> I'd be very careful, I dimly remember someone killing all their aquarium > fish (fresh water) by experimenting with CS in the water; it was on this > list several years ago. As Frank points out, the silver chloride may be > much less toxic, it's much less effective. I'd also wonder if it would > kill algae.
That was me... I'll have to check out the link that was posted. If people are now deliberately using silver preparations in aquariums, I'd like to see what they're saying about it. A properly balanced (freshwater) aquarium has a well established "biological filter" consisting of several classes of bacteria that progressively break down fish waste products into sequentially less toxic chemical forms. If you combine that with regular partial water changes to control the ultimate concentration of the final breakdown products, the healthy aquarium can be very attractive and low maintenance. At least part of the chemical sequence is something like this: Ammonia >>>>>>> Nitrates >>>>>>>> Nitrites Extremely Toxic > Moderately toxic > Mildly toxic (I might have the nitrates and nitrites reversed. It's been a few years! <shrug>) A different type of bacterium is responsible for each step, and a similar sequence processes fecal matter. They all balance each other out and self-adjust as needed, creating a surprisingly resilient system. They grow in the gravel and any filter medium. If you take a setup like that and throw antibiotics or CS in it, in sufficient quantities to kill or damage the biological filter, you'll have almost instant problems with build up of waste products plus the dumping of all the metabolites of the now dead bacteria. Only aggressive and disruptive major water changes would allow you to stay ahead of the toxic buildup and allow you to eventually re- establish a healthy eco-system. If you want to treat diseased fish, it would be better to carefully establish a separate and well controlled treatment tank and transfer them to it, rather than treat the whole tank. Such a setup would require careful monitoring of waste products and water chemistry, given that it would not have anything to stabilize the conditions. Now, this is only one style of aquarium management. I'm sure there are others. I only know about this with respect to freshwater; I have no experience with salt-water aquaria. Just read up and know what you're doing before you start to experiment, if you care about your fish. Be well! Mike D. [Mike Devour, Citizen, Patriot, Libertarian] [[email protected] ] [Speaking only for myself... ] -- The Silver List is a moderated forum for discussing Colloidal Silver. Rules and Instructions: http://www.silverlist.org Unsubscribe: <mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe> Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html Off-Topic discussions: <mailto:[email protected]> List Owner: Mike Devour <mailto:[email protected]>
