Fish live by absorbing oxygen and they give off carbon dioxide as a waste product. Plants under the influence of daylight do the opposite so that what is poison to one gives life to the other. Therefore, the addition of plants to your aquarium will assist in keeping your goldfish healthy and free from disease.

Prevention is always easier than cure, so by keeping your aquarium clean, feeding your fish properly, avoiding wide temperature fluctuations and performing partial water changes as necessary you will go a long way to keeping your fish healthy. However, no matter how well you maintain your tank, from time to time one or more of your goldfish may become ill or display signs of stress.

This article covers some of the more common goldfish diseases.

Anchor worms appear as a 1/4 to 3/8 inch piece of string with a forked tail. Large anchor worms can easily be seen. They appear as clear, brownish-red, or greenish-white strings. After the anchor worms have buried themselves into the flesh of the fish open sores may appear on the skin. The anchor worms may be visible in the sores. Frequently this parasite is introduced into the fish tank from aquarium plants ñ especially those taken from creeks or rivers, or from adding live food to the tank. Anchor worms attach themselves beneath the scales of the fish where they bury their anchor-shaped head under the skin causing ulceration and distress.

Anchor worms are highly contagious and should be treated immediately. Your pet store will have a treatment for anchor worm, usually in the form of a gyrase inhibitor that can be added to the water in the tank. This should be effective in killing the parasites within three to four days.

Swimbladder disease should be suspected whenever a fish appears to have difficulty stabilizing itself in the tank. It is not uncommon in goldfish although fancy varieties appear more susceptible to this disease. It can be genetic in origin or caused by a variety of other factors including improper or inadequate diet, bacterial infection or even poor quality aquarium water.

Apart from improving the water condition if that is necessary, some fish keepers suggest feeding your goldfish thawed out frozen peas. It is also worth feeding the fish with sinking food instead of floating food to minimize the intake of air. It may also be worthwhile moving your sick goldfish to a shallow tank while you treat it. This may lessen the stress on the fish. Swimbladder disease can often occur quite suddenly in previously healthy fish.

Dropsy isn’t a specific goldfish disease, but appears as a condition where the fish’s abdomen becomes swollen due to a concentration of fluids in the body tissues or cavities. The abdominal swelling can create a pinecone effect where the fishís scales protrude from the body. The cause of the swelling could be any of several conditions including cancer, internal parasites or bacterial infection, cancer, internal parasites. Depending on what has caused the condition dropsy may be contagious. There are no known successful treatments for dropsy and the condition generally proves fatal.

Frayed or torn fins are usually indications of fin or tail rot if the fish has not been fighting. This is a bacterial infection that first appears as a whitish edge on the fins, before the fins begin to rot away. It is easily treated with antibiotics available from your pet store. Make sure that the medication states that it treats fin or tail rot. In some cases a secondary fungal infection may occur. If this is the case, treat the fin rot before dealing with the fungal problem.

Fungus is generally a secondary infection. A fish with a sore or an open wound caused through injury or disease may suffer from a lack of mucous around the area of the wound. Open wounds like this can often attract a secondary fungal infection. Look for patches of grey or white fuzzy puffs attached to the skin. There are several different treatments available for fungal infections from the pet store. Fungus responds well to quick treatment.

Perhaps the most common parasitic disease in goldfish is ick. It is frequently present in freshwater fish tanks and will infect fish that have suffered recent infection or those in poor general health. Ick is characterized by small white dots that look like salt sprinkled on the body. The fish may attempt to scratch the infected areas on the wall of the tank which can cause further damage. Rapid breathing and cloudy eyes can also be signs of ick. See your pet store for ick treatment. Badly infected fish should be moved to a quarantine tank for treatment but it is important to treat the main aquarium as well to ensure that the parasite has been removed.

Goldfish are actually hardy fish but there are many diseases that can cause them stress and discomfort. If you want your goldfish to live a long and healthy life you must ensure that you manage the aquarium properly and treat sick goldfish immediately that any symptoms appear.

There is a comprehensive and instantly downloadable e-book covering the entire topic of treating goldfish diseases that will help you identify and treat symptoms.

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Prior to an aquarium set up, the details and the conditions about fish rearing and maintenance should be well studied as even small careless acts may lead to the reduction of the quality of the fish on sale.

Things may get out of hand in case of spread of epidemic diseases among the fish if the maintenance and precautions are not handled properly. A single sick fish can spread throughout an aquarium resulting in the loss of all fish in the tank. This unfortunately is not a rare occurance. The first and foremost requirement for the aquarium owners is to master their understanding of behaviours of the fish. Spotting the right signs and taking the appropriate precautionary steps will help in maintaining a good home aquarium.

