Avoid disease in your aquarium

THERE ARE many diseases that can affect your aquarium fish and once your tank is infected, there’s a good change that all your fish can get sick. Luckily, keeping a disease free tank is not that hard. Most of the diseases are a result of poor water quality so not overcrowding your tank and keeping a regular maintenance schedule is a must.

Most aquarium diseases can be avoided by making sure your aquarium water is healthy. If disease does break out, doing a water change and treating the water for the particular disease is the best way to nip it in the bud. If you don’t do these two things your tank is a disaster waiting to happen.

Neglecting the appropriate tank maintenance and partial water changes will allow toxins to build up in the water, basically polluting your fish’s environment. As the water becomes more toxic your fish become more “stressed”, the more stressed your fish becomes the easier it is for the micro-organisms present in your aquarium water to infect your fish with various diseases.

I addition to ensuring your aquarium has good water quality, you should also keep an eye on your fish each day so that you can be alerted to any signs of stress right away and take the appropriate action.

So how do you tell if your tropical fish are stressed?

Tropical fish don’t react the same way to stress as people do, but there are some tell tale signs you can be on the look out for.

Some things to look for include; fish rubbing themselves against the gravel or aquarium décor, fish hiding in the corner or under plants or rocks all the time, fish bobbing around with their fins close to their body and any growths or white fuzzy spots are some of the things that indicate aquarium disease.

Of course, the first step in treating aquarium disease is preventing it. Here’s some steps to make sure your aquarium remains free of disease:

1. Don’t overcrowd your fish tank. Your tank can only support so many fish - the more fish you have the more waste they create and if the filtration cannot handle the waste you end up with toxins in the water that can accumulate to dangerous levels over time. The larger the tank, the more fish you can have.

2. Acclimate new fish to the tank properly. When you bring a new fish home from the pet store, it’s already been through quite a bit.

Shipped from the breeders to the new store and put in a new tank, then transported into your tank all can be stressful to the fish.

To acclimate your fish properly, make sure you float him in the bag in your aquarium for 10 minutes then open the bag and introduce some of your aquarium water into the bag, let that sit for about 10 minutes and then let the fish out into your tank.

3. Make sure to have great water quality. Since poor water quality is the greatest case of fish disease and death you’ll want to be diligent about your tank maintenance and partial water changes.

Also, make sure to test the PH and nitrite/nitrate levels and adjust the tank accordingly.

This is quite easy and there are test kits made for testing as well as adjusting the water.

Keeping your aquarium disease free is not difficult and will help you enjoy beautiful healthy fish for years to come!

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Flowers of Sri Lanka:

Planting Orchids and Palms

Manoj DISSANAYEKE

ORCHIDS BEAR PODS, which contain seeds. These pods are one to two inches long and the seeds are so tiny that they almost resemble dust. Believe it or not, a single pod contains more than a million seeds.

These seeds need the necessary amount of moisture, shade, temperature and a certain fungus called ‘micoraisa’ to grow into healthy plants. Therefore it is more beneficial if you are able to obtain laboratory facilities in propagating them.

Palms fall into the palmar family. Corn palm, Queen palm, Fan palm, Royal palm, Cabbage palm all grow out of seeds.

When the palm seeds have matured they turn into a reddish golden colour. Pluck them at this shade.

Another way of recognising when to pluck the seeds is to squeeze the succulent part of the fruit. If the seed pops out, then it is matured.

However take care to protect the crop from birds and other prey at this stage.

keep the seeds in water for two to three days. You will be able to get rid of the succulent part surrounding the seeds more easily then. Wash the seeds well, first in clean water and then in fungicide. It is not necessary to get rid of the thorny layer surrounding the seeds. Dry in the light rays of the sun. These seeds are not suitable for propagation.

Planting the seeds

The techniques and methods used in planting seeds differ according to the species. Let us take a look at some of these common methods which have gifted us with new plants.

Planting annuals

Zinnias, Marigolds, Asters, Petunias, Flocks, and Dianthus are some of the annuals which we would be focusing on in this section.

These plants bear small seeds. They can be planted according to two methods, either in nursery trays meaning in artificial pots or outdoors in flower beds.

Outdoor flower beds

Use raised beds to plant the seeds. Prepare the flower bed three feet in width and the length according to your preference. Mark the size of the flower bed before preparing them.

Loosen soil six to eight inches deep in this area. Form a drain around the bed.

The outer layer of the bed should be sterilized to get rid of harmful microscopic beings. Use hay or saw dust to burn the outer layer soil in this process. After two weeks add the primary medium.

(The writer is the Agriculture Instructor of Royal Botanical gardens, Peradeniya)

Want to keep a garden fountain?

Interested in a nice accent to enhance your backyard, patio, or deck?

How about bringing an element of the great outdoors, indoors?

A new garden fountain may be just what you need to offer a decorative effect, along with the relaxing sounds of gently flowing water to any setting in the home or landscape.

This article provides a basic garden fountain review for ideas on selecting an indoor or outdoor garden water feature, along with a few tips for avoiding costly mistakes when it comes to choosing a great garden fountain for your home.

Garden fountains come in a wide range of sizes, shapes, and styles. Some are designed to stand right in the garden and provide an attractive focal point.

Others can be incorporated into an ornamental landscape, mounted on an exterior wall of the home, or be situated on a patio or deck.

Indoor fountains can also be used in a variety of locations with various models designed for indoor wall mounting, use in an upright floor standing position, as a room divider, or smaller table top versions that will fit just about anywhere.

In addition to providing an attractive accent to the home or landscape, fountains also offer tranquil relaxation with the soothing sounds of flowing water. It is also surprising how well they can serve to drown out unpleasant background noises.

Drawbacks of discount indoor or outdoor fountains

What starts out as a relatively quiet pump may not take long to become irritatingly loud. There were problems with splash and splatter finding its way onto furniture, or other issues involving fountains that became clogged, covered with a build-up of residue, or required frequent cleaning.

Some outdoor fountains may not hold up to the constant erosion of water and exposure to intense sunlight and other outdoor elements.

Therefore the paint will start peeling, pumps will malfunction, or the fountain’s material will simply crumble and disintegrate over time.

Hence make your selection wisely when choosing the ideal fountain.

You need time and money to maintain a fountain. Keep the fountain clean and tidy otherwise it will not only become a habiting place for mosquitoes but it will be a dwelling place for many diseases.