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Pictures of the Black Skirt Tetra

I have 3 of these black skirt tetras. They are an awesome fish and they love to chase my redtail shark around and he will chase them right back. It's hilarious. Excellent fish to have.

Swim Bladder Treatment

The Swim Bladder and how to treat Swim Bladder Disease
What is a swim bladder?
Basically the swim bladder is an organ inside most of the fish species that acts as a buoyancy device so that the fish can maintain its level in the water without having to use up energy swimming. It is a gas filled organ and as it is directly below the dorsal fin of the fish it is very efficient at controlling the central mass of the body weight, this will aid the fish to keep upright. It has several common names including gas bladder, fish maw and air bladder. Some species of fish will even use the swim bladder as a resonating chamber and produce audible noises from it.

Normally swim bladders are only found in ray-finned species of fish, many of the bottom dwellers have evolved to live without a swim bladder while other species of fish such as sharks and rays have never possessed one and need to use the fins to maintain a vertical position and to attain different depths in the water. What is interesting is that sharks and rays evolved on a different route from other fish species about 420 million years ago and it is only since then that fish developed the swim bladder as it is today.

In most species of fish that have a swim bladder the organ consists of two sacs, some species only have the one sac however , these can contract or expand dependant on the pressure around them thus maintaining neutral buoyancy for the fish. The walls of the sacs are very flexible and are lined with crystals making them impermeable to gases and sealing them so that they work efficiently. There are fish that have a pneumatic duct connected to the swim bladder, this provides a connection to the gut, the benefit of this is that the fish can then gulp air into its mouth and pass the gas through to the swim bladder when required. This variation of the swim bladder is normally found in species of fish that are not as advanced as most of the modern species but is very effective. Swim bladders that are connected to the gut are known as “physostomous” swim bladders , swim bladders that are not connected have to top up their gas content by extracting oxygen from the blood, it is believed that this method is far more advantageous as physostomous swim bladders can expel gas too quickly if the fish tries to rise up the water column too rapidly. This can be a great disadvantage especially if trying to escape from predators.

Swim bladders are believed to be an early form of primitive lung,terrestrial creatures that evolved no longer having a use for it simply lost this organ completely over the generations.

Unfortunately the swim bladder can become infected and not work properly, this can be treated over a period of time and is normally resolved without any long term effects to the fish. Swim bladder disease is very common in fancy goldfish and is believed to be a flaw in their selective breeding.

What causes Swim Bladder disease?
The most obvious symptoms of swim bladder disease is when the fish stays at the bottom of the tank unable to rise to the surface or the fish may float at the surface and will be trying to swim around with little success. Sometimes fish can be seen leaning to one side, this is not always due to swim bladder disease, there may be other problems involved.

For years it was debated as to what causes swim bladder disease and it is only recently that scientists believe that they know the reasons, there are a few causes for this ailment:-

A viral infection-viruses will attack the walls of the swim bladder causing them to inflame. This will then restrict the efficiency of the bladder and gases may not be released or added to keep the fish at neutral buoyancy.A bacterial infection- this is still debatable as to whether or not this is a cause but if so it would attack the walls of the bladder in the same way as a viral infection.The fishes body shape- This is particularly true with fancy goldfish and other fish that have a globe body shape. The rounded body shape actually squashes their gut under pressure which in turn applies pressure to the swim bladder.Diet- feeding fish constantly with dried commercial food can cause problems in the gut, dried foods tend to soak up water and if the fish eat them as soon as they are added to the tank the food will expand inside them yet again applying pressure to the gut which passes this pressure onto the swim bladder.

How can I prevent Swim Bladder disease?
Keep your water quality to its highest quality, this will prevent any infections from getting to the fish in the first place. Always perform regular water changes and invest in a quality testing kit so that you can monitor the quality of the water in your tank on a regular basis. Getting your water tested at the local aquatic stores is not always the best method.

If feeding dried commercial foods try soaking them in water before adding them to the tank, this means that they are expanded to their full capacity and cannot expand any more inside the fishes abdomen.

Vary the diet with some live or frozen foods to cleanse out the fishes digestive system. Brine shrimp is very good for this, they contain little nutritional value but act like a cleaner inside the fishes gut.

How can I treat Swim Bladder disease?
Normally this condition can be treated with no long term effects on the fish. There are a couple of steps that you can take straight away before reverting to medications. The most common factor for inducing swim bladder disease is constipation and poor water quality so addressing these two problems initially should help clear up the problem. Perform a large water change and then increase the percentage of water changes that you would normally carry out in a certain period, this should increase the quality of the water.

