The useless junk they try to sell you

[C.Anderson]

Stress coat is actually a good thing to have. My Dwarf Gourami had a scrape at the top of his head that looked red and raw on tuesday. I added some stress coat to the water that night, and the next day, the redness was gone. And now, this morning, his head had healed and scales had covered the rawness.

From my understanding and experience table salt will do much the same thing.

I used to keep a bottle of stress coat, until a friend's dad who runs a local aquarium maintenance business (you know, the guys who service banks, dr's offices, etc?) told me it was junk, and just to use salt. Never bought another bottle.

Cris

 

[DAVIDFBT]

I got Prime as my main dechlorinator and I only use Stress Coat for scrapes/cuts. I'll try salt next time.

 

[echoofformless]

Stress coat is actually a good thing to have. My Dwarf Gourami had a scrape at the top of his head that looked red and raw on tuesday. I added some stress coat to the water that night, and the next day, the redness was gone. And now, this morning, his head had healed and scales had covered the rawness.

I have had plenty of fish heal from scrapes without adding anything at all. I heal from scrapes without anything either. In fact pretty much all living things will heal from minor scrapes and abrasions because cells reproduce and repair. That's just life.



My additions to this thread are:

Ammonia removing filter media. You shouldn't be worrying about ammonia in a tank because your tank should be cycled before you have anyone living in there who might get hurt by the ammonia!

Ammonia alert. An established aquarium will never, ever have an ammonia problem unless you've done some massive mistakes - and you would be well aware of those mistakes and hopefully be testing for the ammonia anyway!

Blackwater extract. A bag of aquarium peat will last you for the better part of a year and cost only about eight dollars; all the while doing a far more natural and effective job. Or you could buy blackwater extract that does little more than tint your water and pay a dollar per water change so that the annual cost is like sixty dollars.

Snail killer. Stop committing genocide on these harmless little creatures! And especially don't do it by filling your aquarium with noxious garbage. Do you think the other inhabitants would appreciate that stuff in their water? Deal with snails by not overfeeding, and by accepting them as part of a natural and well functioning aquatic habitat.

Many different foods are useless junk. Especially the supposedly high end ones like Hikari. They often have the same crappy ingredients and fillers than lower prices brands contain. And the foods often meant for certain types of fish (discus, oscars etc) are usually no different than the general staple flakes or pellets anyway with maybe just a few added things that those fish like. Best to have a well rounded selection of various foods than to depend on one thing.


Wet/dry filters for all but the most seriously huge and overstocked systems. The massive amounts of ammonia that require ridiculously massive bacterial colonies would only come from having your tank ludicrously overstocked.

 

[Lupin]

Blackwater extract. A bag of aquarium peat will last you for the better part of a year and cost only about eight dollars; all the while doing a far more natural and effective job. Or you could buy blackwater extract that does little more than tint your water and pay a dollar per water change so that the annual cost is like sixty dollars.

Good point. I can always have the Indian almond leaves for free.:lipssealedsmilie:

I agree with the rest although I cannot comment on the filtration system as that one I have not used yet.

 

[tankboy_taylor]

When I first got into the hobby I fell for the whole you should get a pleco for algae control thing at least I only got a candy striped pleco.

Needless to say I only see him every few weeks and have never seen him eat algae he would much rather nibble at the driftwood he hides in

 

[KarlTh]

Regular table salt is in fact not good for fish as it contains too much iodine.

That's one of the myths I was referring to. It contains vanishingly small quantities of iodine and nothing like enough to be toxic. In trace amounts, iodine is actually an essential mineral.

 

[Hollygirl]

The Artificial Decorations: Castles, No Fishing signs, Sunken Ships, and houses to name a few. Fish would like it better if you spend that money on a nice piece of driftwood, some artificial rock formations or plants more than a fake boat. Do you find these decorations at the bottom of the Amazon river or in natural pools in Southeast Asia?

LOL! LOL! Wait till I tell my husband his sunken ship is junk. But seriously, when it comes to beneficial bacteria colonies, they don't care if they are on a natural rock or a phoney sunken ship.

 

[KarlTh]

Mind you, the "bottom of the Amazon river" argument can be misleading - you wouldn't generally really want a tank that looked like the bottom of a river, complete with old tins, lots of mud and the occasional dead rat.

 

[Hollygirl]

Mind you, the "bottom of the Amazon river" argument can be misleading - you wouldn't generally really want a tank that looked like the bottom of a river, complete with old tins, lots of mud and the occasional dead rat.

Good point. If it weren't for the "whimsies" of the hobby (sunken ships, mermaids, no fishing signs), and the fact that we do mix a lot in this hobby (fish found in African waters mixed with fish found around Florida) not to mention putting fish from China with plants from South American waters, this hobby would cease to exist.

 

[khombre]

When I first got into the hobby I fell for the whole you should get a pleco for algae control thing at least I only got a candy striped pleco.

They still do that here. Sell common plecos as "tank cleaners"/"algae scrubbers" to beginners regardless of tank size. Sad really.

Do they still sell betta watter? betta lamps? And how about the iPond?

Crap lol