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FAQs

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Why doesn't my four-way gang valve work?
If you are using a gang valve or T-splitter to share one air pump with multiple devices, sometimes air does not travel down all of the outlets. One of two things could be happening. In the first case, your pump is not strong enough to push air into more than one outlet. In the second case, the air always chooses the path of least resistance, so you need to use air valves on each path to ensure that air reaches all the devices.   Connect the air pump, gang valve, and air-driven...
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When is the next sale at Aquarium Co-Op?
Aquarium Co-Op no longer holds sales or special deals on holidays like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, or New Year's Eve. Instead, we choose to always offer our best prices up front while still providing rapid USPS Priority shipping, quick customer service response time, and tons of free educational content in our YouTube videos, blog articles, and online forum.
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Is it better to medicate the fish’s water or their food?
Medicated fish food is a little tricky to manage. Sick fish often won’t eat very much (or at all) because they don’t feel well. Also, it can be hard to monitor how much medicated food each fish is getting, so some fish may be consuming too much medicine while others are consuming too little. If you are only treating one fish that is still eating well, then medicated food might be a viable option. If you are treating multiple animals, we recommend medications that dissolve in the water and treat...
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What should I use to treat sick fish if I can’t buy the quarantine med trio?
We recommend using aquarium salt – a cheap and widely available “medicine” that is quite effective for broad-spectrum treatment of bacteria, fungus, and external parasites. However, it is not safe for aquatic plants, snails, and certain fish like anchor catfish. For more information, follow the dosage instructions in our aquarium salt article.
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Do I have to quarantine my first fish?
If you are setting up your first tank, you can theoretically add new fish directly into the aquarium without setting up a separate quarantine tank since there are no existing animals to protect. One situation where you might want to use a separate hospital fish tank is if your aquarium is very large and the fish are small enough to go in a scaled-down quarantine setup. It will cost less money to dose medication in a smaller volume of water rather than an entire display tank. Another instance would be...
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Do I need to quarantine shrimp and snails?
Dwarf shrimp can sometimes carry diseases, especially if purchased directly from importers, so if you are bringing in a batch to add to an existing colony, consider putting them in quarantine first to observe their condition. In our experience, snails rarely seem to carry illnesses, so we usually skip the quarantine step and add them directly to our aquariums. For complete instructions on setting up a quarantine tank, read our full article here.
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How do I keep a quarantine tank cycled?
The easiest way is to run a spare sponge filter (or extra filter media in a hang-on-back filter) in one of your display aquariums. Whenever you need to quarantine some fish, move that extra sponge filter or filter media to the hospital tank so it will bring over lots of beneficial bacteria to help purify the water. After the quarantine period is complete, put the sponge filter or filter media back in your main tank. For complete instructions on setting up a quarantine tank, read our full article here.
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How do I set up a hospital tank?
Many beginners may not know this, but one of the easiest ways to stop your fish from getting sick is to set up a quarantine tank. This separate aquarium is used to temporarily hold newly purchased fish or ailing animals that need a quiet environment to heal. By putting them in isolation, it allows you to closely observe their health, administer any treatments, and prevent illnesses from spreading. Once they are completely healthy and disease-free, you can safely add them to your main display tank without infecting the existing fish....
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Do my neon tetras have neon tetra disease (NTD)?
NTD is one of the most misdiagnosed diseases in the hobby. Just because a neon tetra is sick doesn’t automatically mean that it has neon tetra disease. If your tetra has white spots, it probably has ich. If your tetra has a white patch, it could be symptom of NTD, but it could also be a symptom of many other illnesses. NTD is fairly rare, so the white patch is more likely caused by a common bacterial or fungal infection. We recommend using the quarantine medication trio (which treats bacteria, fungus, and parasites) and...
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What fish can you put in a 5-gallon aquarium?
A 5-gallon fish tank is the ideal size for your office desk or dorm room, but it can be hard to find creatures that are small enough to live in it. Check out this article that covers our 5 favorite fish that are perfect for inhabiting a nano aquarium. Dwarf pea puffer Rosy loaches Green neon tetras White cloud mountain minnows Scarlet badis
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Do I need an air stone for my sponge filter?
An air stone is a small, weighted accessory that diffuses the air from your air pump into smaller bubbles in the water. We recommend adding an air stone to the inside of the sponge filter to lessen the bubbling noise and make the filtration more efficient. The air stone creates a steady stream of tiny bubbles (instead of large, intermittent bubbles) that produces constant lift in the sponge filter – much like a continuously running escalator (versus an elevator that starts and stops all the time). For more information on...
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Do I need to clean my sponge filter?
Yes, a sponge filter helps to clean your aquarium, but it’s essentially like a trash can that collects waste and needs to be emptied out every once in a while. We recommend cleaning your sponge filter once a month or whenever you see a decrease in bubbles (which is caused by the foam getting clogged up with detritus). When taking the sponge filter apart, disconnect the bullseye from the strainer (i.e., take off the whole top part of the filter) so you can easily remove the foam part for cleaning. Use a...
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