Tip of the Day – 12/3/2014

For many aquarists experiencing some sort of issue, it’s commonplace to find them posting long lists of water parameters on the various aquarium forums to try to get other people’s input. Usually, this list has a line of perfect, pristine conditions. Things like calcium, magnesium, phosphate, and silica are right where they need to be, but there is still some major issue that needs to be addressed. After some back and forth, any input received is ofter debated hotly and no resolution is reached. Getting back to the point, situations like this make it very obvious that water parameters don’t tell the whole story. All they do, assuming the results are accurate, is give a snapshot of what was going on at that particular moment. Data trends (weeks worth of test results) can be a bit more helpful, but even they are limited because the problem may not be a water quality issue, but rather a parasite or some other serious threat.