Waterlife Tropical And Coldwater Treatments

Waterlife have been producing treatments for tropical, coldwater, marine and pond water for over 50 years. They produce a range of chemicals to condition the water to produce the ideal conditions for keeping fish of all types and treatments for a wide range of common and not so common fish diseases.

Waterlife
waterlife buffer

Water for keeping fish needs to be treated to remove chlorine and chloramines (if tap water is used), adjust and buffer pH and provide ammonia and nitrite reducing bacteria. We have been using Waterlife pH Buffers in our tanks since we have stocked fish. This ensures that the water going in after a partial water change is the same pH as the water taken out and also helps resist changes in pH over time. This reduces the stress on the fish and so helps keeps some of the commoner diseases at bay. Many diseases can be present in the water but unable to penetrate the fish’s defences when healthy. However if the fish becomes stressed these defences can break down, allowing disease to take hold.

water life tap water safe

Dechlorinator is essential in all cases when using tap water. Chlorine is added at the treatment works to kill bacteria and keep the water safe in the distribution system (part of my job for twelve years back in the day). Free chlorine may dissipate if the water is left for 24 hours or more but the chloramines (chlorine combined with other compounds in the water) will not. Both are toxic to fish and damage the mucus membranes. If it does not kill the fish outright itself, it will make them more susceptible to disease. Waterlife’s Tap Water Safe is one of the most concentrated dechlorinators on the market, so offers excellent value for money. Some of the brands I have seen sold in supermarkets for example require 2.5 times as much product per litre of water to have the same effect.

waterlife bacterlife

Adding Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter bacteria, in the form of Waterlife’s Bacterlife to the water increases the ecosystem’s response rate to increasing ammonia from fish waste. Nitrogenous waste, generated from the metabolism of protein in the food and exuded into the water as ammonia by the fish, is highly toxic to fish and again if it doesn’t kill the fish outright makes them susceptible to disease organisms. In a river or lake it dissipates and is dealt with by the surrounding environment and ecosystems. In a fish tank it cannot go anywhere and over time the concentrations rise to dangerous levels. Waterlife’s Bacterlife contains different strains of these bacteria which will work at a wider range of pH readings helping to ensure highly toxic ammonia is broken down to less toxic compounds quickly. These helpful bacteria will colonise your filter and gravel and continue to work for you all the time the fish are producing bacteria. It is worth noting that their effectiveness deteriorates with falling temperature. Below 10 degrees celcius they pretty much stop working altogether. This is why you should stop feeding high protein fish food to pond fish during the winter.

waterlife stayclear

Occassionally aquarium water may become “murky” for want of a better term. There are a variety of reasons for this. Usually and rather obviously it is a sign of poor water quality and the cause must be addressed. Excessive nutrients can cause algal or bacterial “blooms” in the water. Treatment with Watersafe’s Bacterlife will help reduce the availability of nutients and coupled with regular water changes will help keep the water clear but Stayclear contains a coagulant that encourages suspended particles to bind together into heavier particles that then drop to the bottom of the tank for removal during the next water change (using a gravel cleaner).

waterlife whitespot and fungus

Should water quality deteriorate, or the fish become stressed for any other reason (such as the addition of new tank mates) then disease may ensue. One of the commonest diseases seen in ornamental fish is white spot (Ich infection – a free swimming single celled organism that, after infection produces white spots (surprise!) often described as looking like a coating of sugar grains over the fishes body). Fortunately the treatment for white spot is also one of the most effective. However a mistake often made is to cease treatment once the symptoms are no longer present. This will only lead to reinfection as the treatment is only effective against the free swimming form of the organism and so the treatment must be completed to ensure the whole life cycle has been disrupted.
Fungus appears as white cotton wool like growths on affected areas. The fungal infection can be present of its own accord but is commonly a secondary infection, following opening of wounds by a bacterial pathogen.

