Pheromones are known to be employed by many fish species for a great many reasons. Things like spawning, flight/flee, migration, and sexual development have been linked to pheromones. These are classified as releasers and primers; though that may cause confusion as some work as both.
Now that we've loosely defined what happens we need to understand how they work. Stimuli drive the fish to create and release these pheromones, the flight/flee pheromone is a prime example. In terms of stunting growth in fish water quality is a greater determining factor. Even with water changes pheromones would still be present and would be re-released if the need for the pheromone is still present. The fact that a pheromone can be released fast enough for a flight or flee message leads me to believe that changing the tanks water would have little to no effect on the pheromone concentrations present. Another take on the discussion involves overpopulation induced stunting. This may very well occur due to pheromone releasers in species like sunfish where populations can explode without predation/harvest. In these populations if proper harvesting is introduced the stunting naturally corrects itself. If (IMHO) it were due ONLY to pheromones the issue would not self resolve until the compounds of the pheromone broke down naturally. This also leads me to believe these pheromones are only released to a desired level for the desired effect...
On the outside of this discussion is proper diet and water quality. Both of these have been proven causes for issues with fish health. So, while there may be conjecture in the hobby regarding pheromones and "build-up", if we look to nature we can see the causal relationships for the pheromones in the first place. I would also put forth that these pheromones help to balance out your tank in that dominant and sub members of specific species develop that way as part of natural selection. Helping to set boundaries, sexual behavior, shoaling, etc. all of which are normal and healthy.
for further reading you may wish to consult:
http://www.carpbusters.com/documents...4.NZJfinal.pdf
