Fish
Health advice for fish, written from real experience.
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Gills curling forward over an axolotl's head are usually a stress posture tied to water quality, temperature or flow rather than a disease by themselves. Here is how to tell that from normal gill shape, and what to test first.
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Green film creeping across the inside of the glass is not the same problem as cloudy green water, and scrubbing it off without fixing the cause just buys you a week before it is back. Here is what is actually growing, and how to stop it coming back.
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A fish with a swollen belly and scales standing out like a pinecone has dropsy, a symptom of internal fluid buildup rather than a disease on its own. Here is what causes it, what helps, and the honest survival odds at each stage.
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Velvet disease looks like a fine gold or rust dusting on a fish's skin and can kill far faster than ich if it is mistaken for ordinary flashing or a water problem. Here is how to spot it early and what actually treats it.
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A fish darting against gravel, decor, or the glass, called flashing, is usually an itch it cannot scratch any other way. Here is what causes it and how to tell how urgent it is.
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A fish floating sideways, sinking to the bottom, or struggling to swim upright usually has a swim bladder problem, not a mystery illness. Here is what causes it and how to fix it.
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The complete equipment list for a first aquarium, in the order you should buy it, plus the three items beginners skip and the reason a stocked starter kit is usually the wrong buy.
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Ragged, shortening fins with a pale or reddened edge are almost always fin rot, and the fastest way to make it worse is treating the fish before treating the water. Here is how to tell it apart from ordinary fin damage, what actually causes it, and when it has gone too far to leave untreated.
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Cloudy water almost always breaks down into a short list of causes once you look at the actual colour of the haze. Here is how to tell a harmless new-tank bloom apart from a real water-quality problem, and how to fix each one.
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A fish that ignores food is not always sick. Here is what actually causes fish to stop eating, from water quality and temperature to stress and stocking, and when it is genuinely a problem.
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Tiny white grains scattered across a fish's body and fins are almost always ich, the single most common disease in home aquariums. Here is how it spreads so fast, how to treat the whole tank, and why stopping early lets it come straight back.
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A new aquarium looks ready the day you fill it, but the water is not. Here is what cycling actually means, how long it takes, and how to do it without losing fish to it.
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Fish hanging at the top of the tank and gulping are almost always short of oxygen, not sick in the way people first assume. Here is what causes it and how to fix it fast.
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The two habits that keep a tank healthy are the two beginners most often skip. Here is how to do regular water changes and testing properly, and why they matter more than anything else.
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If new fish keep dying within weeks, the water is almost always the reason, not bad luck. Here is the invisible problem behind most fish deaths, and how to stop it.