Two other fairly common diseases seen in aquarium fish are fin rot (columnaris bacteria infection) and ulcers (sores caused by other types of bacteria). Fin rot manifests as fraying fins and/or tail which can lead to complete loss of appendages and death. If caught early though it does respond well to treatment. Ulcers are pits in the skin of the fish with raised, inflamed edges, often bright red in colour, although sometimes without and actual pit forming. However these infections nearly always indicate that there is a water quality issue of some kind and this will need sorting before the treatment can become truly effective. There is little point adding treatment for disease to an aquarium with toxic water. It may improve some symptoms but they will only come back. It’s a bit like trying to give first aid to a burns victim while his clothes are still on fire. Our own best defense to infection is our skin. When this barrier is damaged we are vulnerable to infections. A fish is covered by a mucus layer that does the same job of keeping out pathogens. It is this mucus layer that weakens or disappears when the fish is stressed by poor conditions. Waterlife’s Fin Rot & Ulcers contains a compound that will effectively treat both condition as well as a host of other bacterial infections from other gram negative bacteria.

So for “everyday treatment” of aquarium water and easy, effective treatment of the commonest diseases, should something go wrong, we stock the full range of Waterlife treatments. Waterlife also produce a further range of treatments for less common diseases and pests, such as “hole in the head disease”, flukes, fish lice, leeches , anchor worm and the list goes on! They all provide an excellent common disease chart which we keep copies of in store and have an easy to follow page on their website.

So for quality, support and value for money you can’t really do much better than Waterlife’s range of water treatments for aquarium and pond fish. This is why we have been gradually switching over to these products on our shelves, rather than the less concentrated and often less effective supermarket brands. Water quality can be tested at home quite easily, using a number of different strips and kits and we would strongly recommend investing in the best you can afford to avoid or at least get early warning of problems so you can deal with them appropriately.

The Angell Pets Team

Angell Pets Easter Opening Times

Angell Pets are open as usual all over the Easter weekend.

Angell Pets

Angell Pets

The opening hours for Angell Pets for the weekend are as follows:-

Good Friday – 10am – 4pm

Saturday 19th April – 9am – 6pm

Sunday 20th April – 10am – 4pm (normal Sunday hours)

Easter Monday – 10am – 4pm

Tuesday 22nd April – back to normal hours – 9am – 6pm.

On line orders will processed as normal but deliveries will obviously be affected by the Easter break.

So pop in and see us at Angell Pets over the weekend for everything for your pet. For dogs and cats, birds, small mammals and rabbits, fish, reptiles, spiders and other invertebrates, accessories, enclosures food and more. If you can’t see it, we can probably get it in for you. Alternatively visit us at Angell Pets online.

The Angell Pets Team

Angell Pet care sheets page

Angell Pet give advice on all aspects of the animals we sell and on others we don’t. In addidtion tyo the advice given to prospective pet owners we have a page devoted to care sheets on this site which is constantly being up dated and expanded.

angell pet care sheet page

Just click on the Angell Pet Caresheet tab for a page of sheets and articles on mammals, birds, reptiles, invertebrates, fish and additional sheets on hygiene, handling and treatments.

The care information for each animal will also be added to the description on our Angell Pet webstore over the next few months.

We also have additional advice on our Angell Pet You Tube channel.

The Angell Pet Team

Christmas gift ideas

It is difficult enough to buy gifts for kids at Christmas. Often presents from relatives remain untouched after the intial buzz of Christmas mornings. If the present is an animal this is obviously a serious issue. It needs caring for even if it is not really wanted.

Instead of buying a pet for Christmas how about buying a kit or starter set up. Then after Christmas, when all the excitement has died down, the child can come and pick out an animal to go with the kit.

Christmas gift ideas

 

No animals to worry about caring for on the run up to Christmas whilst trying to keep the present a secret and if it turns out they didn’t really want a pet then there are only inanimate objects to sell as “unwanted” gifts and not a living creature to find a new home for.

