Imagine living in a body of water. Now imagine living in a body of water that is never cleaned. This is what it would be like for your fish if you never cleaned their water.
Cleaning their water is super easy. All you need to do is two things. One of them is to keep on top of the algea growth. Either by sponge cleaning, algea eaters such as shrimp or corydoras, or both. An essential part of cleaning their water is weekly water changes. This can be between 20 and 50% of the water.
Doing a water change manages the water parameters. The water parameters you are looking for are: ammonia at 0, nitrites at 0, oxygen above 5mg, PH between 6.5 and 8.5 and nitrates between 0 and 50mg. To understand how to read and record the water parameters read my post comparing liquid and strip tests.
If any of these parameters are above what they should be it can be fatal to your fish, especially ammonia and nitrite. The best way to correct this is doing a water change. This will dilute the bacteria levels in the water and make it safe again. Depending on the severity of the parameter spoke, you may need to do an 80% water change a few times.
Making sure the water for your fish is clean is imperative to your fish's health.
Comments