NEWS112
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pour vigorously boiling water over the
herbmixture and leave it to brew for 10
minutes, then remove theherbs andwhat
will be left is an easy-to-use solution
containing all the useful, desirable
ingredients.Once the teahas cooled then
simply add the desired dose to the
aquarium.There isnoneed toworryabout
overdosing, nothing will happen to the
fishes evenwhen theneat tea is usedas a
bath for several hours,as longas there is a
constant oxygen supply. The tea can be
kept for several days in a clean, sealed
bottle in the refrigerator.
Risksand side-effects?
In theory theonlydanger inusing this tea
is that if a veryhighdose is used then the
sugars from the plants may lead to
increased bacterial proliferation. Should
this actually happen then themishap can
be rectifiedby quickly performing a large
partialwater change.
Effectson theaquarium
We have studied the effects on water
chemistryof aherbalmix fromAquariana,
which contains all the plants listed above
and a number of others, and which is
formulated
specially
for
the
acclimatizationofnewly-purchased fishes.
Themost important parameters for fishes
were measured: pH, total hardness,
carbonatehardness, ammonia,nitrite, and
nitrate levels, plus phosphate, chlorine,
silicon,andcopper.The testingequipment
usedwas theAqua-Check fromSöll,which
measures all the parameters very easily
and precisely using an electrode with
photometric function; only the hardness
wasmeasuredwithadrop test,again from
theAqua-Check range fromSöll.
Testswereperformedon:
1. Themains water used to brew the tea,
prior toboiling;
2. The mains water used to brew the tea
after boiling;
3.The freshly brewed teawhen cooled to
room temperature (although this had to
be diluted considerably with distilled
water for the hardness test because the
color change was otherwise virtually
invisible due to the yellow color of the
tea);
4.Theaquariumwater prior touse;
5.Theaquariumwaterafter settingupand
before theadditionof tea;
6.Theaquariumwaterafter settingupand
with the addition of tea (1 tablespoonful
of tea / 10 litersof aquariumwater)
7.Theuntreatedaquariumwater after two
weekswithoutwater change;
8. The tea-treated aquarium water after
twoweekswithoutwater change;
The small test aquaria were each filled
with 10 liters if aquarium water and
populated with five Neon Tetras
(Paracheirodon innesi) apiece. The test
aquaria contained a liter of washed river
sand as substrate andwere filtered using
simple air-powered internal filters filled
with Perlon wool. The fishes received
quarter of a food tablet every day. It was
found during these experiments that the
tea had no noticeable effect whatsoever
on thewater chemistry.
Collectherbsorbuy them ?
As far as we know, at present only
Aquariana
(
onlineshop.de) offers a ready-to-use tea
mixture for the acclimatization of newly-
purchased fishes. It comes packed in
ready-to-brew organza sachets. Anyone
wanting tocollect theirownshouldhavea
good knowledgeof plant species inorder
toavoidaccidentallycollectingpoisonous
plants, and find out which plants should
be collected at what time of the year
and/or day.Theplants shouldbe carefully
driedand stored inadark,dryplace.
All in all, medicinal plants offer the
aquariumhobbyawonderful opportunity
toacclimatizedelicate fishesoptimally.Try
it for yourself! It is veryeasy...
Discus from theRioMoju.The skinof discus is verydelicate.
