Skyline

Contrary to popular belief, The immediate threat of salt to fish and plants is greater then that of any potential long term benefits that may or may not be gained by its use.

Scaleless fish, particularly cordydoras, are very sensitive to salt. Even a small amount could harm them. Tetras are also fairly sensitive to salt.

It is not advisable to add salt to your aquarium on an ongoing basis unless the fish require brackish water conditions.

Remember, "If its not broken don't fix it."

In fact,your fish are much better served by leaving them alone and allowing them to regulate their own osmotic balance ... something they have been doing without your help for thousands of years.

Oh and Armadillo, I would like to give some more helpful advice on your already amazing article that im sure will help many newbies out:

A couple months back I had a beautiful 175 gallon tank with about 30 huge goldfish about 5-8 inches in length, a beautiful butterfly koi, and two iridescent sharks measuring about 5 inches. It was a great aquarium until I went on vacation and didn't clean my tank for about a two weeks. When I came back to my surprise (/sarcasm) the tank was completely green. So I decided to do a 50% water change and completely block my tank of sunlight for about 3 days.

The algae never went away so I decided to buy some algae medicine called AlgaeFix. Now since I was used to using 5 ml of liquid (one teaspoon) for every 10 U.S. gallons of water, I added 17.5 teaspoons of algaefix for my 175 gallon. I also decided to cover my tank to further clear my algae problem. I woke up in the morning and found all my fish completely dead. Every single last one of them. I was horrified. Anyway, I re-read the directions for use and it said: Add 1 teaspoonful(5ml) for each 50 U.S. Gallons. I felt soo bad for not reading the directions carefully.

The morale of the story: ALWAYS CAREFULLY read the directions for use of every medicine you use on your tank even if you think it might be a specific dosage amount. Also, be careful when using algae medicine as it is very stressful to your fish and can kill them if too much is used for too long or you could end up like me, with an empty 175 gallon tank. Oh and have some trustworthy person to take care of your fish while your away, and don't use those vacation feeders as they will dirty up your tank.

Jim

OK, I just learned this one the hard way. NEVER trust a piece of driftwood until it's been in a tank for a LONG time. I just went thru this, I did everything I was supposed to: boiled it for hours on end, let it dry in the sun, etc... Didn't matter. I set up my tank, everything looked beautiful. 3 days later my angelfish are dead and there's this horrific slimy stuff oozing out of my driftwood. Needless to say I took it back and had it out with the shop owner.

The NEW piece of driftwood I have is this amazingly twisted weird looking stump sort of thing I bought last week from a great mom & pop LFS in Tampa. This one I know is clean, because I watched the owner carefully take it out of a Discus tank it had been in (supposedly for over a month). But even with that bit of wonderful background info I don't plan on putting fish into this tank for a while yet.

armadillo

Thanks so much, Jim and Skyline. I've just added your edits to the article.

Skyline

Armadillo, you should sticky this thread, a lot of the information on here is very useful and you have done a great job putting it together, it's a great article for some of the new fish keepers to read.

MelyBu

As a new fish mama, I learned when doing a water change don't watch the fish, even if thay are the cutest things ever, your bucket will over flow. LOL

Blub

armadillo

Thanks, Skyline. In effect, it is sticky, but indirectly. The moderator team was trying to find a solution to the proliferation of stickies in popular sections, so we came up with a system of page holders. Here's the sticky: http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/fr...-stickies.html.

armadillo

Thanks a lot, MelyBu and HatchetHeaven. Both very good warnings. I've added them to the list. Our beginners will soon have no more opportunity to err!

Blub

armadillo

Hi Hatchet Man. Yes and no.

This is one of the sections used to warn beginners against the mistakes we (or our friends) have made, so it's a great spot for yoru new list.

Buuuut... a lot of the suggestions you make are already on the list - like I said, great minds think alike, ! Also, you make some species-specific suggestions which should just get entered as new posts in the species-specific caresheets, once you've checked they are not there already.

We try to avoid the double posting of information, to facilitate navigation. We really appreciate your efforts. It's good to know you're sharing your knowledge to help beginners.

So, if you'd like to publish your information in this thread and/or in the species-specific caresheet, could you please eliminate redundant points from the list, and post species-specific ones in the individual species' caresheet?

Blub

Trio123

Very nice! Thank you! I would add one thing though. Electricity and water are a dangerous mix. Throw glass in there and your playing with fire instead of water. Always allow enough slack for a drip line in your wires and watch that those lights are secure and the connections good. Periodically take a look at the floor under your tank you might catch a leak before it's a rupture. And make sure when you set up the tank it is on a level surface, first you really dont want it to fall, second if it is leaning it can cause unequal pressure on the glass and increase your chace of a leak.

I've been shocked enough and seen enough leaks to throw that in

armadillo

Hi HatchetHaven. No, I mean in the main forum. Here's one, for example: Caresheet for otos. They're a collection of members' remarks on best practices regarding individual fish species. Thanks a bunch for that remark, Trio. I've added it to the main list.

Keep 'em coming!

Lucy

Great tips! Thank you for putting them all in one place.
2 things I've learned (not sure if they are listed, I could have missed it):

1. Be sure your gravel cannot fit into your fishes mouth.
(I was lucky enough to catch this in time, and had to use a toothpick to pop it out of the goldies mouth)

2. Be sure you are happy with the way your tank looks before cycling and adding fish, it's a pain to change it later.

armadillo

Cool, Lucy. Thanks for the tips. Just added them to the list.

