Page:The Book of the Aquarium and Water Cabinet.djvu/62

52 In summer time, if the tank should get accidentally heated, it may be quickly cooled by wrapping around it a coarse cloth saturated in water, and keeping it wet from time to time. These matters may be much simplified by fixing a small thermometer within the tank below the level of the water.

Dead specimens must be removed as quickly as possible. Bivalves are generally very hardy, but if death happens to one, the production of sulphuretted hydrogen is very rapid, and quickly fouls the tank.

Disease of Fishes.—I have tried numerous remedies for the diseases which beset fishes in winter, but with very little success. When the caudal fin gets coated with a fungoid growth, I have at once cut it off by means of a pair of scissors, and it has usually grown again in a few weeks. I have a couple of minnows now, that were so operated on last winter, they are as hearty as ever, and their tails are quite renewed. Diseased animals should always be removed to a pan of fresh river water, and placed in a quiet cool place, where they will probably recover.