Taking Care of Tropical Fish - How To

As soon as you introduce the fish to your tank, you should be vigilant straight away to prevent any sicknesses. You will likely be admiring your new aquarium; however, you should make sure that your fish are not facing any problems. If you are maintaining an aquarium of tropical fish at your home, you must know how to taking care of tropical fish.

The knowledge of common diseases that attack tropical fish is essential for all aquarists. The tips given below about how to taking care of tropical fish would be very informative and useful to all the aquarium caregivers. Obviously, many diseases such as bacterial infections, dropsy, fin rot, loss of appetite, marine ich, new tank syndrome, velvet disease, and whitespot are easily affect the tropical aquarium fish.

Experts advise the aquarists to maintain a quarantine tank. There are two important reasons to maintain a quarantine tank: (1) to observe whether the newly acquired fish have any diseases and (2) to isolate the diseased fish already present in your aquarium.

Bacterial infections (red inflamed areas) are quite common in tropical fish. They spread rapidly to other fish in your aquarium and they are fatal particularly if left untreated. These infections infect the body of the fish first and then spread rapidly to the fins and other appendages, which leads to deterioration of the extremities. The major cause of bacterial infections in the tropical fish is the poor water quality. The best way to maintain good water quality is to change water periodically and test a water sample with the veterinarian or the local pet shop.

The first symptom of fin rot is when the fin starts to turn frayed or seem as if it is decaying. Occasionally, you may find small holes in the fins beginning to form. Moreover, the base of the fin will commonly become red and this will very much irritating the fish. The most effective way to aid the fin-rot-affected fish is to improve the quality of the aquarium water, or completely change the water if required. You should disinfect all the items and gravel that are present in your aquarium. Some antibiotics are also helpful in getting rid of fin rot.

The growth of some fish parasites in your aquarium causes marine ich. The commonest signs of marine ich are cloudy eyes, cysts developing on the surface of the fish, pale-colored skin, and a loss of appetite. There is a copper-based solution available in pet store to prevent the fish from parasitic attack. Changing the aquarium water and disinfecting the items in the aquarium will give better results.

The skin of the velvet-disease-infected fish will look like it has had some dark talcum powder dispersed over it. Actually, these spots are small parasites. The scales are the target organ of this disease. The velvet-disease-affected fish will probably seem lethargic and will show less movement than they usually do. You can also observe that the fish are having breathing troubles. If you observe the fish rubbing against the objects in your aquarium, it means they have velvet disease. This disease spreads very rapidly.

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