Do you know what the three fish farmers are?

Fish friends who consult often say that "old three" can be taken to carry out relevant measures, but we often overlook the fact that many fish friends simply do not know what the term "old three" is. In fact, to put it simply, there are only these three methods of "heating up, adding salt, and changing water". This has always been the first choice for the prevention and treatment of fish diseases at the initial stage, and it has been widely spread among fish friends. But some people may question, these are worthy of you often talk about, still think that is something omnipotent, it is really omnipotent, fish problems are often inseparable from these three operations.

Can the "old three things" be easily solved simply by "changing water, heating up, and adding salt"? In fact, we need to understand the principles of these three operations, why to do this step, with a knowledge-seeking, healing mentality to do, to learn. Many fish friends are very cautious in the use of medicine and do not use medicine unless they have to, but have achieved good results through conservative treatments such as "old three". There are numerous examples like this. So let's focus on this magical "old three things" today.

01

The first step is to change water

The quality of water quality will directly affect the normal growth and development of fish. The change of water in the fish tank is to clean up the dirt in the water, keep the water clean, regulate the water temperature, increase the oxygen in the water, quickly dilute the bacteria and toxins in the water, and reduce its harm to fish. Compared with heating and salting, changing water is the least harmful and most effective way to fish. Especially when the nitrification system is not perfect, the toxin exceeds the standard, and the water quality is extremely turbid, water exchange is almost the only choice. The change of water in "three things" does not refer to an one-off, but to adhere to a cycle, change the water every other day. The amount of water exchanged once is generally recommended between 20% and 30% in China, and many foreign literatures have proposed that the amount of water exchanged at one time should be between 50% and 75%. I support a large amount of water change, because it is faster and more helpful to sick fish, but tropical fish should be cautious in changing water in winter. The difference in water temperature caused by a large amount of water change will be counterproductive. Warm water can also be added.

Water exchange should be paid attention to: temperature, chlorine content, ph control. The temperature of changing water should be 1-3 ℃ higher than that of fish tank water. Do not add a lot of cold water. The decrease of water temperature will bring a lot of problems. The control of chlorine is very important, of course, it is best to trap water if there are conditions, or to use the water in the water heater, and the right amount of water quality stabilizer is also a good way to remove chlorine. The change of ph in each change of water should be less than 0.3, otherwise excessive change of ph will cause acid-base imbalance, metabolic disorder and aggravate the disease of fish, so it is necessary to prepare a ph pen with accurate adjustment. In short, as long as the temperature, chlorine content and ph are properly controlled, the effect of changing water on fish is very small. In addition, salt should be replenished after a big change of water to prevent the osmotic pressure from oscillating.

Note: in the normal management, we should try our best to prevent the whole tank from changing water. Because the fish once adapted to the water quality in the tank, the change of water in the whole tank will suddenly change the water quality, making it difficult for the fish to adapt, and the old water environment will be destroyed. There is a lot of knowledge about fish farming and changing water, and this is a very important reason why many novice fish can not live.

02

The second step, heating up

Many people think that the purpose of warming is to kill bacteria by raising the temperature, which is completely wrong. Because the vast majority of pathogenic bacteria are resistant to high temperature, their optimum growth temperature is generally about 37 ℃, and the upper limit of fish tank temperature is generally no more than 35 ℃. This temperature is the best temperature for bacteria to reproduce and will not cause harm to pathogenic bacteria at all. Warming not only does not have any germicidal effect, but also causes a large number of pathogenic bacteria to multiply with the increase of temperature, and the toxicity increases and the water quality becomes worse. This is the truth that people with a little common sense of life understand. So is there any scientific reason for heating up? Does warming help the fish in the snow or make it worse? We should think about this problem seriously.

The principle of heating up

If you want to understand the real purpose of warming, you must understand the immune system of fish. Fish are variable temperature animals, this physiological characteristic determines that fish do not have the ability to maintain constant body temperature, and the body temperature of most fish is the same as the ambient temperature. The immune system of fish is closely related to temperature, and the immune effect will be weakened at low temperature, which is more likely to cause the death of fish. When a disease invades, the fish themselves show a "fever", indicating that they want the water temperature to rise.

The real purpose of warming is to stimulate the fish's immune system and increase the metabolism of fish to resist the invasion of bacteria and toxins, rather than relying on the three or five degrees to directly kill bacteria. Of course, there are special cases in everything, such as small melon insects with white spot disease, which are directly killed by heating up. In the treatment of diseases, we should abide by the principle of choosing the lesser of the two evils. Although warming may cause a large number of bacteria to multiply and damage water quality, warming can strengthen the immune defense ability of fish and enhance their physique to resist diseases. This is very important for sick fish.

