One question that pops up from time to time is what sort of supplies and accessories should the fishkeeper keep on his closet shelf. Over years of fishkeeping, I have slowly developed such a shelf (a 6' free standing metal cabinet, actually). In my cabinet, I keep all the accessories I have found I occasionally need. Of course, Murphy sees to it that I need these things on a Sunday evening, usually right after the fish store closes. By keeping a few items on hand, a potential emergency can be resolved with little conflict.

  Of course, the first item I keep is extra fish food. Living in the Midwest, we occasionally get snow and ice storms that prevent getting out for a few days. By keeping a little extra food for each variety of fish, this practice guarantees no fish will go hungry. An unopened box of general purpose flake food, and an unopened sack of Koi or Goldfish food can come in mighty handy. To keep these fresh, when I purchase a new container of food, I put it on the shelf and open the older container that had been the emergency store. Thus, food is always being rotated, and the emergency supplies on the shelf are always fresh.

  Good fishkeeping practice, to include frequent water changes, usually all but eliminates diseases in fish. However, one should always be prepared for common emergencies. Therefore, I keep a box of medications on hand at all times. I am going to mention specific brand names, but I don't want you to conclude that this is a commercial advertisement for them. I'm just telling you what I keep, that's all. The box includes all-purpose antibiotics (such as Maracyn I and II). I keep a fesh bottle of Maroxy (for fungus infections), and Maracide (for parasites). In the box is a package of Jungle's Parasite Clear tablets (for parasites), and a bottle of Methylene Blue (for fungal infections). I keep a bottle of Amquel (for unexpected ammonia spikes). Also included are a Phos-Zorb pad, and a Nitra-Zorb pad (for unexpected nitrite explosions).

  I always like to know what my water parameters are, so I keep a number of test kits around. Some I have bought, didn't like and bought other products. Therefore, you'll find 3 or 4 different test kits for Nitrates. Of all the test kits I've used for Nitrates, I prefer Jungle test strips the best. I have an Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Master Test Kit, which allows me to measure ammonia, nitrites, pH, GH and KH. I like the GH and KH test solutions very much, but prefer to use a Coralife pH pen to take my water pH measurements much more quickly and conveniently. (Once you own a pH test pen, you'll wonder how you ever got along without one.) For ammonia, I prefer the Kordon's ammonia test kit, or Mardel's ammonia test strips.

  Other products I keep in my fish keeping closet include chlorine removers. These products come in several forms. Some portend to also improve slime coatings on fish and to remove heavy metals. Personally, I prefer a chlorine remover that does that, and only that. (If I wanted my fish's slime coatings improved, I'd add something else for that.) I really like Kent's Chlorinex, which neutralizes chlorine and chloramine without doing anything extra. Also on my favorite's list is Wardley's Chlor-Out, for the same reasons. Amquel also is a great chlorine/chloramine remover, and I would use it if I happened to run out of the other mentioned products.

  For water changes (and you NEED to do water changes, every week!), a water changing siphon is an indispensable tool. Better still, I prefer Python's water changing hose, the kind that attaches to the faucet. This makes water changes a breeze, and makes sure I don't have an excuse not to do weekly water changes.

  An assortment of nets, ranging from small to large, are necessary to transfer fish from one container to another. I have nets suitable for everything from Guppy fry, up to large Koi, and everything in between.

  Another accessory you should have on hand is a plastic hang-on box, or a containment net, a little box made of cloth mesh that can be suspended in the tank, and which permits the free circulation of water. These make a great container to transfer an injured fish to safety, or to hold a pregnant fish while she awaits delivery. A breeder box is a must-have item for livebearers such as Guppys or Platys if you wish to save the babies. These boxes have a slot in the bottom, through which the babies can fall and escape the hungry mouth of their mother. After mother fish has delivered, she can be returned to the main population of the tank while the fry can stay in the box for a few weeks until they are large enough to join the general population.

