Always use dechlorinator

[butane216]

as being an advocate pof preventive maintenance, I'd rater be safe than sorry.. I use Prime myself....

in fact I keep a 5 gallon water bottle around filled with water, in which I treat THAT water with decholrinater too, and I let it sit at room temp for a while, so its usually only a few degrees off tank temp anyway, works great for topping off the tank .

 

[Miles]

I thought dechlor was beacuse chlorine could burn and harm your fish.
Same thing with chloramine.

P.S I have a 29 with mixed africans and I've always used water straight from outside, with the temp jumping from 80 in the tank to...reaching well below 50 degress, and never lost a fish from it. I'm guessing I'm just lucky?

I believe, in higher doses the chlorine can hurt/burn your fish. Also, Chloramine is a combination of chlorine and ammonia, thus many people use 'Prime' or 'Amquel' to remove the combination of both. Also keep in mind any time you use an 'Ammona Detoxifier' you are chemically binding the ammonia, so that it can not be used by your nitrifying bacteria. Many people 'live and die' by the Ammonia Remover, and they never truley have an established biofilter.

Chlorine is a bacterialcide, which means it's purpose is to destroy bacteria, such as Nitrosomas and Nitrobacter. The 2 bacterias that complete the nitrogen cycle. Chlorine would cause a biological filter to completely die off, which then leads to ammonia spike. Chloramine is just that much more detrimental.

I am lucky, I have no chlorine in our tap water. Each year it is a huge struggle to keep 'Flouride' off the voting ballot. If they pass the allowance of Flouride, I am screwed, and will have to stop keeping fish, most likely.

I do regular water changes with cold water as well, but in smaller intervals.

I think you are getting lucky, kind of Some fish are much more sensative to temperature change than others. Wild fish seem to not handle drastic drops very well, however its been stated that fish in the wild will go through severe temperature changes with seasonal changes and stormy wheather. It's also understandable that a fish in the wild is in a 'no-stress' situation, perhaps the combination of being captive and having sudden environment change pushes them over the edge. Also, cichlids are often hardier than others, especially africans. I have put them through some bad crap in my early days, and hardly lost any due to environment issues. It is likely that your africans are captive bred, and can withstand traumatic events and sudden changes better than most other species.

GREAT Article on Chlorine & Dechlorinating

Enjoy!

Miles

 

[Miles]

PS. Brichardi's are sensative to temp drop.. I've killed broods of fry that way on more than one occasion.

 

[piranha45]

for african cichlids, ive noticed that water variations of 6 degrees F or greater will produce heavy gasping-at-the-surface actions, and 8 degrees F or greater can kill.

 

[cenecker]

whoa - you are very lucky if your tank can drop 30 degrees and be okay!

I forgot to plug my heaters back in after a water change in my 60 last week - the temp dropped 6 degrees and I was starting to get ich....

 

[guppy]

whoa - you are very lucky if your tank can drop 30 degrees and be okay!

I forgot to plug my heaters back in after a water change in my 60 last week - the temp dropped 6 degrees and I was starting to get ich....

Stay out of the tank, oh, you mean your fish. Sorry.

 

[magic]

I dont think the temp dropped very much. I cant really remember cause i was in a rush tryin to squeeze in a water change b4 i had to go somewhere. But i guess they all died really soon after, according to my mom. My bluegill and pleco lived throught it tho. So did the danios, but the blue gill went on a feeding frenzy and spent the whole day chasing the danios and eating them until it ate them all! It never seemed to even notice the danios before the water change!! I dont care about the danios (they were feeder danios) but i thought that was weird.

 

[nick]

if the water change was even 10 percent ona 10 gallon and its cold tap water its a big thing

as p45 said 6-8percent kills a african

 

[ksiaquatics]

I dont think the temp dropped very much. I cant really remember cause i was in a rush tryin to squeeze in a water change b4 i had to go somewhere. But i guess they all died really soon after, according to my mom. My bluegill and pleco lived throught it tho. So did the danios, but the blue gill went on a feeding frenzy and spent the whole day chasing the danios and eating them until it ate them all! It never seemed to even notice the danios before the water change!! I dont care about the danios (they were feeder danios) but i thought that was weird.

Many times, an infusion of cooler water will trigger a spawning response in a lot of fish. Could also cause a feeding frenzy. I suppose it simulates a heavy rainfall event which could wash more food into the water.

Chip in SC

 

[guppy]

A trick to spawn danios in a shallow kiddie pool is to let the water evaporate from 8" to 6" and get warm, then over the course of a couple of hours bring the water level back up while lowering the temp frommid 80s to high 70s, sounds crazy but works. They make good feeders because fish have to chase em down and they are quick, a hujeta would love em.