FAQ: Water Care for fish

A larger pack is often cheaper per litre but only pays off if you use it before it expires. For a small tank a large bottle may sit for years, so estimate how much you use per month.

No, zoogidas.lt sells nothing – the site compares prices from Lithuanian online pet shops. Once you pick an offer, you buy the conditioner or tests on the shop's own website.

Prices are collected about daily, and each product shows when its price was last checked. Still confirm the price on the shop's website before buying, as it may have changed.

The product page on zoogidas.lt shows price history, so you can see whether the current price of a test kit or conditioner is typical or has just dropped.

Fish travel in bags or containers of tank water at least several times their volume, with air on top. Do not feed them for a day beforehand so they foul the water less, protect them from cold and heat, and use a battery aerator for longer trips.

Before leaving, change part of the water and check parameters and the filter, but avoid big changes on the last day. Healthy adult fish can go a week or so without food, and overfeeding by an auto-feeder or a neighbour harms the water more than fasting.

First check the temperature, filter, water level and that all the fish are healthy, removing any dead animals or rotting plants. Then test ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, do your usual partial water change and resume feeding lightly.

A quarantine tank is best filled with some main-tank water plus conditioned new water so parameters are similar, with a mature sponge for the filter. Test ammonia more often there, as it builds up quickly in a small volume.

Temperature swings when the tank is near a window, radiator or draught, when the heater is too weak or faulty, or from summer heat. Place the tank somewhere stable and use a lid and a suitably sized heater with a thermometer.

Direct sun encourages algae, turns the water green and makes the temperature swing a lot during the day. So it is better to place the tank away from the window or shade it so sunlight does not fall on it directly.

In summer algae grow fast in a pond and warm water holds less oxygen. Plants covering part of the surface, a filter with a UV lamp, moderate feeding, topping up evaporation and a fountain or aerator all help.

When filling or topping up a pond with tap water, chlorine and chloramine harm fish and bacteria there too, so pond conditioners are used. The dose is based on the amount of water added, not the whole pond volume.

Yes, especially in spring, in hot summers and after adding new fish it is worth testing pH, KH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. In a large pond parameters change more slowly, but rain, garden run-off or overfeeding can shift them suddenly.

In autumn remove fallen leaves and rotting plants, cut feeding gradually as the water cools and do a final partial water change. In winter it is important that part of the surface stays unfrozen, as that lets decay gases out and oxygen in.

Yes, fertiliser washed off lawns or flower beds fuels algae, and pesticides and herbicides can be toxic to fish and amphibians. Avoid them near the pond and divert rain run-off from treated areas away from it.

Change a large part of the water at once with conditioned water at the same temperature, add activated carbon to the filter and increase aeration. Repeat the changes over several days, watch the fish and, if they act strangely, contact a vet.

Do not feed the fish, wrap the tank in a blanket so it cools more slowly and stir the surface now and then for oxygen. When power returns, if the filter stood for several hours, rinse it in tank water before restarting and test for ammonia.

If the filter media are kept moist in tank water and restarted quickly, the tank does not need recycling. The tap water at the new place may differ, though, so test its pH and hardness before the first water change.

Common causes are a sudden difference in water between shop and home, an uncycled tank, transport stress or disease. Acclimatise fish slowly, make sure ammonia and nitrite are zero, and have a sick fish seen by a vet.

To start, the essentials are a water conditioner, the main tests (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH), a gravel siphon, a dedicated bucket and a thermometer. A bacteria starter helps cycle a new tank, and other products are bought only when needed.