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Syringes Are Useful Fish Keeping Tools
Posted by: aqua Oct 5 2004, 02:13 AM
Syringes are useful fish keeping tools
One use is syphoning water from the tank.
(note: this only works if you have small air line tubing)
First you need at least 6 feet of air line tubing, a clothespin or adhesive tape to keep the air line tubing in place, a bucket for excess water, and an oral syringe (it doesn’t matter what size syringe is, but its better to have one that holds a lot of water though).
Place one end of the tubing in the tank three inches or more inches below the water line depending on the amount of water you want to remove from the tank. Secure the tubing in place with the either the clothespin (be careful not to pinch the tubing if you are using the clothespin) or tape (if you are using tape, only use it on the out side of the tank). Place the other end of the tubing in the bucket, you can also secure the tubing in place if necessary.
Take the oral syringe and insert it into the end of the tubing that is in the bucket, then draw back the end the syringe, this should start your syphoning without you having to suck up any nasty fish water.
Cleaning air line tubing
You have your choice of cleaning agents, you can choose from: a bleach solution diluted with water, a solution of hydrogen peroxide and water, or a heavy solution of salt and water. (You can also use your own choice of antibacterial just as long as its fish safe and you rinse equipment well after use)
Fill a container with your desired cleaning solution and place tubing into it. Submerge both ends of the tubing in the solution, then fill the syringe with the solution, then inject the solution into the tubing while holding both syringe and tubing under the surface. Continue to do this until you have forced all of the air out of the tubing, then allow it to soak for a few minutes.
Fill another container with clean water or just throughly clean out the previous container and fill with clean water. Rinse the syringe by repetitively drawing in clean water then expelling it. Rinse the out side of the tubing then place it into the water then submerge it then repeat the underlined process above using fresh water rather than a cleaning solution and you should allow the tubing and syringe ( if you decide to keep) to soak in water for at least 24 hours.
Another use is to apply external medication to an injured fish
First you will need a clean bucket with water from the tank to hold your fish in during the medication process, an oral syringe, and medication.
Fill the syringe with the amount of medication that you will need, then set it aside. Remove your fish from the tank and place it into the container with tank water in it.
Hold your fish slightly above the surface of the water and squirt the medication on the injuries. Then when you are done medicating your fish place it back into the tank.
Feeding medicated food to specific fish
(this may be more difficult for fish that are not used to being hand fed)
(this may also be used to feed fish who don’t get an equal portion due to another greedy fish)
What you will need: a syringe, fish food of your choice, and some tank water.
Open the syringe and fill half full at most, with fish food of your choice, then join the two sections of the syringe together again, now fill the rest of the syringe with tank water. If there are any bubbles of air, hold the tip of the syringe up and flick the syringe until the bubbles reach the tip then squeeze out the remaining air bubbles and add more water if needed ( this can be a little tricky sometimes). Once the food has had enough time to absorb some of the water, slant the tip of the syringe up wards and try your best to remove most of the water, without removing most of the food (don’t remove too much water, because the food will not come out when you try to feed your fish.). Once you have most of the water out you are then ready to feed you fish. Preform your usual fish feeding rituals, then once you have isolated the fish in need of the specific food, squirt out some in front of your fish’s mouth, the more you do this during each feeding, the more accustomed your fish will become to being fed in this manner.
I highly recommend that you either throw away or disinfect the syringe after each use!
Posted by: aqua Oct 5 2004, 02:18 AM
I hope that I haven't made any spelling or grammar errors (I notice that I tend to make them often), would any one tell me if I have?
Posted by: koko Oct 16 2004, 04:42 PM
Nice AQua.......This is a great article.
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