Saltwater Aquarium Advice

Stocking your saltwater aquarium is one of the most exciting times for a marine hobbyist. Introducing new additions to your colourful marine aquarium to watch and wonder over is awesome fun. For everything to go to plan and your new pets to thrive means that you will need to take things very seriously here in regards to compatibility, stocking levels and choosing healthy specimens.

Incorrect stocking of marine aquariums is a very common mistake; this usually arises from people moving too fast, picking unhealthy specimens and not doing enough research on their desired pets leading to compatibility issues. This can lead to stress in your aquarium (mostly the new inhabitants) and even death. Stocking a marine aquarium is the biggest variable to success in the set up process, if you do it wrong it can make the whole exercise a disaster, but if you do this right and take your time marine aquarium ownership will be smooth sailing for you. Any thoughtless purchases at this point can bring compatibility issues later which can be very hard to solve.

The best place to start with stocking is to make a saltwater aquarium plan, really know what it is you want in terms of marine life. Start with one or two “must have” species that will be the focal point of your aquarium. This is especially a good idea for small to medium aquariums, with larger aquariums you would go for a type of fish you want such as Tangs, Butterflyfish or Angels. Once you decide on your favourite fish, find out their exact requirements and set up the aquarium and choose other marine life centred around your tank “stars”. This keeps stocking very simple and as long as no one fish will compete closely with your favourites for a specific food type that is not readily available you are onto a winning strategy.

Adding invertebrates to the mixture can make things slightly trickier; if you have a fish only with live rock (FOWLR) set up try to use hardier invertebrate species (such as those commonly associated with live rock) that can tolerate a bit more nitrate in the water. This will make your life easier trying to cater to Invertebrate water quality needs.

As I have mentioned before the key to answering the compatibility question is diligent research on your chosen species in regard to behaviour/temperament, diet, size, preferred water conditions (light and water circulation) and growth rates, but ultimately fish have very individual personalities like us people, so it can be common for individuals of the same species to behave slightly differently.  Another factor that affects compatibility is the size of your tank and how much rockwork there is, generally the bigger the tank is and the more likely that fish can get out of the line of each others site for a while the better they will get on. A good way to ensure new additions settle in well is to rearrange the aquarium (and the residents established territories) when someone new is added, also keeping a light on at night seems to take the focus off the newcomer and can greatly help with any bullying.

Keeping fish well fed will keep them happy too; a hungry fish is a grumpy fish. When adding new fish to an established aquarium a great strategy is to put about 500mL of display aquarium water into the quarantine tank and visa versa so the newbies and the established fish can become familiar with the scent of each other before they meet. Another good idea is to put the quarantine tank next to the display tank so the fish can see each other.

This brings me to stocking levels; as a general rule of thumb a fish only aquarium should aim for less than 8 inches (20cm) of total fish length (nose to base of tail, not counting tail fin rays) per 22 gallons (100L) of water. A FOWLR set up with a few invertebrates should have a bit less fish at 6 inches (15cm) per 22 gallons (100L). Finally a reef set up should have no more than 4 inches (10cm) per 22 gallons (100L) this is because of the very low tolerances of corals and other invertebrates for slow nitrate build up in the water. The above estimates allows for room for error, but I warn you if these limits are exceeded by much the bioload will put too much strain on your biological filtration system and all it will take is one lost, dead fish or a bunch of uneaten food over a few days to cause the system to completely crash. When in doubt under-stock; this allows room for error and also takes into consideration your growing marine life.

When stocking your aquarium start with the more hardy, less aggressive fish first. This will give your aquarium water valuable time to stabilise after cycling before more sensitive species are introduced and will also help keep more aggressive, territorial species under control if they are not the first additions. Take the addition of fish very slowly waiting a month or so before adding one or two more, this gives the biological filtration system time to adjust to increasing waste levels.

The final aspect of stocking to get right is choosing healthy specimens, this can be very easy to do with careful visual inspections of the fish you intend to buy, checking every part of the fish for parasites, disease or other damage. Make sure the aquarium it is housed in is healthy and clean also. Pay attention to the fish’s behaviour to make sure it is acting normally. The golden rule here is to watch it eat (more than once if you can) make sure it has a good appetite, is alert and competitive with the other fish for food. The final thing you want to avoid is a brand new fish into the store; give it a week or so to see how it adjusts to captive life and copes with the stress of being removed from the reef environment. It is worth a mention again that where possible buy captive reared marine life, as they are much hardier and happier than their wild-caught relatives. Captive bred species also reduces pressure on species harvested from reef ecosystems, which should be very important to any marine life lover.

So the keys to successful marine life stocking are research, planning and lots of patience. Carefully planned out and executed saltwater aquarium stocking will provide years of happiness for marine life and marine aquarists alike.

