How AquaPulse creates and reviews its guidance

Who writes and maintains this content

AquaPulse's guides, tools and Knowledge Centre are researched, written and maintained by the AquaPulse team at Valeon Labs Ltd — the company behind the AquaPulse app. We don't publish under invented personal bylines or claim credentials like "reviewed by a veterinarian" unless that review has genuinely taken place. Where a page names an author or publisher in its structured data, it names AquaPulse or Valeon Labs Ltd as an organisation, not an individual, because that's an accurate reflection of how the content is actually produced.

How we choose sources

We prefer sources in roughly this order, and lean on more than one where a claim materially affects a safety decision:

• Peer-reviewed journal articles — published, reviewed research, used where it exists and is genuinely relevant to fishkeeping rather than a different species or context.
• Established veterinary references — such as the Merck Veterinary Manual, written and maintained by veterinary professionals for professional use.
• University extension and government agency publications — such as UF IFAS Extension or EPA water-quality documents, for well-established background facts.

We paraphrase what these sources say in plain language rather than copying their wording, and we link to each one visibly in every guide's "Sources and editorial information" section, with a short note on exactly what it was used for. We don't rely on forum posts, unsourced blog claims or marketing material for factual claims.

Published evidence, specialist references and our own guidance — and how they differ

We try to be explicit, inside each guide, about which of these three things a given claim actually is:

• Published evidence — a specific finding from a cited journal article or reference, generally the most narrowly scoped and best-supported kind of claim we make.
• Specialist reference material — broader professional guidance, such as a veterinary manual's management recommendations, which reflects established practice rather than a single study.
• Practical aquarium guidance — our own synthesis of the above into a sensible next step for a hobbyist tank, which is where our judgement, not a citation, is doing the work. We try to flag this distinction rather than present house judgement with the same certainty as a cited finding.

The boundaries of our guidance

Across every guide, tool and the app, we hold to the same limits:

• We never diagnose a specific animal or tell you what your fish definitely "has".
• We never recommend a specific medication or dose.
• We distinguish a symptom from a confirmed cause, and say so explicitly when several causes look alike.
• We always point toward an aquatic veterinarian or a suitably experienced specialist for severe, persistent or worsening problems, or unexplained losses.
• Our tools (Water Check, the Water Change Assistant, Emergency Diagnosis) work only from information you enter — none of them takes automatic readings or monitors your tank for you.

Review dates and corrections

Every guide's "Sources and editorial information" section states when it was first published and when it was last reviewed. "Last reviewed" means the sources and factual claims were re-checked, not that the page was touched for an unrelated reason such as a new internal link. If we make a material change to a claim, we update that date at the same time as the change, rather than letting the two drift apart.

If you spot something that looks wrong, outdated or unclear, we'd genuinely like to know: email valeonlabs@proton.me with the page and the specific claim. We check it against our sources and correct the page where a correction is warranted.

Frequently asked questions

Related resources