  Your closet should contain spare items for emergency replacement. A must-have is a spare heater or two. If you purchase good quality heaters, failure is rare, but not an unknown event. Keeping a spare heater on the shelf can save your fish's life on a cold winter night. Heaters are generally sized to fit the tank, but there is nothing wrong with putting a too-large heater on a smaller tank in an emergency. For example, a 10 gallon tank would usually use a 50 watt heater. However, if you had several 10 and 20 gallon tanks, keeping a spare 100 watt heater would provide you with an emergency heater that could be used on either tank. At all times I keep a spare 100 watt and a 250 watt heater on the shelf. This gives me emergency coverage for any tank ranging from 10 gallons up to 75 gallons or larger.

  Unless the tank is heavily overcrowded, a filter failure is not really an emergency. With sensible stocking levels, tanks can survive nicely indefinitely without a filter. However, I do keep one or two extra filters operating at all times on a couple of my larger tanks. These filters can even be smaller in size than the tank would normally require. For example, even though I have a 90 gallon Goldfish tank with a large Eheim filter canister filter, I also hang a smaller AquaClear 200 on the back of the tank. This small filter adds little filtration capacity to the large tank, but more importantly it serves as a spare backup filter, cycled and ready to go for other tanks ranging from 10 gallon up to 29 gallon. Filters rarely fail, but can be made to fail. Once I had a filter on a 29 gallon tank that apparently I handled rather roughly in the sink as I was servicing it, and without noticing, I put a hair-line crack in the plastic. I returned the filter to service, but the next day found a large puddle of water under the tank. Inspection of the filter quickly revealed the crack. I pulled the filter out of service and replaced the filter with one of my spare filters from a larger tank. Fortunately, the hairline crack was easy to repair. I cleaned out the damaged filter, allowed it to dry, and repaired the crack with some JD Weld cement. After allowing the filter to dry for a few days, I set it back up and put it on one of the larger tanks, where it awaited the day when its turn would come and it would become needed in an emergency. By the way, a well-cycled filter comes in mighty handy when you want to set up a new tank in a hurry, or need to set up a hospital tank. If you set up the new tank and install an old, experienced filter, the tank will be able to handle a modest level of fish from the first day. This is because the bacteria in the filter can quickly handle the waste load from the fish without waiting for the tank to cycle.

  No fishkeeper's closet would be complete without a couple of small tanks or bowls, 2 gallon or 5.5 gallon, ready to hold a fish or two in an emergency. If a fish becomes injured or ill, usually it should be removed from the main tank and placed in a "hospital" tank. (The notable exception to this rule is Ich: here, you must treat the entire tank and its contents, and not just the single fish.) This tank need not be set up with gravel, plants or decorations. It's just a container of water in which an injured fish can recuperate. For example, some fish are known to squabble among themselves over territory or who gets the harem. Recently, I had a male Cichlid that fell victim to another male, a rather nasty bully. The victim literally had his fins and tail chewed off, and was severely injured. I briefly considered euthanizing the fish, but instead transferred him to a 5.5 gallon "hospital" tank. The only thing such a tank needs is a small filter. Fortunately, I had a small Lee Triple Flow Corner Filter set up and operating in the corner of the larger Cichlid tank. It was a simple matter to move the filter over to the 5.5 gallon tank, where it served as both a mechanical and an instant biological filter. In 1999, Aquarium Pharmaceuticals introduced Melafix, an all-purpose antibacterial additive that I had heard wonderful things about. I added some to the mangled Cichlid's water and crossed my fingers. The first few days the fish just moped in the corner of the tank, unable to swim well. However, on the 3rd day, the fish started taking food. In a few weeks, his fins had grown back sufficiently that he was able to swim normally, and his appetite became ravenous. A month later and he was as good as new. I considered giving him Karate lessons and putting him back in with the bully Cichlid, but thought twice about it. Instead, I put the recuperated Cichlid in a newly setup tank, where he is now lord and master of his own harem.

  Hospital tanks can be used for infected fish. Being smaller in size, a 2 gallon or 5.5 gallon tank do not require as much medication to treat an injury or illness as would a larger tank. Some medications may damage a tank's biological filter, but in a hospital tank that's not a worry. Other medications may stain a tank's ornaments or rocks an unwanted color. Again, in a hospital tank that's not a problem.

