Fishbug.com
Koi pond and water garden information, pet information, pet care and Koi and Goldfish care from the nation's leading Koi health veterinarian.

Turtle Info

Yellowfoot Tortoises - Incubation of Eggs - Alligator Snapping Turtles - Spotted Turtles - SlowCoach Turtle Pages - Housing Terrestrial Turtles - HATCHLINGS! - CTTC [Great!] -African Spur Thighs - Wood Turtles- - -

Amphibians Information

White's Tree Frogs -Amphibarium for your Frogs - -

Tropical Freshwater Fish Information

Hole in the Head Disorder - Oscars - Paradise Gourami - Ideal Community Tank - Sudden death in Cory Cats - Serpae Tetras - Plecostomus [Beware!] - Hydrogen Sulfide! - Discus Care - Kissing Gouramis - First Aid for Tropical Fish - Use of Formalin - Fish Health for Retailers - Setting Up The Tank - Discus Wasting Diseases - Undergravel Filters! -

Tropical Marine Fish Information

Stray Voltage - Copper resistant trematodes - Sick Tomato Clown- Freshwater Dips- Using Copper - Treating Reef Tank Fish -

Backyard Pets & Foundlings Information

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Miscellaneous Pocket Pets

Hermit Crab Care- Crayfish as pets - Bunnies - Cockatiels - - -

First Aid For Tropical Fish

Your "obvious" case of Ich may not be so obvious. 70% of all fish health problems are caused by stress, poor nutrition, or most of all: Water Quality. The other 30% of fish health maladies are actually caused by the parasites you think they are.

Tips on stress:

Shy fish need to be kept in schools and given hiding places. Aggressive fish (most cichlids) need to be kept alone, or with others of their own kind. Dusk-feeders (many catfish and knives) need to be fed sinking foods at dusk, or by half-light.

Tips on Nutrition:

The majority of fish do very well on Tetra's Premium Tropical Flake Food, (in the yellow can with the brown lid). You should supplement this weekly in a basket-feeder with Bloodworms or Brine Shrimp, which are available live or frozen.

Larger fish and Cichlids need small fish to eat. Tiny guppies or larger goldfish can be affordably fed to these perpetually hungry, aggressive piscivores.

Contrary to time-honored tradition, Goldfish do not thrive on conventional "goldfish food". For Goldfish under 3 inches, the best food is again, Tetra's Premium Tropical Fish Flake Food. Over 3 inches, Hikari's Oranda Gold (Mini) Pellets provide superior nutrition.

For best nutrition in virtually any ornamental fish, live or frozen foods should be fed frequently; from a basket feeder.

Tips on Water Quality:

You can easily test for the top two water quality killers, that's pH and Ammonia. The test kits are cheap, and easy to use. I prefer the liquid reagent tests.

pH should be maintained between 6.6 to 7.0 for tetras and South American fishes.

pH should be kept above 7.2 for livebearers, goldfish barbs, etc.

For best results in most communities, you should buy a good Neutral Regulator.

You should also be aware that

pH can fall to low levels (5.5) very quickly and especially in older systems that are neglected.

Ammonia comes up in new systems or systems that are over-fed or under-filtrated.

Using an undergravel filter with a powerhead driver is a good idea, indeed, a GREAT idea as this mode of filtration is the cheapest, the most effective and carries the largest biological capacity.

Ammonia should be removed, as it's detected, with partial waterchanges, using a simple dechlorinator each time. Ammonia binding agents are not a very good idea because they can be pretty caustic, and they ignore the original problem which is either overfeeding, or under-filtration.

If your fish are unhealthy, and you know that you are providing excellent water quality (by testing), good environmental husbandry, and superior nutrition, then you should finally consider a parasite.

If parasites are eventually suspected, you should know about Salt.

Salt is safe for most fish, very effective against alot of parasites, and does not harm your biological filter like Formalin and those caustic compounds do.

Salt (0.3%) clears common baddies including Ich, Chilodinella, Costia and Trichodina. These are the four most common fish killers we see in fish practice.

Use commercially available aquarium salt (or marine salt) and add one teaspoon per gallon daily for three days (total dose, three teaspoons per gallon). Leave it in there for 10 days and then gradually reduce it with water changes. Ich clears within 72 hours after the full application of salt. If fish are dying en masse, then you need to add the salt all at once. Certain live plants may be killed by salt. It's best to remove these before salting.

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Once you've leapfrogged through this tutorial you will have a solid, working concept of the Koi hobby and what it's all about. This is done just about exclusively with video and very little written material.

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By Frank Prince-Iles. A UK authority who put this site together some time ago and which is still relied upon as a major source of good Koi and pond fish information

Fish Medicines
Learn about fish medicines, what they do, and where to get them.

PondCrisis.com
If you have a koi, pond or fish problem, this site takes you through twenty easy questions and at the end you know what you need to fix in your pond to create restored Koi health.

KoiCrisis.com
Koi Crisis has a symptoms chart by system you can choose the symptom by fish part, and resolve a lot of Koi pond fish problems or at least, learn about them understand how to remedy them.

Buying Domestic Koi
What does "Domestic" koi mean? Why would you buy that kind? How do you pick good and healthy ones? Who sells them and where do you find the best ones?

Buying Imported Koi
A Japanese or Israeli imported Koi is a beautiful thing. Why would you buy one of those? How do you identify a "good one"? And what kinds are there? Who would you buy one from?

Koi Filtration - Bead
With a little bit of management every week or so, you can have gin clear water in your koi or fish pond. Bead filtration is more than ten years old and defines the state of the art in Koi and pond fish ponds.

Koi Filtration - Natural
Requiring no weekly management but one big yearly overhaul, natural filtration is the easiest there is. Relying on live plants and organic processes, water quality is usually superb. Described and common mistakes illustrated, visit this site!

Koi Food & Feeding
What should you feed your koi? How many times per day? Is Corn really that bad in a Koi diet? What are the most common feeding mistakes people make? What's the best food?

Koi and Pond Hard Goods
So many places these days, are pure ripoffs. Finding a reputable dealer of koi and pond hard goods isn't as easy as you would think but there's ways to tell. The product line should be to-the-point and not contain shams. Who's doing it right? Visit this site!

Finding Reputable Dealers
The fish are only as good as the dealer holding them. Quarantines, guarantees and fish quality all factor in. What to ask, what to see and how to handle your new fish.

Books on Koi Diseases
You will be introduced to Dr Johnson's Koi Health book but also to other books he's reviewed.

Help With Koi Problems
Koi Community rates a variety of forums and message boards on ease of use, friendliness and quality of help. Not all boards are created equal. Not mincing words here.

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