i am forced in to buying from cuz i live too far from any decent place and i may not be back in the city for a time so what to get ???

 

[sylvia]

Well for setting up a breeding/fry tank you'll need a heater, sponge filter, a few floating plants (or tall plastic ones), fry foods, live or frozen foods for conditioning the parents and a few ornaments to act as hiding places for the female while she's spawning (like ceramic pots or inert rocks or some fake plants or other aquarium ornaments). Lighting for the tank is also a good idea and a hood is a must to keep fish from jumping out and for keeping the air above the water warm. Other than that, some light-colored buckets and a gravel vacuum are highly reccomended. The light-colored bucket is important so you can see any fry you suck up when using the gravel vacuum to clean up the tank. You can't see them in darker buckets.

 

[Fizban]

cool thanks for that info i will look for that stuff when im there............and do u no of any medical stuff i should get for there every day diseases and sickness that are the main things that make them sick .......any surgestions on this topic are welcome as well .......oh what brand names are better is good info as well i want to have a fish first aid box incase they get sick

 

[sylvia]

Well, as is the case with most fish, it's useful to have an anti-ich/anti-whitespot med at hand in case your fish turn up with ich. There isn't a particular brand that pops to mind as all are pretty similar and ich is generaly quite easy to treat. Raising the temperature helps

The same applies to meds made for finrot - which usualy also treat common external bacterial infections quite successfuly. I live in the UK so my experience is mainly with UK meds - I can reccomend Interpet's (aquarium treatment number 8 ) Anti fungus & finrot for treating most external bacterial infections (flexibacter columnaris), as well as finrot (also caused by flexibacter usualy). this is also quite easy to treat provided you have the right meds at hand - lowering the temperature in this case is vital.

For other bacterial infections - such as those which cause dropsy/bloat, certain swim bladder problems, cloudy-eye, pop-eye and aeromonas sp. (usualy secondary finrot infections that cause actual decay of the fins is caused by this and is usualy treatable using the finrot med. I mentioned earlier except in particularly aggressive cases) - I'd reccomend buying some broad-spectrum antibiotics. It's usualy a good idea to have a variety at hand as not all work on everything and some are stronger than others. It realy depends on where you live which you have access to and any should work fine. Make sure, if you use antibiotics, that you keep the treatment up for the full time period - even if the fish seems to have recovered. This is essential if we don't want strains of bacteria building up resistance to meds.

I also always keep a bottle of melafix handy. it's not much of a med - certainly won't treat infections single-handedly - but it does seem to make fish appear less stressed and is a very mild anti-bacterial so is useful for healing wounds.

Keep in mind that the most important treatment (and preventative measure) is CLEAN WATER.