Just wanted to share some observations I made concerning my rhom of 17 years and things I noticed. Please keep in mind the following:
- I am no scientist and these are just some observations
- I am an amatuer fish keeper. Been in the hobby 17 years but kept very few fish and tanks
The observation I want to make is that many folks, including myself, made the argument that it is always better to keep steady water conditions instead of messing with them, as this is much healthier for the fish. I want to argue that in the short term this is true but over the long term it can be detrimental. Here is my reasoning:
- I kept my rhom for 17 years and his water parameters were very consistent for the first 12-13 years of his life. When this changed, he began showing signs of disease and change in eating habits
The Early Life
- From July of 1999 - March 2012 he was kept in water that was acidic and soft as a result of driftwood in his tank and local water that was soft and ph of 7.0 (moved between two residences with very similar conditions
- Home consisted mostly of a 75g tank to himself
- Water changes were only about 20-30% every 4-6 weeks. I did not learn until around 2011 that the result of this was extremely high nitrates due to old tank syndrome and back in 99-05 I learnt that monthly WC were acceptable which after leaving the forums I did not learn this was not
- Diet was relatively poor. He had a lot of variety (shrimp, tilapia, salmon rarely, smelt) but had way too many goldfish on a consistent basis
- Showed a very healthy appetite eating a lot and consistently. Rare starvation periods which is common. Also had phenomenal color
Late Life
- Moved to an area with high ph (8.0) and very hard water from March 2012 - present
- Exact same tank minus driftwood as I want to keep water similar to the tap for easy of maintenance
- At this stage I began doing weekly water changes of 40-50% to keep his nitrates very low
- His diet was heavily improved to just smelt, tilapia, shrimp, and even pellets. Very rarely did he get live.
- His appetite changed. He began taking large starvation periods of 3-5 weeks often.
- He developed HITH at this stage and which I fought for 2 years with treatment in the tank and via ingestion with no success
- He began to show signs of age. He started developing gray patches on his gills that no one could explain. HITH kept getting worse, and he began having random cloudy eye which I could not do anything about
- Began using indian almond leaves in the final month of his life in an attempt to get tannins in the water but either this help to accelerate his death or did nothing
My conclusion is that the change in water ultimately impacted his immune system and made him more vulnerable. There are way too many factors and I did not keep a journal to document, but after looks at pictures of him just after moving to the high ph/hard water and recently, I can just see a huge change. I also came to this conclusion after reading about the properties of tannins and how they help prevent HITH.
It is rare for folks to keep fish so long so I just wanted to share and get feedback. I recently purchased an aimara which I plan on keeping just as long or longer. I have already introduced indian almond leaves into the water to make sure he is more comfortable. I just don't know if I should play with the ph or hardness. The ph is 8.0 and the hardness is extremely high. I am hoping the presence of tannins is sufficient.
- I am no scientist and these are just some observations
- I am an amatuer fish keeper. Been in the hobby 17 years but kept very few fish and tanks
The observation I want to make is that many folks, including myself, made the argument that it is always better to keep steady water conditions instead of messing with them, as this is much healthier for the fish. I want to argue that in the short term this is true but over the long term it can be detrimental. Here is my reasoning:
- I kept my rhom for 17 years and his water parameters were very consistent for the first 12-13 years of his life. When this changed, he began showing signs of disease and change in eating habits
The Early Life
- From July of 1999 - March 2012 he was kept in water that was acidic and soft as a result of driftwood in his tank and local water that was soft and ph of 7.0 (moved between two residences with very similar conditions
- Home consisted mostly of a 75g tank to himself
- Water changes were only about 20-30% every 4-6 weeks. I did not learn until around 2011 that the result of this was extremely high nitrates due to old tank syndrome and back in 99-05 I learnt that monthly WC were acceptable which after leaving the forums I did not learn this was not
- Diet was relatively poor. He had a lot of variety (shrimp, tilapia, salmon rarely, smelt) but had way too many goldfish on a consistent basis
- Showed a very healthy appetite eating a lot and consistently. Rare starvation periods which is common. Also had phenomenal color
Late Life
- Moved to an area with high ph (8.0) and very hard water from March 2012 - present
- Exact same tank minus driftwood as I want to keep water similar to the tap for easy of maintenance
- At this stage I began doing weekly water changes of 40-50% to keep his nitrates very low
- His diet was heavily improved to just smelt, tilapia, shrimp, and even pellets. Very rarely did he get live.
- His appetite changed. He began taking large starvation periods of 3-5 weeks often.
- He developed HITH at this stage and which I fought for 2 years with treatment in the tank and via ingestion with no success
- He began to show signs of age. He started developing gray patches on his gills that no one could explain. HITH kept getting worse, and he began having random cloudy eye which I could not do anything about
- Began using indian almond leaves in the final month of his life in an attempt to get tannins in the water but either this help to accelerate his death or did nothing
My conclusion is that the change in water ultimately impacted his immune system and made him more vulnerable. There are way too many factors and I did not keep a journal to document, but after looks at pictures of him just after moving to the high ph/hard water and recently, I can just see a huge change. I also came to this conclusion after reading about the properties of tannins and how they help prevent HITH.
It is rare for folks to keep fish so long so I just wanted to share and get feedback. I recently purchased an aimara which I plan on keeping just as long or longer. I have already introduced indian almond leaves into the water to make sure he is more comfortable. I just don't know if I should play with the ph or hardness. The ph is 8.0 and the hardness is extremely high. I am hoping the presence of tannins is sufficient.
