TROPICAL AQUARIUM FISHES 145 
better than none at all, but is unnecessarily severe and is not so successful 
as milder solutions. In fact, the strong salt takes the protective slime off 
the fish and leaves it in a condition where it is liable to be quickly again 
infected, and in a weakened condition where treatment is not likely to 
again be effectual. The usual practice of the author is to make a solution 
in which salt is just easily discernable to the taste. As the sense of taste 
varies in individuals, this is not a very accurate rule to give others. A 
suitable proportion is one ounce of salt (approximately two heaping tea- 
spoonfuls) to each gallon of water. 
Methods of Treatment. Nearly all sick fishes do best in shallow 
water and out of bright light. An enamel tray four inches deep by twenty 
inches square is very good, or a well-seasoned tub filled to a few inches 
is suitable. In placing the patient in the medicated water, see that there 
is no considerable change in temperature. In warm weather a change to 
very slightly cooler water is stimulating and probably does no harm. 
Except for the air-breathing species (Paradise fish, etc.) a change to 
several degrees warmer water is liable to produce suffocation, warm water 
holding less free oxygen than cool. Aquarium fishes can live indefinitely 
in the solution described, but in two days a salt solution begins to smell 
stale and needs to be changed. A daily change is better. Should the 
patient not show signs of improvement in four days, gradually increase 
the strength of salt solution for two or three days until it is up to two 
ounces (four heaping teaspoonfuls) to each gallon of water. After 
remaining in this for two days the salt proportion is slowly weakened 
down again to the first formula. 
Ammonia Treatment. A, popular treatment among European fish 
culturists for fungoid diseases is the ammonia method. This has not been 
generally accepted in the United States, but has been tried with remark- 
able success in some instances where other treatments have failed. We 
feel, however, that it should only be tried as a last resort. To one gallon 
of clean water add ten drops of ordinary household ammonia. (Unfor- 
tunately, this varies somewhat in strength.) Place the fish in this for five 
minutes, but take out sooner, should it turn over. Remove to plain water 
and then back to its tank. The treatment may be repeated at intervals 
of three days if necessary. 
Special Attention. All fish should, if possible, be placed, after any 
chemical treatment, in a healthy tank containing green water. Sometimes 
this is, indeed, the only treatment required. 
Another very good after-treatment which may be used in summer is 
to place the hospital tank under a small stream or drip. In making the 
