Fish perform all their bodily functions in water.

As fish are totally dependent upon water to breathe, feed and grow, excrete wastes, maintain a salt balance, and reproduce, understanding the physical and chemical qualities of water is critical to successful aquaculture.

Fish will lose appetite and usually show signs of stress in poor quality water. To a great extent, quality of the water determines the success or failure of an aquaculture operation. Even a slight change in some limiting factors like pH or dissolved oxygen may prove to be fatal for the fish.

Hence, testing the quality of water in which fish live on a regular basis is important to maintain the health of fish and for better proliferation.