When I first started keeping fresh water fish i thought it would be easy, but it wasn't. The hobby that is aquariums is like mixing keeping a family pet with skill and together this thing becomes its own unique art form, full of learning and delight. Betta fish after betta fish I slowly learned the common diseases in fresh water , how to identify them , and how to cure/prevent them. most of the times , as i was very young and working in small unfiltered tanks , i lost my fish , one betta died of ich , one of a bacterrial infection and one of cotton wool fungus , ( please keep in mind that this is over 6 years, a bettas life span is around 2 -3 years) i tried every cheap treatment on the shelves and nothing ever quite helped. so i stopped keeping bettas, it was just me and Gish who has never had any problems for the longest time. recently I've dealt with fin rot and ich, and cotton wool in the big tank (80 gal), All of them cured with no fish lost. The secret is the heater , slightly raising the temperature of the tank must have been the key because its the only thing i did diffrently, it was at 79 degrees so i raised it to 82 added some aquarium salt and the fish drug of choice ( for ich i used mardel's quick cure *Note* this stuff is very harsh , but works *) (also follow the directions on the bottle). i never had heated any of my tanks before so i now had a new tool to utilize. another tip for disease is to catch it early. It is always wise to keep a test kit , these are very expensive but worth the money. ive been slowly building my test kit , because i dont need a hardness test kit ... my water is very hard and i know that, it never changes. i suggest getting one of these however if your water does not come from a natural well or is ran through a water softener. test kits are valuable because most tanks will go through a cycle, this is when the ammonia spikes ungodly high and kills everything. letting your ammonia get out of control like that i don't think is necessary , in fact , it never happened in my tank. its very wise especially in a cichlid tank to buy a filter that is much larger than what is recommended for the tank. (such as i have and 80 gal aquarium with a filter for a 110 gal aquarium ) Then before you put fish in the tank let the water cycle through the filter from 1 -2 weeks ( some people do 3 just to be safe) ,then it should be safe for the fish
The first weeks of having the tank are very critical. as this is when most diseases will appear , in newly stressed out fish. this is also a problem after water changes and when adding new fish. ADD STRESS COAT! it may seem like it does nothing. but it restores the fishes protective slime coat.
When i first started i had a planted tank. Planted tanks aren't for beginners, everything died except for 1 java fern plant that was moved to Gish's bowl. Plants depend on certain kinds of lighting , which i apparently did not have.
One thing i did not expect when i started the 80 Gal aquarium was the price. Small scale aquariums are inexpensive but considerably harder to keep up with. A large aquarium is pricey but is easy to clean ( warning you get a little wet!) and achieves a stability after a while that is only changed after a water change which doesn't happen but 4-6 times a year ( this really depends on how many fish you have). My tip is to buy your tank and cabinet used. we paid 300 for our 80 gal and cedar cabinet , this is a 900 dollar value. most of your money will go into the tank its self , with stabilization ,fish,and medical costs. it is an expensive hobby ... but it don't seem like it is , costs add up. a 20 dollar fish is only a 20 dollar fish till you buy 18 of them... then things start getting up there in price. so acquire things slowly and eventually complete your fish empire!
-Pisces
When i first started i had a planted tank. Planted tanks aren't for beginners, everything died except for 1 java fern plant that was moved to Gish's bowl. Plants depend on certain kinds of lighting , which i apparently did not have.
One thing i did not expect when i started the 80 Gal aquarium was the price. Small scale aquariums are inexpensive but considerably harder to keep up with. A large aquarium is pricey but is easy to clean ( warning you get a little wet!) and achieves a stability after a while that is only changed after a water change which doesn't happen but 4-6 times a year ( this really depends on how many fish you have). My tip is to buy your tank and cabinet used. we paid 300 for our 80 gal and cedar cabinet , this is a 900 dollar value. most of your money will go into the tank its self , with stabilization ,fish,and medical costs. it is an expensive hobby ... but it don't seem like it is , costs add up. a 20 dollar fish is only a 20 dollar fish till you buy 18 of them... then things start getting up there in price. so acquire things slowly and eventually complete your fish empire!
-Pisces
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