How Do You Spot Poor Conditioned or Unhealthy Fish, Algae, Coral, etc?

    So one thing that seems to be a somewhat common reason for tanks failing and fish and other creatures dying off is the purchasing of poor condition or unhealthy fish, algae, coral, and so on. So for those of us who are new to aquariums and delving into this world for the first time, how do you spot poorly conditioned or even unhealthy fish, algae, coral and so on? It seems a logical question to ask, though I am sure they have fairly obvious tell-tale signs that we will see as we go.

    I’d just make sure to observe the fish, coral, or invertebrate you are looking to buy in the tank for like 15mins. I’d also recommend to ask them to turn off the blue lighting if possible since that can hide some elements that you may only see under a white light.

    Other times their interactions, or when they feed them, can show you if something is wrong or not as well.


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    I 100% agree on making sure that you check out the species in the tank every so often throughout the week for a decent period of time. A lot of the time you can tell if there is an infection or something isn’t getting enough of the right food by their coloration, their activity within the tank and with other species, and lastly based on how they take food when you do feed them.

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