OSCARS WONT LIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Thread starter Oscar guy
- Start date
when you do water changes, you are trying to put the least amount of interference with your fish.... doing 75% is too much.... try 25% and see what happens...... when your doing 75%, your stressing out your fish with the new water and different water parameters.......
smellsfishy said:
If you are consistant with larger, frequent water changes, your water paramaters WILL stay the same. Captive Bred Cichlid, such as Oscar Cichlids, are highly adaptable, and should easily live in a WIDE range of pH values. Most fish will adapt to whatever the paramaters your water source is, making it so you can do a massive water change, without changing paramaters. With the heavy bioload of the Oscar Cichlids, large frequent water changes will help keep your nitrate levels at Zero, which should be the ideal.
If you do infact have a nitrite problem, perhaps I would suspect your biological filter hasn't been fully stabilized. Do you have adequate filtration?.. As in you are over-filtrated for that amount of fish?
Do you ever use Ammonia remover rocks? That can hamper your biological filtration.. Nitrites/Ammonia and a poor Biological filtration could be the reason why.. But why would the other fish not die? If your Alkalinity is low, a build up of ammonia could cause a sudden crash in your pH, which could be deadly..
Who knows.. interested in seeing the water test..
75% water change at once is way too much. For large robust cichlids, I think 50% twice a week is okay. If you have more delicated cichlids as Altums, Discus, or Tropheus, 20-25% water change is more feasible. You could do a 75% water change if you want as long you keep the temperature steady. I think this is more important than your PH swing becasue the tank water PH and tap water PH are the same. (unless you play around with the tank PH)
That's funny, a person I know locally happens to breed a very popular plecostomus. She changes the water %70 DAILY, and never loses a fish. What's even more interesting, is we have a hardness of 150ppm and a 7.8pH.
After my first explanation, I still do not see the problem with changing large volumes of water, more frequently.
Also keep in mind that there are waste levels (other then nitrates) that can also build up periodically over time, and even though you are removing up to 50% of the water, the wastes build up faster then you are removing it. However, Frequent water changes of this proportion on a more frequent interval, can be very beneficial.
The only problems you might run into is if you have chlorine/chloramines in your water. Also, people often tell mistruths about when the last time they changed the water, and a large water change can prove detrimental if this be the case. If you use anything to doctor your water as well, you could be causing yourself unwanted problems.
What is the detrimental effect of changing 70% of the water, if the tap water and tank water are exact paramaters?
If anything, the guy has high ammonia/nitrite content because he hasnt cycled his tank properly, or he has inadequate filtration combined with overfeeding/overcrowding.
My next thought is this... He has an unstable biological filtration, in which he overfeeds his fish and the waste levels start to rise. Over the weeks period, his pH begins to drop due to the buildup of toxins in his tank and low buffering capacity.. and upon doing the next water change, he is sending his fish into pH shock. BUT - If they are losing their slime coat, it sounds like a nitrite problem from an uncycled tank, but that should kill the other fish too.
I don't know, it dosnt add up.
BTW, The breeder of the Plecos sells them for $150 at 2", you guess what they are, and decide which water change method has proven more effective.
After my first explanation, I still do not see the problem with changing large volumes of water, more frequently.
Also keep in mind that there are waste levels (other then nitrates) that can also build up periodically over time, and even though you are removing up to 50% of the water, the wastes build up faster then you are removing it. However, Frequent water changes of this proportion on a more frequent interval, can be very beneficial.
The only problems you might run into is if you have chlorine/chloramines in your water. Also, people often tell mistruths about when the last time they changed the water, and a large water change can prove detrimental if this be the case. If you use anything to doctor your water as well, you could be causing yourself unwanted problems.
What is the detrimental effect of changing 70% of the water, if the tap water and tank water are exact paramaters?
If anything, the guy has high ammonia/nitrite content because he hasnt cycled his tank properly, or he has inadequate filtration combined with overfeeding/overcrowding.
My next thought is this... He has an unstable biological filtration, in which he overfeeds his fish and the waste levels start to rise. Over the weeks period, his pH begins to drop due to the buildup of toxins in his tank and low buffering capacity.. and upon doing the next water change, he is sending his fish into pH shock. BUT - If they are losing their slime coat, it sounds like a nitrite problem from an uncycled tank, but that should kill the other fish too.
I don't know, it dosnt add up.
BTW, The breeder of the Plecos sells them for $150 at 2", you guess what they are, and decide which water change method has proven more effective.
Are you the same Miles from another forum? You are talking about zebra pleco. Who is the breeder you are refering to? I would like to know.
Hi,
I keep Oscar's and do water changes of 10% weekly, I test the water before and after, if after I'm not happy, I will do another 10% 12hrs later but 75% or even 50% is a bit overboard. Having said that I think you should be looking for something else, as it's only the 'O's that are being affected. You don't if you are vaccuming the substrate? The fish when you got him (or she) was he healthy? how long had you had him?
I keep Oscar's and do water changes of 10% weekly, I test the water before and after, if after I'm not happy, I will do another 10% 12hrs later but 75% or even 50% is a bit overboard. Having said that I think you should be looking for something else, as it's only the 'O's that are being affected. You don't if you are vaccuming the substrate? The fish when you got him (or she) was he healthy? how long had you had him?
piranha45 said:
Must agree with P45 here....We need to know the rest of the variables here, generally the fish in that tank are not going to be different enough that water perameters are going to harm them....details please.
Ali1 said:
Again, with part of what I believe P45 stated, almost every cichlid is very adaptive and accepting of a very wide range of water....especially when it's clean!! A 25% change should do as much stress as a 75% change, how much you get accoplished is yet another variable. Do whatcha do with the water bro.....sounds very good so far....more details
polomax24 said:
Were you speaking of more delicate or time dedicated cichlids....Never done Altums....Discus are picky but if careful still love the new water and tropheus only seem to have difficulties, more or less, with food. A cichlid most generally will take a pH of anywhere from practically a 6, maybe 6.5 would be better do f**cking near a 9!!!! Unless the pH is equivelent to that of Hydrochloric acid or Lye, coffee, or something, it should do fine!!!! The temperature can fluctuate a bit. Nature doesn't give a $hit when it rain and generally when it does it can signifigantly cool a body of water atleast a few feet deep worth. Worry warts....go home. Maybe practically giving fellatio to you fish is great but....there is a difference in being good to them and.....well, ya know(no serious harm meant, don't get ticked
) Please don't compromise your water techniques, do check the perameters though....and do comply with P45's and my advise....give us the details. How big is the tank, what tankmates, etc. Heck, post a pic if you will.
