Ornamentals & Aquariums

AQUI-S^® is the ideal fish anaesthetic for reducing stress in your aquarium. Aquariums range in size from small glass bowls to outdoor ponds and immense public aquaria housing entire ecosystems. All aquariums, regardless of size, require ongoing maintenance. This maintenance often causes severe stress to the housed animals including fish, crustacea (crabs and shrimp) and elasmobranchs (sharks and rays). AQUI-S^® can be used effectively on all these species.

Stress in the Aquarium

High levels of stress or prolonged periods of stress can create severe health and breeding problems. Stress arises in fish when the animal experiences alterations in its immediate environment such as:

Chemical changes - contaminants, low oxygen and acidification
Physical changes - handling, capture, confinement and transport
Perceived changes - startling or predators

Fish respond to stress with a release of hormones into the blood which triggers several physiological responses including an increase in heart rate, blood pressure and blood glucose. These, in turn, lead to increased susceptibility to disease, reduced breeding success, altered behaviour and reduced survivability. Whilst stress will never be entirely eradicated, it can be minimised with the correct management.

How to Minimise Stress in Your Aquarium

Our aquatic anaesthetic AQUI S^® is an ideal tool for reducing stress in aquariums of all sizes. AQUI-S^® is a liquid sedative for fin fish, crustacea and molluscs widely used for maintaining a healthy aquarium. AQUI-S^® works by sedating the fish and minimising the release of stress hormones such as cortisol, thereby preventing the negative downstream stress responses.
The dose of AQUI-S^® will depend on the maintenance activity and the desired level of sedation. Because AQUI-S^® is absorbed across the gills, a single water concentration can treat different sized fish to the same level of sedation. To maximise the benefit, AQUI-S^® should be added to the aquarium and allowed to act before fish are disturbed. They can then be transferred with minimum stress. Less than 1 mL of AQUI-S^® is required to sedate fish in a 100 L aquarium. Alternatively, fish can be transferred into a smaller container for sedation and holding.

AQUI-S^® can be used to reduce stress during the following activities:

Water Changes
Tank cleaning
Handling
Acclimation
Transport
Disease Treatment

Euthanasia

Euthanasia is an unpleasant but sometimes necessary aspect of animal healthcare. Euthanasia is used for two main purposes: to relieve the suffering of severely ill fish and to humanely destroy severely injured or deformed fish. An overdose of AQUI-S^® is the most humane way to euthanise your animals. Read more about fish euthanasia here.

Surgery

Occasionally, aquarium and ornamental fish require more invasive procedures which involve extensive handling and time out of the water. AQUI-S^® is the perfect anaesthetic for these occasions, as unlike other sedatives it is a true anaesthetic with analgesic and stress reduction properties. This means it does not simply immobilise/paralyse the animal, but it also prevents the animal from feeling pain and inhibits the physiological stress response.

Successful procedures performed with AQUI-S^® include:

Deflation of swim bladder in a goldfish
Removal of marbles swallowed by an axolotl
Shark birth
Dental work on a puffer fish

For surgical operations, the animal should be fully anaethetised with AQUI-S^® before removal from the water. If the fish is out of the water for an extended period of time, the gills should be continually flushed with AQUI-S^® treated water for the duration of the surgery.