how bad is this???

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jagsandpits

jagsandpits

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Dec 14, 2012
1,421
26
51
NewYork
so decided I wanted to do a 100% wc on my 125 gal. I put all my fish in a 30 gallon with 1 of my fluvals hooked up(and the water from the 125). I took all the water out of my 125 and also took out my gravel because im changing my substrate soon. I emptied the water and my parents came down stairs and demanded that I put the 30 gallon away because it looks horrible in the middle of nowere. I intended on doing the wc then letting the water settle then put them in tomorrow. this obviously didn't happen and I was forced to put them and the other filter back into the tank within a couple hours. I primed the water and all that and had 1 of my fluvals hooked up for awile. my tank isn't going to recycle because I didn't touch the filters. anyway when I put them back in the water was at 86 f, I forgot to put my bubblers back in and noticed they wer breathing rapidly. I put the bubblers back in and they wer still breathing heavy. my fish hav bubbles all over them(not ick) and theyr breathing rapidly. how bad is this? does anyone else do wc like thi from time to time? btw I have a 7 inch jag a Dempsey and a convict n firemouth?
 
I'm going to assume sufficient water conditioner and that you've ensured pH, temperature, etc. is the same. Considering the circumstances, presence of tiny bubbles like that may indicate water supersaturated with gases (O2, etc.). If it's severe enough it can cause something similar to the bends in fish (gas bubble disease). Best thing I know of is provide good surface agitation (bubbler, filter current, etc.) to create an efficient gas exchange and drive off the excess gases from your water. Damage to fish can be permanent, but, hopefully, as conditions return to normal your fish will recover with little permanent damage.

Also, if you still have water in the other tank or have other tanks running, might speed up getting this tank back to normal to replace some of the new water with this more conditioned water. If so, pour it in slowly so as not to create more air bubbles in your tank.
 
You should just be able to put your filter back on & rock n roll if your media has been established for awhile. I’d probably put some of my gravel in a panty hose then place it by my filter intakes.

You can essentially do a 100% water change by adding water when your about 25% volume with your siphon still going. Your water doesn’t matter really as long as you use something like prime. Your media, gravel, plants, décor, etc have your bacteria on it.
 
my filters have plenty of bio its 2 fluval 306 canisters. im just concerned because they looked like crap when I put them in. they look good now but could that new water have harmed them? it was dechlorinated and the filters ran for maybe 1 n half hour I mean its probly not near as bad as of they wer exposed to ammonia. I just feel bad I hope I didn't harm them permanently
 
I’ve never seen what your describing except with an uncycled tank. So maybe someone else will chime in. You should have been fine with established media & I’m assuming you’ve done plenty of wc’s before now with no problems.
 
Reaper13 said:
I’ve never seen what your describing except with an uncycled tank. So maybe someone else will chime in. You should have been fine with established media & I’m assuming you’ve done plenty of wc’s before now with no problems.
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they wer gasping BAD but the thing is I didn't have the 2 bubblers in until like 2 minutes. and the new water was 86 degrees and when they wer in the 30 it was like 75 since I didn't hav the heaters in ther. so maybe the temp change in combo with the fact that when I put em in ther was no bubblers and the water was kinda hot. maybe just simple stress/shock. hope no permanent damage was done. what are you thoughts? ..btw that dovii looks fantastic
 
jagsandpits said:
they wer gasping BAD but the thing is I didn't have the 2 bubblers in until like 2 minutes. and the new water was 86 degrees and when they wer in the 30 it was like 75 since I didn't hav the heaters in ther. so maybe the temp change in combo with the fact that when I put em in ther was no bubblers and the water was kinda hot. maybe just simple stress/shock. hope no permanent damage was done. what are you thoughts? ..btw that dovii looks fantastic
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That's probably it, unless you bagged them and floated the bags to let them at least have a few minutes to gradually adjust to the difference in temperature. Otherwise, the rapid temperature change would be quite stressful. If they look ok now and they're good sized fish, I'd be optimistic they'll be ok, but I'd give them a while before feeding, etc. to let them de-stress.
 
neutrino said:
That's probably it, unless you bagged them and floated the bags to let them at least have a few minutes to gradually adjust to the difference in temperature. Otherwise, the rapid temperature change would be quite stressful. If they look ok now and they're good sized fish, I'd be optimistic they'll be ok, but I'd give them a while before feeding, etc. to let them de-stress.
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yea I didn't bag em I just dumped em. bad move. and yea theyre in the 6 inch range
 
1. Warmer water holds less dissolved oxygen.

2. Small bubbles suggest you may have a ton of dissolved gasses (usually CO2) in your tap water. These "off-gas" or precipitate out on their own but the process is sped up by agitating the water with aeration/filtration. If it's CO2, as it off-gasses it will usually shift the pH of the water. This is why discus keepers who are doing large daily water changes (50 - 100%) on growing fish will often age their tap water overnight in storage barrels or holding tanks. It's aerated overnight to allow the CO2 to precipitate and the pH to stabilize. Most cichlid keepers would not notice a problem if they were doing smaller water changes once or twice a week because your existing aquarium water would dilute it all, but using 100% new water is a different story.

Both of these conditions (lack of oxygen and pH swing) could be very stressful to your fish. Add to that the stress they're already experiencing by being moved twice in one day (once to the smaller tank and again back to the large tank) should explain why your fish looked bad and were breathing heavily.

After your filters run for a night and the water cools down a bit there shouldn't be any issues as long as the fish came out of the stress okay.

In the future, before doing a really large water change, you may want to test your pH right out of the tap versus your pH in the tank. If there's a huge difference, see #2 above.
 
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