We have a large range of set ups and starter kits for sale from a few pounds to complete reptile kits. Also complete fish tank kits in attractive packaging that make ideal gifts at resonable prices.

pet shop gloucester aqua 40

 

How about a millipede set up, spider, scorpion, stick insect or landsnail. Everything you need to care for these interesting and easy to care for creatures that, after Christmas, would make an excellent pet for a child. Have you been pestered all year for a snake or lizard. Why not buy the set up and come in after the day to select a pet at your leisure.

We are open over the holiday period, so you won’t have to put up with the badgering for long!

Also, more kids get money at Christmas now than ever before. You could wait until the new year to go with them to select a set up for a pet and put up with all the pleading in between, or you could pop in and see us, We don’t have time off between Christmas and new year so you can.

Order your set up online now or call us to put together a bespoke kit to suit your needs. Better still, if you can, pop in and see us so we can show you what is on offer and you can get to see the animals too.

 

The Angell Pets Team

 

Juwel aquarium web offer

Juwel aquarium web offer until 31/01/14. We are very pleased to offer Juwel tanks and cabinets at superb prices until the end of January next year.

Our Juwel tanks are usually set at prices over 20% below RRP. For the next three months we have and extra 10% off these already low prices.

Juwel aquarium

 

Juwel Rio 125 tank, RRP £289, our usual price £227, now only £205

Juwel Rio 125 cabinet, RRP £149, or usual price £117, now only £106

Juwel Rio 180 tank, RRP £339, our usual price £269, now only £242

Juwel Rio 180 cabinet. RRP £189, our usual price £149, now only £134

Juwel Rio 240 tank, RRP £449, our usual price £355, now only £320

Juwel Rio 240 cabinet, RRP £215, our usual price £168, now only £151

Juwel Rio 300 tank, RRP £725, our usual price £574, now only £517

Juwel Rio 300 cabinet, RRP £255, our usual price £199, now only £179

Juwel Rio 400 tank, RRP £995, our usual price £789, now only £710

Juwel Rio 400 cabinet, RRP £275, our usual price £218, now only £196

Juwel Trigon 190 tank, RRP £539, our usual price £425, now only £382

Juwel Trigon 190 cabinet, RRP £239, our usual price £189, now only £170

Juwel Trigon 350 tank, RRP £1095, our usual price £868, now only £781

Juwel Trigon 350 cabinet, RRP £295, our usual price £235, now only £211

We will be adding more of the Juwel aquarium range to our website over the next week or so, including the economy Rekord and the luxury Vision. Thease are avaiable to order at the offer prices from now but will take a little time to upload to the site. If you want a price for one of these Juwel aquarium ranges, just give uas a call or drop us a line and we will get back to you with price and availability.

This Juwel aquarium web offer is for all sizes and all colours of the whole Juwel aquarium range. Some colours are more popular and at these prices could sell out quickly. If you want to take advantage of these excellent juwel aquarium offer, do get in quick to ensure you can get the Juwel aquarium of your choice,

Normal lead times for delivery are up to two weeks from order confrimation. For local delivery (sorry we cannot offer our normal FREE local delivery for these items due to their large size) lead times are one week for instock items.

So if you have been wanting a fish tank for a while but were put off by the price, want to get one for yourself or a loved one for Christmas, or have read this blog and thought “I fancy that”, then take advantage of these fantastic prices whilst you can. Of course the after sales advice on setting up your prized possesion is FREE. We are not your normal webstore that is willing and able to sell you a tank but is not able to help you after that.

One of the added benefits of the Juwel aquarium range is that they are very easy to set up and to maintain. I should know, I’ve had a Juwel Trigon 190 at home for quite a few years now and have a Juwel Rio 125 set up in the shop. Being a very busy man I have to have something easy to maintain and the Juwel range fits the bill very well as well as remaining one of the most attractive out there and having a good range of decor and accessories designed to fit your tank.

The Angell Pets Team