# importance of air stones??



## JJCC (Mar 5, 2007)

i understand that the purpose of air stones in a tank is to break the surface tension of the water in order to facilitate gas exchange, but are they necessary, particularly if you are using HOB filters?

i have had a bunch of mysterious deaths in my tank, my air pump has been slowly dying over the last few months, still working but not well. 2 of my yellow labs got a whole bunch of open sores on their bodies, they died within one day of each other, my male red by red got a swollen mouth and then a bloody dorsal fin, he died before the 2 labs about 2 months ago, the labs were about a month ago, and then 2 weeks ago i lost a female albino zebra to a bloody dorsal fin. i am wondering if all the deaths were secondary infections possibly due to a lack of oxygen?? after the labs died i treated the tank with salt (3% sln) but about a week after the second lab died, the albino got the bloody dorsal fin, she died within 3 days.

I have since replaced my air pump, but it just got me thinking if the lack of gas exchange had anything to do with the deaths??


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Air stones are not necessary with an HOB. Or really any filter that creates sufficient surface disruption. The filters are much more efficient at oxygenating than an air stone.

Look for other causes of the problems with your fish. Insufficient oxygenation is pretty easy to diagnose because the fish will all be at the surface sipping air.


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## KaiserSousay (Nov 2, 2008)

*Look for other causes of the problems with your fish.*

Agree,
You have something other than lack of oxygen going on in your tank.


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## JJCC (Mar 5, 2007)

maybe i should rephrase that, i realize that the deaths weren't directly related to lack of oxygen, i think what happened was through either spawning or fighting, the sores appeared and then secondary infection set in, and was thinking that maybe with a little bit less oxygen in the tank the fish weren't strong enough to fight off infection??

but if the consensus is that the air stones don't really make that much of a difference, then there goes that theory down the toilet!


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

The water movement caused by sufficient filtration is usually greater and therefore more efficient than the water movement caused by an airstone. The bubbles passing through the water do not add much to oxygen exchange.

Airstones are also noisier and necessitate an air pump which is otherwise unnecessary.


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## Guest (Jan 1, 2011)

lol you guys are way off... first off you had a bacterial infection... it passes from fish to fish.. you have to dose the whole tank with either tetracycline or erythromicine... i had a fish that had a hole in its skin under its eye put it in a 10 gallon dosed it for 4 days... and the hole closed up and went away... next time that happens jus dose the tank.. the purpose of air pumps and air stones is because the beneficial bacteria that break down the fish waste need oxygen to thrive... circulating the water is just a secondary plus... also the bubbles help circulate the warmer water from the heater.... and they jus look cool.. also if you have really aggressive south americans it gives them something to target other than other fish... not to say that you can jus get away with having an air pump... on all of my tanks i have a canister filter and a hob filter and multiple dual outlet air pumps....and sponge filters.. the more filtration the better imho


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

> lol you guys are way off


I'd agree that it was a bacterial infection, but I think I'd have stated it with a little more respect for the previous posters.


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## Guest (Jan 1, 2011)

sorry... didnt mean to come off like that...


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## Number6 (Mar 13, 2003)

Violently "agreeing" with folks is a common forum mistake... :lol:

If you re-read all the replies then I think you will see that everyone believed this to be a bacterial infection including the original poster... I think the OP's question as to whether this might be a secondary infection was a good show of critical thinking. All too often I see the opposite of JJCC and cringe... people who attack secondary infections as if that is the only problem to be solved.
opcorn:


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## Nina_b (Jan 3, 2011)

There's been some talk of oxygenation elsewhere here as well, with the basic conclusion being don't underestimate its importance. It can help keep fish healthy. Worth the lengthy read, if only to understand the two sides of the debate (oxygen doesn't matter vs oxygen is very important)

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/...&start=0&sid=da4d754ee01ce19a69af3e1864ef443f


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