I love love love your avatar picture, btw!

Lucy

HaHa, Thanks, needless to say, setting up the tank with him around was quite interesting!

MelyBu

Do: Close the filter tubes before cleaning the filter!

or

Don't: Leave the tubes open when rinsing media in filter.

Result: A wet floor and socks! Well, not that 90% of the time something is wet. Socks, arms, shirt, floor, carpet,

armadillo

I love cheeky, nosy, meddling cats. They're just the best! They think they own the place, don't they?

Narcicius

Dude that is like everyting about keeping an aquarium that was ever discovered ever. The original post is like the complete aquarists almanac of everything anyone will ever need to know about everything other that 2+2=4 and the cure for cancer.

armadillo

he he he. Cool. Glad you like it. That's kind of the intention too (to make it fool-proof for total beginners). Am such a believer in information re-use and sharing experiences.

Blub

armadillo

Cool. Thanks, HH. I've just added this latest tip.

SereneReyn

my angelfish laid eggs, and i wound up scrambling for extra tanks to house the hundreds of babies in... i got some used 20g tanks cheap... with older, but functional filters/heaters, etc... well the heaters were 'hang on the back' style... and when the water level dropped fractionally from evaporation, the thermostat was left above water... i reached my hand in to do something and was shocked at the temperature! the babies all lived, but i felt horrible.

chickadee

When you purchase your fish, you will probably not be buying them all at once and they will not be housed in the same tanks even at the same store. They will possibly be carrying bacteria that you may not see and may even be carrying diseases you may not see or be aware of until much later. This means that the wise fish hobbyist will have the fish in quarantine for at the very least two weeks before putting them in the finished tank so as not to contaminate the tank or introduce a disease to the fishes that are already in the tank and have already been through their quarantine period. Some fish like Otocinclus catfish and other more fragile fish are recommended to go through a 30 day quarantine period as they are fragile enough that if they live through the first 30 days, they have a very good chance of surviving to a normal lifespan but until then are not considered normal risks. It is also much easier to find and control and medicate a problem at the quarantine stage than to have to deal with a whole tank of problems if you introduce the problem into a whole tank of fish. Quarantine has become less used but it is still vitally important and has saved a lot of fish from death and disease. Fish are not inexpensive and a lot of hobbyists become very attached to their fish. A two week wait before exposing them to possible danger and disease is a small price to pay to keep them from harm. The quarantine tank does not need a lot of fancy things just a cycled filter and a heater. It is easier if it is not fitted out with a gravel floor and a lot of decorations as it is easier to clean and the fish do not seem to suffer for lack of these things. The important thing is cleanliness during this time and warmth and the cycled filter or frequent water changes in its absence. (about 50% every day or more if there are multiple fish present) If the tank is not cycled, testing for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates should determine the schedule for water changes if you do not do daily changes. Any time the ammonia levels reach 0.5, the nitrites reach 1.0, or the nitrates to to 20.0 the water should be changed.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter.

There are a lot more comments about Quarantine in the stickied subject in the beginning of the betta Section. We started it there and I thought the subject important enough and some of the members suggested it be included in other spots of the forum. Since the other posts dealt a lot with Bettas I left them there but want to invite those of you who may be intereste to view them there.
http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/be...rought-up.html


Rose

mirciulie

Do unplug your heater when doing water changes. This will prevented for having it exposed to air and burning it.

Also, VERY important. DO NOT PUT HEATER IN WATER AND TURN ON RIGHT AWAY! That's how I fried my 250W heater . I put it in a bucket with cold water right after getting it out of my tank. DEAD! The heater needs to come to the same temperature with the water (give it 30 mns) before you plug it in.

Leave and learn

lalynya

Ohg heres mine..When trying to kill a disease dont take everything out of the tank including plants and decoration and then clean the gravel extensively...It kills the cycle when you do that which in return kills allmost all your fish..yeah good times good times

Jim

OK, I have one that I just missed making, but might bear mentioning... If you have inverts, especially expensive Amano and/or flower shrimp, do NOT medicate or fertalize your tank with out checking the ingrediants first... almost ALL heavy metals are fatal to inverts, including those in many commercial fertalizers. And anything, ANYTHING copper could cost you all your inverts, as well as several species of plants.

armadillo

I might add a note of caution with copper and bottom dwelling fish too. They are very exposed to stagnating copper pockets from their burrowing habits.

cherrybarbz

Thanks for all the great advice, makes me appreciate all the hard work, I'm new at this but trying to do it right!

tzqng8

If you plan to use a "High tech" cycling method such as Tetra SafeStart or BIO-Spira, be sure to have a back up plan. This might be a piece of filter media from an established and healthy tank or some gravel from a good friend's healthy tank.

I recently setup my 30g tank and tried to cycle it with Tetra SafeStart, but it didn't take. Since you aren't supposed to test water parameters or change the water for 7 days, I lost a lot of fish due to the bacteria not seeding correctly.

This may be too similar to the suggestion of reading about cycling, but, I thought I'd at least try to do my part in memory of my lost Cory's and Brochis'.