Evening star., 1934-12-11

properly tempered, ana puts the
fishes back in.
Half Of them die within q week.
What has happened is this: The fishes
were in too acid water before, now
they are in too alkaline q medium.
besides the sudden change from the
one to the other was more than they
could readjust themselves to so
quickly.
Besides building up gases. the life
processes tend to make the water
acid, and this, 1t has been discovered,
Is good, up to certain point.
A very elaborate system Of water
measurement has been built up, but
one which Is easily applied. 1t is
built on the combined electrical and
chemical nature of water, and gives
us a scale of acidity and alkalinity,
with 10 taken as neutral.
Water taken from the faucets in
Washington recently has tested 70,
definitely alkaline, while water In
Chevy Chase. Md. tested last week,
gave a reading Of 7.6, considerably
higher in alkalinity.
A tank containing two dozen three
spot Gouramis, the water not having
been changed for eight months, gave
a reading of ga, quite acid, the low
est range being 6 In these elementary
readings.
These fishes are surprisingly
healthy and active, and have wonder
full appetites.
Acid water, then, must be healthy?
That Is just the point-for many
of the tropical fishes it undoubtedly
is. 1t may be realized that when q
fish is taken out of such water and
put into q tank in which the water
reads 76, for instance, 1t is being
subjected to q tremendous shock in
readjusting itself instantly.
The average fish keeper, especially
the newcomer, will not be expected
to bother about such matters, but 1t
is we'll for him to keep in the back OF
his mind the fact that they do exist.
For practical purposes he may under
stand that the life processes in an
established aquarium tend to make the
water slightly acid, and that there
after he should change only a small
portion Of the water at time. not all
at once, unless this last Is unavoid-
able.
What may be called the mechan-
ical condition of the water is its ap-
pearance. Too many fishes put into
a tank at once, with overfeeding OF
dry foods, sometimes results in what
Is called white water" in which a
milky appearance shows tiny specks Of
matter throughout the water. If less
feeding is INDUCED in. this condition
will clear up in about two weeks. but
if it does not the water must be
changed, even at the risk of harming
the fishes through sudden loss Of
chemical balance.
II the water becomes green" stays
so, too many fishes, too much light
and too much food probably are re-
sponsible. The remedy lies in cutting
down the light supply and feeding
more moderately.
Dirty water is not always, or even
often, bad water. Fishes do not un-
derstand a human beings ideas on
tidiness!
Often enough crystal-clear aqua
rum Is worse than dirty aquarium,
and this undoubtedly is due. of course,
to the wrong chemical constitution
Of the water for the particular fishes
involved.
The average home aquarium en-
thusiast, by using the good water
supply hereabouts, but remembering
this is definitely alkaline, can supply
a little of this, now and then, to off,
set the tendency Of the tank to go acid,
and so keep the water very close to Z,
or theoretical neutral, or even a little
on the acid side. Our water as 1t
comes from the faucet is theoretically
and actually better for gold fishes than
for the trOnica1 or eyotic fshes