  As mentioned, about the only illness that cannot be treated in a hospital is Ich. Ich parasites live both on and off the fish. If you move an infected fish to a hospital tank, you will not kill off the parasite in the main tank. After treated an infected fish in a hospital tank, you will only return the fish to a still-infected tank, where he can be attacked by the Ich parasite again. Therefore, Ich should be treated in the main tank. But most injuries and illnesses should be treated in a hospital tank. Neon Tetra Disease is an excellent example of where a hospital tank is mandatory. There is no treatment nor cure for Neon Tetra Disease, and can spread rapidly to other fish. It is always fatal. So if you have a Neon that you suspect may have the disease, the best course of action is to immediately remove the suspect Neon to a hospital tank. You may find the fish actually has another treatable disease, and the hospital tank is the place to do that. But if the Neon is actually infected with NTD, then he can either be allowed to live out his existence in the hospital tank, or you may decide to euthanize the fish.

  In any event, once a hospital tank has been used for treating an infection, its should be cleaned out and disinfected. Not containing any gravel or ornaments, you need only clean the tank. The tank should be scrubbed out with a 5% solution of chlorine bleach (let it soak overnight if possible), then thoroughly rinsed. Allow the tank to air dry in the sun on the patio, and it's ready for use another day.

  Hospital tanks of 5.5 gallon or larger size can also be used as isolation tanks for new purchases. One should never buy a fish at the fish store, bring it home, and simply dump it in the tank. To do so is to invite new and interesting diseases in your established tank - something we'd rather not experience. By placing a newly purchased fish in a hospital tank, we can observe the fish for disease or problems. If, after a week, the fish appears to be in good health, it may then be added to the main tank with relative safety.

  Every tank should have its own thermometer, installed where it can be easily observed at a glance. If you're not in the habit of checking the tank's water temperature at least daily, you would be wise to develop the habit. In this way, you can quickly spot a problem with the heater, where the heater either sticks in the on position, or fails completely. Caught early, this can mean an inconvenience for you. Caught late, your first indication of a problem may be a tank full of dead fish! Monitor that water temperature! You might consider making a habit of checking temperature at feeding time, since this will make monitoring temperature a habit. On tanks of rare or valuable fish, I have slowly been installing digital thermometers with alarms. That way, if a heater thermostat fails, I am quickly called to the tank before it ever approaches becoming a problem. If you have expensive fish (or you just don't want to lose your pets), you might want to consider adding a digital thermometer with alarms. Set your temperature alarms for 3 or 4 degrees above and below the desired temperature, and you should be safe.

  Other accessories you should have on hand are tank maintenance and cleaning supplies. Algae magnets can help you keep the glass walls of your tank clear. Algae scrapers serve the same purpose. Cleaning supplies should include a vinegar-based glass cleaner and some soft cleaning cloths. These cloths should be well washed and double-rinsed in the washing machine with no fabric softener or anti-static additives added to the rinse water. Keep them separate in a box so you always have a clean cloth for aquarium duty. A cloth soaked in vinegar can be used to safely wipe away calcium and lime deposits from the glass or hood. A spare fluorescent tube or two are handy should one of your fluorescents fail on a Sunday evening.

  A tube of aquarium cement should always be kept at hand. Not all silicone cements are safe for aquarium use. Some will actually say on the label that they are harmful to fish. Among other brands, Hartz manufactures a silicone cement specifically for aquarium use. Keeping a tube close by for emergency repairs, such as a broken ornament or a leak in a tank seam, can come in handy at times.

  Finally, a box of aquarium salt should be kept in your fishkeeper's cabinet. Salt can be a theraputic agent in water, and is actually mandatory for the health and well-being of some fish. By keeping a box of aquarium salt on hand, you'll be prepared for water changes or unexpected treatment of diseases such as Ich.

  As you keep fish, you'll probably discover more handy items you should keep on hand. By all means, feel free to customize your fishkeeper's closet. A cardboard box may be all you need. But by keeping some of these items on hand, you'll find that you encounter few emergencies with your aquarium that you are not prepared to handle.

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