Common Mistakes

Some of the common mistakes done by the aquarium owners are to add new fish within few days after they had set up the tanks. This can turn to be a blunder as in some cases the water would not have stabilised in respects of temperature or the non-neutralised harmful components. It is always advisable to not add too many fish at once with a new aquarium set up as the bacterial colonies may not have been fully established or the ammonia and nitrate levels would be high to suit large number of fish.

Tips

Testing the water for the required specifications is always beneficial. Many beginners make the mistake of choosing their fish purely on the looks and fail to realise the importance of the requirements of the fish and what its maintenance needs.

Few experts suggest an aquarium set up with the use of bigger fish tanks is better as the errors made by the aquarium’s owner will be more evident in the smaller fish tanks and may thus cause bigger troubles. Fish medicines and the water cleanliness is an important part of any aquarium set up and needs to be followed carefully.

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Siamese fighting fish with their long fins make for a very attractive pet

Introducing Betta Fish

Betta fish additionally renowned as Siamese fighting fish are the most preferred variety of pet fish as they are lovely in their individual ways.

The majority of bettas scales and long fins have amazing colours. Males are more likely to fight than female Betas and they are also more vivid in colour as well. Bets are placed on the outcome of fighting bettas in a few areas across the globe.

They are habitually found in slow moving waters, and require warmer temperatures of water. Bettas need a fish tank where the water is kept to a temperature of at least 70 degrees so a heater would be a required option.

Apart from this, Bettas need a measure of small insects, or insect larvae along with normal regime of flake foods, or frozen fried fish foods. Bettas should be given a good amount of space in their aquariums to allow them both more breathing space and give them ample opportunity to move around their long thins unobstructed. They also require decent quantity of oxygen because these Betta fish are labyrinth, that is, they breath oxygen from air.

Additional Attention Necessary

It is a common piece of information that Betta fish possess a pretty forceful temper. Having 2 male Bettas in the same tank is not advised, this goes along with putting new fish in with your existing Bettas. This could easily turn into an unpleasent situation with the stonger fish can attack and cause damged to waeker fidh. Care ought to be taken to segregate the attacking fish for the protection of the remainder.

If you do need to put 2 male Betta fish in the same aquarium there is the option to use things such as mesh dividers to keep the Bettas apart. It is also better to keep the fish tank containing Betta fish covered when viable.

The Amazing History Of Siamese Fighting Fish

Betta fish or "Siamese fighting fish" are valued not only for their colors, but also for their flowing and showy fins as well. To keep your Betta fish active, happy and healthy there are certain things you must do. 

Siamese Fighting Fish (Betta Splendens)

A profile of the Siamese Fighting Fish (Betta Splendens), including habitat, care, feeding, and breeding.   

The Amazing History Of Siamese Fighting Fish

These Fish are tropical native fish to the Southern parts of Asia and the countries of Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia. Betta Fish thrive in the natural wilderness, and in places where there is small reeds

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What To Consider When Keeping Big Fish?

Big fish are prefered on many occassions to smaller fish because bigger pet fish can appear to be more of an impressive sight in your tank rather than having a lot of smaller tiddlers swimming around.

They can also be more of a pet if you just have one or two big fish in your aquarium and not 50 small fish. I mean, have you ever tried naming 5o small fish! Not easy to to remember which is which! There are several types of big fish available in the market such as the little sharks, big goldfish, plecos, discus fish and more.

Big pet fish can be quite expensive but this is not the only cost to consider. You will also need to budget for having the right sized aquarium that has the room for your big fish. Then they can require lots of decorations to fill the space in the fish tanks. Be sure to check how big the fish you choose is likely to grow in the coming years as some fish can grow to some pretty hefty sizes! Last thing you want to do is buy a bigger aquarium in two years time. You are definitely one of the lucky ones if you have the money needed to maintain keeping big fish! If you just wanted to get a Biorb aquarium for easy setup then you may need to reconsider.

The Care for Big Fish

The big aquarium tanks are more commonly found in many places like hospitals, restaurants, and other social places. The individual who wishes to buy big fish must make sure that they are investing with the right fish sellers as this involves big money, chances of getting duped is high if you are not careful. Big fish generally come with their own diet sheet so as long as this information is followed the fish will be nice and healthy. One of the most important aspects to buying big fish is to know what enviroment they are best suited to, look for their temperature requirements, what diseases are common in the species and what symptoms to look out for. Most of these big pet fish are brought up as a single one as it demands keen concentration, and excessive care. Big pet fish are a real pleasure to keep. Even with the extra work and demands that go with it.

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