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  1. Does Aquarium Co-Op sell to Canada? We do not ship directly to Canada from our website, but we have partnered with April's Aquarium so that they can sell our premium products online to Canadian customers. Go to their website at https://aprilsaquarium.ca to order some of our most popular items — such as Easy Green fertilizer, Magic Small Fish Feed, our brine shrimp eggs, and more!
  2. How to treat stress ich A fish with ich tends to look like it has tiny crystals on its body, like someone sprinkled salt on it. We tend to notice ich on the fins first since there’s less slime coat in those areas and it’s easier for the parasite to target. Other symptoms may include loss of appetite, rapid breathing, fish rubbing their bodies against surfaces, lethargy, and hiding behavior. If your fish has ich that comes from an external parasite, you will see five spots today and then maybe 35 spots tomorrow. Howe...
  3. What do puffers eat? Most puffer fish have four, continually growing teeth in the front of their mouths that form a “beak,” enabling them to chomp through the hard shells of crustaceans and mollusks. To prevent their teeth from becoming too long, you must grind them down by feeding all sorts of crunchy foods, such as bladder snails, ramshorn snails, freeze-drilled krill, clams, and oysters. While it may take a bit of training, some hobbyists have successfully fed Repashy gel food mixed with crushed oyster shells ...
  4. Do fish really need water conditioner? Maybe. If your drinking water comes from a municipal water supply or other public water system, then most likely it is disinfected with chemicals like chlorine or chloramine to eliminate bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms that can cause diseases. These chemicals are toxic to aquatic animals and beneficial bacteria and therefore must be removed from the water using a dechlorinator. If you forget to add water conditioner to the tap water, your fish’s gills may become burned, causing th...
  5. Does letting water sit remove chlorine? Yes, chlorine is fairly unstable and will gradually evaporate from water. However, many water treatment plants have begun using chloramine instead of chlorine because it is a more stable disinfectant formed by combining ammonia and chlorine. Chloramine cannot be easily removed from water via evaporation and must be neutralized using a dechlorinator. If you are sure your tap water contains chlorine and not chloramine, you can let the water sit for 1-5 days to allow all the chlorine to evaporat...
  6. What does water conditioner do? The main purpose of water conditioners is to break down chlorine and chloramine and make water safe for fish to inhabit. Almost all dechlorinators contain sodium thiosulfate, which reacts to chlorine and chloramine to form harmless byproducts. Sodium thiosulfate looks like rock salt or white powder, and it is often dissolved in water to create liquid dechlorinators. Some water conditioners contain pH buffers, aloe vera to help heal the fish’s slime coats, or extra additives. The Aquarium Co-...
  7. Does dechlorinator remove ammonia? Some of them do, as stated on their packaging. The main reason for this is because when dechlorinators are used to treat chloramine, they only react to the chlorine part of chloramine and not the ammonia part. The remaining ammonia ions left in the water are toxic to fish, so some dechlorinators — such as Aquarium Co-Op Easy Dechlorinator, Fritz Complete Water Conditioner, Seachem Prime, and Kordon AmQuel — contain extra chemicals that temporarily lock up the ammonia into an inert state (i.e....
  8. Is dechlorinator harmful to fish? Generally speaking, no. However, there are some rare, one-off cases where it could be potentially dangerous. The reducing agents in dechlorinator use up oxygen when removing chlorine from the water, and this reaction could be hazardous in poorly oxygenated tanks. For instance, goldfish and discus aquariums can require huge 90% water changes. If you are using water with low oxygen content, adding lots of dechlorinator will further deplete the available oxygen, which can potentially suffocate y...
  9. Will dechlorinator remove bleach? Yes, water conditioners like Easy Dechlorinator will react to the chlorine in bleach to neutralize it more quickly. The amount of dechlorinator needed depends on the amount and concentration of bleach used. As a starting point, see the directions for neutralizing Purigen chemical filtration media after it has been soaking in a bleach solution. For more information, read the full article on dechlorinators.
  10. Why does my fish keep keep glass surfing? “Glass surfing” is when a fish – such as betta fish, gouramis, and cichlids – repeatedly swims up and down along the tank walls. It could be caused by stress, boredom, defense of territory, and other reasons. While there is no guaranteed cure for this behavior, many hobbyists have tried covering or painting the tank walls in black to reduce reflection, increasing flow with a powerhead, decreasing flow with a sponge filter, blocking their favorite corner with tall decorations or plants, adding...
  11. How do you clip a pufferfish’s teeth? If the hard foods are not filing down their beaks enough, your puffer’s teeth may become so overgrown that they can no longer properly eat. To prevent them from starving, you need to clip the tips of their teeth using a pair of sharp cuticle trimmers. Do your research to find out which method works best for you, but a common technique is to add 2-4 drops of clove oil per 1 liter (about 4.25 cups) of water. Add the puffer into the mild anesthetic solution and it should become sedated within a ...
  12. How do you deworm a puffer? Pufferfish are especially prone to internal parasites like tapeworms, but the dewormers only get rid of adult worms and do not affect unhatched eggs. Therefore, you must apply multiple deworming treatments to ensure all the eggs have hatched and are eliminated. For our personal puffers, we treat them with the quarantine medication trio and then wait two weeks. Next we follow up with a 5-day treatment of Fritz ParaCleanse (using the instructions on the box) and then wait a month. Afterwards, w...
  13. What are catappa leaves? Indian almond leaves (IAL) or catappa leaves come from Terminalia catappa, a tree that originates from Asia and Oceania but now grows in tropical and subtropical regions all over the world. Its fruit seeds taste similar to almonds, and its leaves are commonly used in herbal teas and traditional medicines. When you drop a dried catappa leaf into your aquarium water, the leaf begins to slowly decompose and produce tannins, which are plant-based compounds that gradually lower the pH and stain th...
  14. Should I boil Indian almond leaves? We do not boil them because it releases all the tannins and then you don’t get their benefits. However, if you don’t like the way the leaves look, some people like to make a catappa leaf extract by boiling one leaf for every 0.5 gallon (2 liters) of water. (Make sure to use a cheap pot you don’t care about because it may become stained.) Once the liquid has cooled, pour a little into the tank until you reach the color you want. If you add too much extract, just do a water change to dilute the...
  15. How do I use Indian almond leaves? If the dried leaves are very dusty or dirty, you can gently rinse them in water first, but the catappa leaves sold by Aquarium Co-Op are clean enough that we just drop them directly into the fish tank. They usually float for the first 3-7 days, so if it bothers you, weigh them down with a rock or decoration. Also, you can break the leaf in half to just use part of it or crumble it into smaller pieces to speed up the decomposition process. For more details on the benefits of catappa leaves, re...
  16. How many catappa leaves should I use? Start with 1 leaf (approximately 4-7 inches or 10-18 cm long) for every 5-20 gallons of water. If you are making a blackwater tank, use more leaves and soft woods (like Malaysian driftwood and cholla wood) until you achieve the desired color. For more details on the benefits of catappa leaves, read our full article.