If you want to master fish keeping, you must be able to understand the system of marine environments. Changing the system will tend to have certain effects to the marine life. There are many issues involved in keeping saltwater aquariums and one is the osmoregulation system of the fishes.
The system is responsible for maintaining the balance of saltwater aquarium salt levels and fluids inside the fishes body. If the water in the fish tank is too salty, then the fishes osmoregulation system will have a difficult time in correcting the salt and mineral levels inside the body of the fish. If this happens, osmotic pressure is higher.
Different fishes have different toleration levels for different saltwater aquarium salt levels and it greatly depends on the environment it has evolved. Fishes found in freshwater can’t tolerate osmotic pressure whereas saltwater fishes can withstand higher levels of osmotic pressure.
If you try to observe some fishes in the oceans, they have very high levels of salt toleration because they can easily travel from the oceans to freshwaters, and back to the saltwater environment. Brackish water fishes are good examples of fishes with high toleration levels for osmotic pressure and saltwater aquarium salt levels. The salt level in the ocean is commonly at 1.025 but when fishes are introduced in the aquarium, there should be lower osmotic pressure and so the salt level should be about 1.018 only. Wholesalers of fish tanks maintain the salt levels of reef aquariums at 1.023 and the conventional aquariums at 1.020.
Before introducing the new fishes to the display tank, they should first be kept in a quarantine tank to check for any parasites or infections. This will prepare them for higher saltwater aquarium salt levels; that way, the fishes won’t get stressed once they are transferred to the main tank.
The quarantine tanks can be used if there are any sick fishes so that other fishes will not be infected. It’s a good idea to dip sick fishes in freshwater for about 10 minutes to kill the bacteria and pathogens. You can repeat the dip everyday for as long as the fish is sick. If the fish can survive the dips, then it only means that it has a higher chance of survival.
Monitor your saltwater aquarium salt levels. Remember that taking care of fishes entails hard work. You must take good care of your fishes especially when they get sick. If you want the fishes to thrive in the tank, you should do your part.