Do you see that your flowerhorns experience stress with every 30% water change? They show stress bars and sit for a while but get back. Does this make them more susceptible to disease, parasite, etc. I ask because I see that a lot of you recommend doing two 30% water changes and one 50% water changes weekly.
stress every water change
- Thread starter pbj88
- Start date
Are you testing for nitrate weekly? It also depend on your filtration and the number of fish you have in it. I personally would not do a 50% water change if your tank is under stocked.
The amount of water you take out each week has to do with so many factors. If you have large canister filters on your tank you can do weekly water changes of 50-60% without messing up your beneficial bacteria levels. If you use Hang on the Back filters (HOB) 25-30% once weekly should be all that you take out. Nitrate levels could be stressing your fish and another very common stress factor for fish is a rise or drop in PH. I would test your tap water to see whats the PH is, and test the tank PH before you do a water change to see what the PH is at.
try aging the water a few days before adding it to the tank. adding straight tap after a water change may stress the fish out.
If they are experiencing stress make sure your water temperature stays about the same. Are you using ph buffer or other chemicals? When doing large water changes you have to try to keep your levels steady or it could shock the fish. I try to change 100% throughout the week bits at a time.
I do 70-90 percent weekly my fish act the same. Which is good you want it to act the same not any different. If its acting better your water was bad. Check water temps and dechlorinate water
If in the span of a week your pH drops significantly from say 7.5 to 6 or lower, it may be pH shock when you add new water.
Because freshwater fish are constantly urinating it may only take a week to drop your tank water from 7.5 pH water to 6.0 or lower acidic highly concentrated fish urine, especially if the buffering capacity of your tap water is low (alkalinity below 50ppm)
If this is the case, you may need to up your water change schedule to every 3 days, or other day to keep your tank water more stable, and prevent the shocks of only weekly water changes.
Especially if your tank is small.
I found on my tanks even of 150 gal or less, I needed to do every other day 30% water changes to maintain a stable pH and a nitrate bench mark of 2-5 ppm.
Because freshwater fish are constantly urinating it may only take a week to drop your tank water from 7.5 pH water to 6.0 or lower acidic highly concentrated fish urine, especially if the buffering capacity of your tap water is low (alkalinity below 50ppm)
If this is the case, you may need to up your water change schedule to every 3 days, or other day to keep your tank water more stable, and prevent the shocks of only weekly water changes.
Especially if your tank is small.
I found on my tanks even of 150 gal or less, I needed to do every other day 30% water changes to maintain a stable pH and a nitrate bench mark of 2-5 ppm.
We need a bit more information before we can help. To summarize some of the questions:
1. what is the tds and nitrates out of the tap?
2. are you matching the tank and tap water while doing changes?
3. do you see little tiny bubbles in your tank after a water change?
4. what is the tap ph and the tank ph?
5. while doing the water change are you in the tank moving stuff around and vacuming? is your fish generally scared of you when you come to the tank?
6. are you using high pressure water to fill the tank which can create a lot of water movement?
1. what is the tds and nitrates out of the tap?
2. are you matching the tank and tap water while doing changes?
3. do you see little tiny bubbles in your tank after a water change?
4. what is the tap ph and the tank ph?
5. while doing the water change are you in the tank moving stuff around and vacuming? is your fish generally scared of you when you come to the tank?
6. are you using high pressure water to fill the tank which can create a lot of water movement?