For top saltwater aquarium advice and information as well as the hottest aquarium products in the world go to: www.SaltwaterAquariumAdvice.com

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Todays post is prompted by some very upset emails I have recently received into my www.Saltwater-Aquarium-Advice.com inbox. How do we get rid of Ich (a.k.a. white spot disease, velvet, marine ich, coral fish disease etc)?

For starters the best way to prevent this in the first place is to quarantine your fish when you bring them home from the marine fish store, also when you see the tell tale symptoms of a fish in your display tank (see my quarantine tank post), quarantining will stop disease from spreading to other fish and/or getting into your display tank to begin with. This is the single best way to proactively prevent Ich breakouts. Another difficulty with Ich is that many commercially available treatments simply do not work effectively.

If its already too late and you have put your new fish straight into the display aquarium or you have a breakout, the first step after spotting the symptoms (white spots on skin, scratching, hyperactivity, fast breathing, reduced appetite etc) is to figure out which one of the 3 disease causing organisms is responsible for the infection. It is important to note that the 3 parasitic organisms responsible for Ich inflict various symptoms, one of which is white spots on the fish which is the main symptom these 3 external parasites have in common and is the reason why white spot disease can be easily mis-diagnosed.

If your afflicted fish is a clown fish (but not limited to Clown fish, Damsel fish often get it), the parasite could well be Brooklynella hostilis which appears as concentrated patches of white spots on the fishes body coupled with a large amount of slime exuding from the fish (the tell tale sign of a Brooklynella infection). This disease can be treated by copper (limited success) or a 37% Formalin solution as a dip (its important to note that you should NEVER put a copper treatment into a tank containing live corals or invertebrates as it is toxic to them and can kill them, the best strategy is to transfer the diseased fish to a quarantine tank and medicate there, or if you have to medicate in a display tank get a copper test kit to ensure there is none left in the water before adding invertebrates).

The next potential culprit could be Amyloodinium ocellatum (causes the disease called marine ich, coral fish disease or velvet), this dinoflaggelate reproduces so rapidly that if it is not identified and treated fast it could potentially kill all your fish. Oodinium primarily attacks the gills before the rest of the body and looks like the fish is covered in a velvet film (as the white spots are tiny).

Amyloodinium ocellatum is most effectiviely treated with copper, the fish should be removed into a quarantine tank after 2 minute freshwater dips, then you should medicate (read the product instructions thoroughly), fish that have reached secondary infection (excessive mucus production) should be treated with a course of antibiotics if it is not already too late for them. Oodinium caused Ich can be effectively treated with products containing copper sulphate (will harm corals) which can simply be put into the water as per the instructions. For example Cupramine® copper treatment (maintain a concentration of .30 ppm for at least three weeks). Basically, you should continue treatment for a week or so after the symptoms have disappeared and try to keep the fish as stress free as possible. Marine aquarium material with pores such as live rock and filters actually absorbs copper, so your treatment should take place in a relatively bare quarantine tank.

The final organism responsible for Ich, that im going to talk about is Cryptocaryon irritans, this organism is a ciliated protozoan and is the slowest advancing in terms of disease progression so is relatively easy to catch and treat early. Unlike Brooklynella hostilis and Amyloodinium ocellatum which begin around the gills Cryptocaryon infections begin on the body and fins, before moving in towards the gills. Like Oodinium this external parasite is often present in the marine environment in low numbers and will not cause an infection until such things as poor water quality and temperature changes will stress the fish out enough to compromise their immune systems thus becoming susceptible to these parasites.  The best way to treat for a Cyrpto infection is by using a copper treatment, some parasite may bury themselves deep into the fishes skin, these can be treated by freshwater and formalin dips. Once again a prolonged treatment period in a stress free QT is my recommendation.

Once you have treated your fish and the symptoms have disappeared for over a week, you are not yet out of the woods. Your display tank will have to be left fish free for 4 weeks or so, this is so the parasites can carry out their lifecycles free of their fish hosts (which they require for reproduction) and die off for good. Hyposalinity and a higher temperature (fish only tanks) can also reduce this time. But the most important thing you can do to reduce and prevent Ich outbreaks is reduce stress and quarantine new marine life.

For more info on recognising early warning signs of disease before its too late check out my ebook “Ultimate Secrets To Saltwater Aquarium Fish and Invertebrates”

The Nitrogen cycle is one of the most crucial biological pathways that takes place in your saltwater aquarium. Back in the 70’s when this hobby first started to emerge, the nitrogen cycle was not very well understood, which resulted in fish, corals and invertebrates having a very short life in captivity. Once people came to terms with understanding the microbiological processes happening in their marine eco-system marine aquarium keeping became much more mainstream as marine life survival rates became much higher.

