It isn’t hard to care for a tropical aquarium once it is set up and cycled properly but problems can arise and in this article we’ll look at some common ones and how to deal with them. It’s much easier to deal with problems as soon as they occur so you should be monitoring your tank daily so that you can deal with a problem promptly before it escalates and is much harder to rectify.
If you know what signs to look for that signal trouble you will be able to ensure that your tank is a healthy environment for your pet fish. A newly set up tank usually looks clear and healthy but after a while problems can start and your tank can start to look dull and cloudy. Algae can grow in ugly fronds or on surfaces and the glass or the water appears cloudy and the fish less than healthy.
What happened to your beautiful aquarium and how can you restore it to its initial sparkling condition? First of all this is normal in a new tank and the worse thing you can do is to start adding chemicals. This rarely solves any problems and can even make things worse.
A common error new fish keepers make is to thoroughly clean the tank with the mistaken belief that this will cure the problem. This is the very worse thing you can do as this will kill off all the bacteria that you encouraged to grow when you cycled the tank. You need these bacteria to ensure a healthy tank and you don’t want to do anything that will harm them.
Instead you should try to find out what is causing the problem. In a new tank cloudiness is to be expected and it will clear in a few days. If the tank is older or it doesn’t clear then you may have either an algae bloom or a build up of bacteria. if the cloudiness looks green or the filter material is green then algae is the problem. This is usually caused by leaving the lights on for too long or from overfeeding the fish. Turn off the lights and don’t feed the fish for a few days and the overgrowth of algae should be dealt with.
Cloudiness that is white in an older tank is usually due to excess growth of bacteria caused by food rotting in the tank. Do a partial water change (30%) and stop feeding the fish for a few days. Siphon off any food that may be on the bottom of the tank.
If fish are looking distressed or you have some sudden deaths you may not have cycled the tank properly or added too many fish too soon. Use a test kit to check for ammonia and nitrite levels. if they are high then do a partial water change and, if possible, remove some of the fish to another tank. The bacteria that convert the poisonous ammonia and nitrites are insufficient to cope with the waste produced by the fish and must be allowed to increase until they can deal with it. Always make sure you don’t over stock a tank, especially a new tank. It’s better to have less fish than the maximum possible for the size of the tank to give a little room for error.
To prevent problems from occurring regular partial water changes are needed and never overstock or overfeed the fish. never remove all the water at one time or completely clean out the tank as you will be removing the bacteria you need to process the waste from the fish.
Find out more about tropical fish keeping at Cheap Aquariums for Sale