The right way to heat up

The reasonable heating range should be 3-6 ℃ higher than the original tank water, which is about 30-34 ℃, depending on the fish species. It is appropriate to heat up 2-3 ℃ every day, too fast will cause discomfort to the fish. Heating must be combined with oxygen, to ensure an adequate supply of oxygen. Because after heating up, the respiration of fish will be enhanced, the reproduction of bacteria will be accelerated, and oxygen demand will be increased. Warming should be used in conjunction with salt to reduce the burden on the fish infiltration system, which is described in detail in the next section.

The editor gives you some suggestions on how to heat up the fish tank:

1. Heating rod

Advantages: the temperature can be controlled, the operation is convenient and the heating effect is better. Disadvantages: some heating rods are too powerful and consume electricity.

2. Heat water into the tank at regular intervals

Advantages: the temperature can be controlled, and the water in the cylinder is not directly heated, so it is relatively safe. Disadvantages: inconvenient operation, easy to frighten the fish.

3. Put the bottle containing hot water into the jar

Advantages: safety, there will not be too high temperature. Disadvantages: inconvenient, need to be replaced regularly, heating speed is relatively slow.

From the point of view of safety and convenience, ornamental fish lovers are advised to choose the combination of heating rods and thermostats, which can effectively prevent excessive temperature and fish death in the heating process.

03

The third step, salt.

The misunderstanding of adding salt

Among the "old three", there are the most misunderstandings in the lower salt, including the theory and dosage of the lower salt. Many people sprinkle a handful of salt every time they change water and dare not add more salt when treating fish diseases, but just sprinkle a few more salt than usual. these are all wrong. Most people think that salt can kill bacteria, and that salt is used to kill bacteria, which is even more a wrong theory. High concentration of salt (20%) has a certain antiseptic effect, because the penetration of salt will cause bacterial cells to dehydrate and die. Bacon and pickled fish are pickled according to this principle. In fact, foods with high salt concentrations can only slow down or stop the reproduction of bacteria, but can not kill them. The highest concentration of salt we put in the fish tank is only 0.5%, which doesn't have any germicidal effect at all. We take a 500L water fish tank to calculate, the lower salt concentration reaches 0.5%, need to use 2500 grams of salt, 2.5kg, this amount of salt will not pose any threat to bacteria, let alone the handfuls of salt.

A probe into the principle of salt

Fish control the balance of salt and water through osmotic regulation. The salt concentration in the body fluid of freshwater fish is higher than that in the environment. Due to the action of osmotic pressure, water will enter the fish through the body surface and eventually be metabolized by the kidney into urine and excreted out of the body. So freshwater fish never drink water, just pee. If you understand the content of this paragraph, you can understand the purpose of salt.

The purpose of adding salt is to regulate the osmotic pressure of water, reduce the penetration of water into fish, prevent the spread of virus in water, reduce the burden of kidney, reduce the pressure of osmotic system and improve immunity. Salt can reduce the negative results of heating, although heating can accelerate the reproduction of bacteria, but the reduction of osmotic pressure of water after salt can prevent bacteria from entering the fish to the maximum extent, so heating and salting complement each other.

The right way to put salt

Salt is the right time only when the disease of the fish needs to be treated. Adding salt to each change of water will reduce the osmotic adjustment ability of fish, and the effect will be poor when the fish is really sick. It is best to use crude salt or aquarium special salt, not seasoning salt with additives, such as iodized salt. Salt should be dissolved and roughly filtered before it is added, and the salt concentration should be gradually increased within 1-2 days so as not to cause osmotic pressure shock of fish.

The concentration of salt must reach 0.3% Mel 0.5% in order to adjust the osmotic pressure, which is very safe for most fish. Some fish, such as some "soft water" fish and some catfish, are very sensitive to sodium chloride and should be careful with salt. In addition, excessive use of salt will cause excessive osmotic pressure, which will further lead to physiological changes in body cells, which will lead to a decline in the resistance of fish to disease. When the salt concentration exceeds 1%, even a short period of soaking will cause adverse reactions in the fish.

Conclusion

For many early fish diseases, the combined use of the "old three" will achieve very good results. Personally, I think that changing water is the core, and rapidly reducing the content of bacteria and viruses is the basis of treatment. Water exchange can be used alone, heating and salt should be used together. Hope that through this article, can help more friends to understand the "old three" treatment mechanism, so that we can make better use of the "old three". If there are any deficiencies, I still hope that the seniors can give us some advice.