The nitrogen cycle is initiated by biological waste products of your marine life (i.e. excretion) and decaying organic matter.

1. The nitrogen waste is excreted in the form of ammonia (a toxic chemical that is used to bleach toilets!), which lowers the pH making the water more acidic if enough of it is around. Ammonia is toxic to marine life, in oceans which are huge the buffering capacity of the water is so great ammonia cannot get a chance to build up, but in an aquarium this is much more of a problem.

2. Bacteria then converts the ammonia into nitrite which is less toxic than ammonia.

3. Other beneficial bacteria then convert the nitrite (NO2) into nitrate (NO3). Nitrate is again less toxic than nitrite and readily absorbed by plants which use it for growth, this build up of nitrates is a common cause for excessive algal growth. Then to complete the cycle the plants decay or are eaten by fish and the whole cycle begins again.

Now you can see how the nitrogen cycle plays a crucial role in the marine aquarium and is the cause of one of the major disasters that can befall a new aquarium; when it is not cycled correctly and the marine life dies because of the water toxicity. This is a very common cause of upset emails to me at www.Saltwater-Aquarium-Advice.com

So how do we correctly cycle a marine aquarium? To start with you should be familiar with all the cycling terms: break in cycle, start up cycle, nitrification, biological cycle; its all talking about the same biological process; converting toxic waste into more harmless plant food by beneficial bacteria.

The most important time to do this is when you are first setting up your aquarium, it usually takes around 2 weeks or longer depending on how fast the bacteria colonise your aquarium at each stage of the cycle during this process you will need to test your water using a test kit for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate and log your readings. Whatever chemical has the highest concentration will tell you at what phase the aquarium is in. I do not recommend you put any fish in until the cycling is complete, as they will get stressed and can die. The best way to initiate the cycle is with live rock (be sure to check out my live rock post), which will contain the beneficial bacteria and decaying organic matter to provide the ammonium source and kick off the cycle. In the first few days ammonium levels will rise rapidly as the bacteria multiply and begin to convert it, this is the most stressful phase for marine life.  Once the bacterial colony has established the ammonium level will peak and begin to decline to zero as the bacteria convert it to nitrite. Now nitrite levels will rise which again is stressful to fish, the second stage bacterial colonies will multiply and begin to start converting nitrite to nitrate, nitrite can take a good week or so to reach its peak, then it will start to drop and nitrate becomes detectable. Now the 1st and 2nd stage bacteria have reached the correct density to keep up with the ammonia released into the water, now the tank is fully cycled and you can begin to slowly stock up your marine aquarium (once tests confirm zero ammonia and nitrite levels). And finally to avoid excess nitrates are why we conduct a twice monthly 20% water change as part of a regular maintenance routine.

For more crucial saltwater aquarium tips and tricks check out my ebook “Ultimate Secrets To Saltwater Aquarium Fish and Invertebrates”

As we all know corals can be challenging to keep at times, often things go wrong and you have no idea why. Because they are sedentary organisms they often do not display obvious symptoms, which can make diagnosing what’s wrong difficult.

Very little is still known today about coral diseases but stress is the number one killer of corals in marine aquariums. Corals need to be handled carefully at all times and there can often be many stressors in the tank that can eventually lead to illness or death; for example physical stress like predation, pathogens, environmental stress (sub standard water parameters are often the leading culprit) and nutritional deficiency are all common.

A common problem with corals is bleaching/fading; this is when there is a mass expulsion of zooanthellae (symbiotic algal cells contained in coral tissues that provide food for the corals) because of stress. This phenomenon is also occurring in the oceans of the world today because of temperature stress caused by global warming. In your marine tank there is a whole lot of potential causes of this stress-related illness. The first place to start would be to check all the potential causes of stress one by one untill the cause can be established. As stress is the number one killer of corals (and disease symptoms are often actually caused by stress as opposed to disease causing organisms) all ailments should be worked through (not just bleaching!) in this fashion before you ring the vet or medicate.  So you will need to check these things:

1. Temperature stress (usually the most common cause).

2. Physical stress; this can be damage caused by collection/handling and also predation by fishes/invertebrates.

3. Chemical stress; all water parameters need to be checked here, also think about what has been added to the water recently. The most common water parameters that cause bleaching in corals are alkalinity (pH), nitrates and phosphates.

4. Lighting stress; perhaps the bulbs are too new or old, if they have just been replaced try moving them up a few inches, if they are old they may need to be replaced due to losing intensity with age.

5. Water movement: poor water movement will deprive a coral of its non- photosynthetic food source (plankton) and also cause detritus that settles on the coral to stay put, this will start to decay and possibly become a source of infection and algal growth (a powerhead or turkey baster can remove this). Corals need high water movement to truly thrive.

