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Page:The Book of the Aquarium and Water Cabinet.djvu/110

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THE MARINE AQUARIUM.

growth on the side of the vessel, but a green stain pervading the water, as if a green colouring matter had been dissolved in it. Mr. Gosse says, “ it is vegetable in its origin, and arises from an infinite number of the spores (or seeds) of green Algæ dispersed through the fluid, and held in suspension there.” Mr. Gosse further says, “ I know of no cure for this,” but he quotes Mr. Lloyd’s experience as demonstrative of its curability by placing the water “ in a dark closet for two or three weeks.”

From the experience I have had in this matter, I have no hesitation in saving that the filter will be found an instantaneous remedy; the water need not be drawn off at all, but kept filtering through charcoal by frequent filling of the filter from the surface. In May last, a tank of mine became suddenly opaque, though otherwise in excellent order. The collection was valuable, and a disturbance of it would have been attended with risk. I suspended an old flower-pot half filled with fresh charcoal and sea-side grit above it, and set the filter to work. As fast as the filter ran out, I filled it again from the tank, without disturbing anything, and a change for the better was perceptible in an hour. Two days after, the water was as bright as ever, and the stock in the finest possible condition, owing to the brisk æration they had gained by the experiment.

Feeding.—Anemones generally do not require feeding, though the Daisy and the Dianthus will greedily partake of small fragments of oyster and minced mutton, and some other kinds will occasionally eat of the same food; but I cannot recommend the beginner to feed Anemones, for, in