Credit: Victoria Young, Independent Tribune |
o celebrate International Women's Day, SEA LIFE Curator Becca Thomas spent one morning showing the Independent Tribune the importance of water quality in keeping fish healthy.
Thomas, who has been in this field for over 15 years, said water quality levels help track the nitrogenous waste cycle in the tanks. Keeping track of each stage of the cycle as fish waste turns into ammonia, nitrites and nitrates, helps aquarists know when to change out water. It also helps determine when new fish are ready to go from quarantine tanks into the exhibits. |
|
|
For fish, water quality is similar in the way air quality affects humans.
"The water is what the fish breathe, so it needs to be as health for them as air is for us," Thomas said.
New fish tend to stay in quarantine for 30 to 60 days.
"Anytime you bring new fish in or change a routine in any way it can have negative or positive affects on the water quality," Thomas said. "Even just gong from one tank to another, they have to get use to new tank mates, they have to get use to new water quality, they have to get use to a new environment, it causes stressors whether you want it to or not." |
|