6. Parasites and predation: this could be snails, fish, coral spiders and everything else that enjoys a coral snack. Often many invertebrate parasites are active at night, so get your hands on a red light to check for them.

The good news is that corals can recover over time if stress is kept to a minimum and the are well fed.

When it comes to disease and parasites, there are a number of effective treatments such as freshwater dips and antibiotics. You much ensure that all treatments are conducted in a quaratene tank, to avoid harming the other inhabitants and water quality of your display tank.

For more information about coral and invertebrate ailments, disease, symptoms and treatments see “Ultimate Secrets To Saltwater Aquarium Fish and Invertebrates”

Hi guys, todays post is a pretty important topic, how you can avoid making a few of the most common mistakes with your marine aquarium.

This mistake-making epidemic we see in the hobby today basically stems from people falling in love with the idea of having an awesome marine aquarium and rushing in head-first without doing their due dilligence first. This is the main reason I decided to write “Ultimate Secrets To Saltwater Aquarium Fish and Invertebrates” to educate people because the pain that comes from watching your beloved marine pets dying is immense and most times it really is preventable.

So lets get started;

1. Buying marine life without knowing enough about the specimen:

This is probably one of the most preventable mistakes you can make. So many people contact me upset about their newest pet dying then you find out its because they had no idea how to care for and feed it, and sometimes they dont even know what it is. Dont be pulled in by the pretty colours or the nice shapes of marine life at the pet shop, any purchase you make should be fully researched FIRST! And dont just rely on the person at the pet shop, do your own research and ensure you know what the exact requirements are for keeping your new pet in optimal health. You also need to ensure (as ive said time and time again!) it will be compatible with your marine aquarium set up and the current marine pets you have.

2. Not taking enough time:

In todays society everything is moving so fast, the opposite is true with your saltwater aquarium. You need patience people, if you move too fast things go wrong and this can be both expensive and heart-breaking. You really need to take the time to study up on marine aquarium keeping first, before you begin and take things slowly and carefully. Every step must be carefully planned out and executed. Too many people have contacted me with their problems which are a direct result of doing things too fast.

3. Marine life compatibility:

A very common cause of trouble; you really need to research the behaviour of your new pet and check it will be suitable with what you already have. For example predatory fish and timid little herbivorous school fish often do not mix! The ocean eco-system is ruled by a complex series of marine life interactions, therefore you cant predict what will happen, you MUST do your research before you buy.

4. Marine aquarium overload:

This is when you put too much marine life or live rock/sand into your aquarium at once (remember common mistake number 1?) the system cannot handle it and the delicate balance is thrown out and new tank syndrome often results. This problem can be much worse when the new tank is not fully cycled. The solution? Slow down, move slowly and gradually add more stock so the system can cope much more efficiently.

5. Lack of tank maintenance:

To ensure your aquarium remains a pristine environment for your marine life you MUST conduct maintenance at regular intervals. if you do this you should seldom have water quality, high nitrate, excessive algae or contamination issues. You need to be strict with yourself on this, it is a key area for preventing problems with your marine aquarium. A little work now will save a lot of problems in the future.

6. Using poor quality water:

A lot of people use tap water or other unpurified water to make up saltwater for the aquarium, this can often be a pretty bad idea as it can lead to water quality issues which can sometimes be pretty dramatic (like all you fish dying!). I recommend you purchase quality distilled or RO water, or some form of pre-purified sea water. Failing that another option is to use a water purification filter, however make sure it is a quality product. Using good quality water is a wise investment that will greatly help prevent water problems.

7. Unwittingly purchasing sick marine creatures:

The key to not making this mistake is to observe the fish for a while (see my other blog post about selecting marine life for more info), studying their behaviour and the fish themselves carefully. You should learn what common tell tales signs of disease and illness to look for. Another major indicator of sickness is when the fish get fed, if its not eating normally then do not buy it! Discovering whether a fish is healthy or not is very easy to do and will save you a lot of trouble.

8. Diagnosing disease incorrectly:

You need to learn to recognise the signs of common diseases and parasite infections accurately, then you will not go through the tedium of treating one disease while your marine life gets sicker from another. For example saltwater ich is commonly mistaken for white spot (and vica versa) these have similar symptoms but are caused by different disease organisms that require very different treatments.

9. Poor water circulation and filtration:

These two factors are a must for any healthy saltwater aquarium. If there is not enough biological filtration the water can easily build up to toxic levels that can kill marine life. A lack of adequate water circulation leads to a build up of algae, low dissolved oxygen and sessile marine life such as corals not getting enough food. The good news it that you cannot really have too much filtration or water circulation (within reason), however there are a wide range of choices in purchasing these two essential systems, especially filtration; where not getting the right filter set up for your waste levels can lead to problems. Circulation can be easily improved by adding additional powerheads or a surge device.