Feed the fish some blanched peas, this acts as a laxative and should relieve any pressure in the gut, starving the fish for a couple of days should have the same effect.

There are commercial swim bladder treatments available but only use these if the above steps show no improvement in the fish.

Distilled Water in the Aquarium

Distilled Water in the Aquarium
One of the major concerns of many fish keepers is keeping the water quality high for their fish and often we live in areas where the mains water is not to the best of standards. This can be very frustrating for us as no matter what we do by adding water conditioners and performing regular water changes, we seem to be fighting a losing battle as impurities are added to the aquarium each time we top up the tank or by just doing a standard water change. Many keepers have now turned to another method of providing better water for their fish by distilling the mains water.

Distilled water can be used for topping up the tank but when initially filling the tank vital minerals need to be replaced using commercial water revitalisers or the fish will not survive for any length of time, a low mineral count will also affect the growth rate of plants in the tank as they also need these vital minerals to survive and produce strong, healthy growth.

Some breeders or keepers of delicate fish will also use distilled water as they can then mix this with mains water or revitaliser to adjust the hardness of the water which in turn will affect the buffering capacity of the water, indirectly this will also affect the pH of the water as well.

There are also available some commercial salts that can be used to provide a balanced mix with the distilled water but if you are running a Salt Water tank do not confuse these with standard marine salt that is normally added.

What is the definition of distilled water?
Basically distilled water is mains water that has been boiled and the steam collected allowing it to cool and condense back into its liquid state. Large quantities of this water are produced commercially by industrial processes but producing small quantities is a very time consuming process. It is available to purchase in bottle form or in 5 Litre tubs but preparing distilled water yourself can save you some money if you are prepared to spend the time going through the process. Below I will tell you a simple process of preparing your own distilled water if you wish to save a bit of money towards the running cost of your tank.

How do I prepare distilled water?
To save on costs preparing the distilled water can be undertaken by yourself. The basic process requires the water to be boiled and the steam cooled, most commercial cooler systems incorporate the use of a spiral tube made from copper tubing, this is not practical if the water is being used for the aquarium as many of the inhabitants will react badly to any traces of copper in the water. This problem can be overcome by using plastic or rubber airline to act as the cooler but unless you have the knowledge to create this apparatus there is another method. The water needs to be boiled to produce steam, place a large pan on a gas or electric stove to do this and cover the pan over with a tight fitting lid. The lid will act as a trap for the steam and the water will re-condense on it. Keep checking the lid and once droplets appear replace the lid with a second lid and repeat the process. Tilting the first lid will make the gathered distilled water run into a small puddle, this can then be tipped into a suitable container ready for use. Keep swapping the lids over until enough water has been collected for your requirements.

Key points to remember when using distilled water:-
Once the water is distilled it will contain no beneficial minerals or salts, it is alright to use this water when topping up the aquarium to compensate for evaporation losses but do not use this pure water for water changes or for filling the tank.

Distilled water will have a very lox oxygen content, before using this water it must be aerated for a couple of hours or leave it for 24 hours standing in a suitable container to allow gaseous exchange.

The buffering capacity of distilled water is very low, it will need a buffering agent added back to the water to increase the KH so that there is no chance of any pH swings in the tank.

When storing distilled water keep it in a non-metallic container, metallic containers will over a period of time start to leach substances back into the water including some heavy metals.

Is there any other way of purifying water?
Yes there is, technically rain water can be classed as distilled water. Rain water is collected in the clouds as evaporated water from the planet surface, when it condenses it falls back to earth so theoretically it should be purified, there is however one problem with using rain water in the tank, depending on which area of the planet you live, there are varying degrees of pollution in the air that the rain water will absorb. In high levels of air pollution this can affect the health of your tank inhabitants.

Reverse Osmosis (RO) units are also available to purchase for treating mains water. They consist of pre-filters that remove minute sediments and heavy metals from the water before it is passed through a membrane where all of the other impurities are removed. These units were expensive a few years ago but now the price is much more economical for the hobbyist and are far more practical than using the standard distillation process.

De-ionisation is another process for purifying water. Cartridges contain special substances that pull away certain ions from the water and absorb them. The cartridges will need replacing on a regular basis as they get saturated with impurities and the compounds used can be expensive. They are often found nowadays sat on top of RO units as the final cleansing stage in the purification process.

In many areas, purification is not required for your tank water, check with the local water board to see how pure the mains water is coming through your tap.