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sera guide - Healthy aquarium fish

Filtration during the treatment 10 General recommendations for application About risks and side effects… Some factors may affect an effective and safe treatment in the aquarium or even lead to un- desirable side effects. You should generally read the information for use carefully before us- ing any kind of treatment. Make sure in partic- ular that the treatment is suitable for the in- tended application (for instance, not all treatments are suitable for saltwater), and that the information for use, the label and the outer package do not contain any warning notes concerning the animals and plants you keep. Furthermore, you should only treat tanks with unobjectionable water chemistry. The applica- tion of some treatments may make the water conditions “turn over” and subsequently cause, for example, a bacterial bloom that in return may cause oxygen deficiency if there is strong organic pollution (check ammonium/ ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, for instance). It may even be necessary to stop the treatment by carrying out a water change if cloudiness should occur during the treatment or if the fish signalize lacking oxygen (e.g. by gasping for air at the surface). Therefore make sure you pro- vide very good water quality and sufficient aer- ation before, during and after a treatment. At the same time you are considerably increasing the chances that your fish recover successfully and quickly by doing so. such special conditions. Using water condi- tioners, especially ones with finely ground rock powder immediately before (within 1 – 2 days) or during a treatment may also lead to slightly diminished efficacy due to binding the agents. Therefore it is best not to use water condition- ers during this limited period. Their use, howev- er, is even more reasonable after the treatment (see page 62, “Concluding the treatment”). UV-C lamps for water disinfection should in any case be switched off during the treatment. The high energy light destroys many active agents. The normal aquarium lighting can usu- ally remain switched on, but it may in some case (e.g. when treating “ich”) be supportive to darken the tank. This will both protect light sensitive agents and calm down the ill fish. In case you fertilize with carbon dioxide you should stop the addition during the treatment and a couple of days after the treatment. Using some of the treatments may lead to a subse- quent oxygen deficiency. High CO2 levels in the water additionally make the respiration of the fish more difficult. Information for use leaflets often recommend removing biological filters from the aquarium circuit during the treatment. This is a precau- tionary measure, as some treatments may also harm filter bacteria and – as stated above – very active filters might reduce the efficacy of the treatment. However, disconnecting the filter is usually laborious and inconvenient. You would need to spread the filter material, e.g. in a tub with aquarium water, or ideally operate the filter connected to a separate tank espe- cially in case of long lasting treatments. Rot processes might occur if water does not flow through the filter material for too long (it can get critical after half an hour), which possibly Furthermore, active carbon must not be used during a treatment as it binds medicinal agents and thus reduces or even inhibits the efficacy of the treatment. Some of the active treatment agents can also be broken down or bound by a particularly large and active biofilter. It may therefore be advisable in single cases to slight- ly (e.g. to 1.5 times as much) increase the treat- ment dosage as to maintain full efficacy under Do not use during a treatment 60