Tip of the Day – 12/16/2013

There are not many issues that a good water change won’t fix, but every once in a while, they don’t solve the problem at hand. Whether the issue is nuisance algae caused by excess nutrients or some parasitic infestation on one of your fish, water changes aren’t always the cure-all that they have been made out to be. Yes, they are usually the first step in the problem solving process, and we highly recommend looking to them as soon as an issues arises, but even things like hair algae or cyanobacteria can withstand multiple changes. So, many times we have to look outside of water changes for the solution. Things like magnesium in high concentrations works well for hair algae, and certain medications are a requirement to fixing a particular issue. Even though we love water changes, don’t feel scared to branch out and try something more direct.