Food Varieties

When it comes to providing your fish with proper nutrition to promote it's growth, stay healthy and improve the vibrancy of the fish's color there are many different types of food available can and be broken up into four different categories:

  1. Frozen - My personal preference as it's normally available at a local fish store, and is easy to prepare.

  2. Live Food - Not as easy to find at your local fish store, but will most certainly make even your most timid of fish want to come out and eat with the rest of the group as they have something to chase.

  3. Liquid - Some recommended types of liquid food that I've personally used are Reef Nutrition PE Mysis, Reef Nutrition ArctiPods, Reef Nutrition Macro-Feast & Reef Nutrition Fuzzy-Phytes.

  4. Dry - Flake food isn't as high on the recommended list as it often times doesn't offer the same amount of nutrition that frozen or live food offers. But it can work as a way of a small treat or if you have a fish or two that are picky and will only eat food that stays at the surface of the water.

Supplements

Supplements and trace elements are an extremely important function of healthy home marine fish keeping. When you have yourself a home aquarium the saltwater mixture that is used will often evaporate essential trace elements such as when you need to change the water unlike out in the wild in the ocean where the balance is kept in check because of the natural ecosystem. To replicate this there are many products that you can find either at a local fish store or online that will help out in either adding elements missing from your aquarium or increasing depleted elements due to evaporation.

Some of the products that are recommended include:

Marine Health

Over the lifespan of taking care of the inhabitants in your aquarium you will undoubtedly come across various medical issues that should be resolved with caution and with extreme care. One of the most common medical issues that have plagued a saltwater aquarium is Ick (Cryptocaryon irritans).

Ick is a fully ciliated protozoan that is present in all saltwater environments. It is prevalent in marine aquariums, aquaculture ponds, and in import and wholesale holding environments. This widespread protozoan penetrates the skin and gills of the fish. Depending on the immune status of the fish, it can cause symptoms as mild as just a few small white spots to more severe symptoms including severe irritation, loss of appetite, lethargy, severe respiratory distress, and death.

It is not too difficult to identify because of the characteristic white spots. The white spots are 0.5-2.0 mm in size and have a tendency to appear first on the pectoral fins. As a result, infected fish may swim with folded or clamped fins. As the disease progresses, the spots will become more wide spread and the eyes of the infected fish may become cloudy. A secondary fungal infection may also appear on the skin. If the infection is concentrated in the gills or is in the early stages, the fish may show irritation, respiratory distress, and lethargy without having any visual spots.

The treatment for Cryptocaryon is fairly straightforward provided the cause of the stress is corrected. By far, the most popular and effective treatment is copper. There are a variety of copper products available for use in the home aquarium. These copper-based medications will provide proper treatment, if used at the correct dose. Even at very low amounts, copper is very toxic to invertebrates and can never be used in reef aquariums or aquariums with invertebrates. To ensure proper treatment, move the infected fish to a bare bottomed quarantine or treatment tank. It is essential to follow the manufacturer's instructions and use a copper test kit to monitor and maintain therapeutic levels of copper. Other methods that are sometimes used to control both freshwater and marine ich are high wattage UV sterilizers and diatom filters. The very fine diatom filters can help strain Cryptocaryon out of the water during its free-floating stage. A properly sized UV sterilizer will also kill the free-floating Cryptocaryon.

The old saying that "prevention is the best form of medicine" is very true of all marine disease. It is especially true of Cryptocaryon. All new fish should be placed in a quarantine tank for at least ten days to make sure they are eating, free of disease, and are able to recuperate in a stress-free environment. Properly treat any sick fish before introducing them to the main display aquarium. Keep in mind that the quarantine tank must be clean, appropriately sized with efficient filtration, and have proper water parameters. Provide adequate hiding places to further decrease fish stress.

Remember, stress is the enemy of fish health. Cryptocaryon will target stressed fish with lowered immune systems. Reduce fish stress to decrease disease incidence. Good husbandry practices such as maintaining water quality, correct nutrition, stable temperature, and meeting habitat requirements contribute to the overall health of your aquarium inhabitants.