Hi. I was just wondering what common household items may be used to do things such as lower or raise PH, or treat fish if I were in a jam. There are no pet stores here and I can only get to one once in a while.
Household items in place of bought products
- Thread starter chich9
- Start date
Well, garlic is a good internal parasite remedy. You just rub some (or use the juice from minced) onto the food and feed it to them. It is also an appetite stimulant.
As far as treating pH, unless you are keeping fish that are very pH specific, don't worry about it. It is far more important to maintain a steady pH, than one that the fish would "prefer." Most pH values are for wild fish anyway, and most of the fish you buy are captive bred and have been acclimated to your water parameters while at the lfs.
Don't try adjusting the pH, the swings harm the fish more than leaving it at a steady, perhaps "too" high or low value, would. Think of pH like humidity to us. We can adjust to high humidity, but its a doozy when it keeps changing from high to low.
Its much better for the fish to stay at, say 8.0, than to bounce between 6.5 and 7.5
But, rather than chemicals, which are unsteady, to lower the pH you could use peat moss in the filter along with driftwood. Crushed coral can be added to filters to raise the pH/kH/gH. But you really shouldn't need any of that Though tannin stained water has a nice effect and works wonderfully for tetras
As far as treating pH, unless you are keeping fish that are very pH specific, don't worry about it. It is far more important to maintain a steady pH, than one that the fish would "prefer." Most pH values are for wild fish anyway, and most of the fish you buy are captive bred and have been acclimated to your water parameters while at the lfs.
Don't try adjusting the pH, the swings harm the fish more than leaving it at a steady, perhaps "too" high or low value, would. Think of pH like humidity to us. We can adjust to high humidity, but its a doozy when it keeps changing from high to low.
Its much better for the fish to stay at, say 8.0, than to bounce between 6.5 and 7.5
But, rather than chemicals, which are unsteady, to lower the pH you could use peat moss in the filter along with driftwood. Crushed coral can be added to filters to raise the pH/kH/gH. But you really shouldn't need any of that
Though tannin stained water has a nice effect and works wonderfully for tetras
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Hi. Thanks very much for your replies.
you asked if I was putting together a first aid kit, I usually keep the things I need in case of a medical problem on hand but because there isn't a pet store or any place to get aquarium supplies in the town I live in, I can't just run out to the store to get medicine in case I don't already have it. I was just wondering what could help in different situations in which I have to act fast but don't have much around to work with.
also any other tips like the garlic tip, are very helpful.
Thanks.
Chich9
you asked if I was putting together a first aid kit, I usually keep the things I need in case of a medical problem on hand but because there isn't a pet store or any place to get aquarium supplies in the town I live in, I can't just run out to the store to get medicine in case I don't already have it. I was just wondering what could help in different situations in which I have to act fast but don't have much around to work with.
also any other tips like the garlic tip, are very helpful.
Thanks.
Chich9
I'm going to have to argue the garlic point--has there been an actual scientific study on the effect of garlic on internal parasites? Last I had heard, garlic was still anecdotally successful...but there were also many cases of failure when using it...