why does my midas have great colours on water change day only?

[justarn]

hey all ive noticed on my waterchange day rocky has fantastic colours then 1-2 days later he is drab again??? could it be the chill as the tank drops by 5-6 deg when i change it, parameters are always good, nitrates rarely go above 40... heres some pics, from this;

to this today

 

[Crazy mike]

I'd like to know too, all my fishes colors pop after a waterchange as well

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[BIG-G]

I always do cold water changes. I try not to let my tank temps drop more then 3 or so degrees but the fish love it. I think it gives them a refreshing boost it just makes them feel good. It is also helpful to cause a spawn. In some cases.
[video=youtube;SGndKpJQxEY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGndKpJQxEY[/video]
This is a great video that gives some very good reasons to do cold water changes.

 

[Manu8__too]

I always do cold water changes. I try not to let my tank temps drop more then 3 or so degrees but the fish love it. I think it gives them a refreshing boost it just makes them feel good. It is also helpful to cause a spawn. In some cases.
[video=youtube;SGndKpJQxEY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGndKpJQxEY[/video]
This is a great video that gives some very good reasons to do cold water changes.

I do this as well. I remember reading that this emulates "rainfall", which can excite the fish into spawning, therefore displaying their most impressive colors. Breeding condition = vibrant and healthy coloration.


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[petspoiler]

IMO nitrates at 40 is too high. I would never want to see that on a regular basis before changes, but consider that within the harmful part of the spectrum- especially when recurring often.
Rather, aim for 20 so if they go a few points higher it is ok for fish.

Read this study & what nitrates do to fish internally:

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?520847-Research-on-Nitrate-Poisoning-with-References-for-What-Levels-are-Best&highlight=nitrates

Read the Pothos sticky & consider using them or large amounts of Purigen in your filters, if you really can't do 2x the frequency of water changes.
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?504763-Cheap-plants-less-nitrate!-POTHOS&highlight=Pothos

Aside from that, in addition to removing undesirable docs, water changes replace trace nutrients which the fish have depleted by absorption.
A bit of temperature change also stimulates fish, and it seems that hardier species like that more.

 

[richkid]

Does anybody have an easy solutions for tap with high nitrates to begin with? Also what are the affect of nitrates on humans?


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[ryansmith83]

I was called out once here for suggesting nitrates over 20ppm were bad for your fish long-term, but I still stand by that. 40ppm is high. That's the kind of stuff that gives fish like Geos and oscars HITH, and stunts discus growth. I keep most of my tanks below 10ppm where possible. Nitrates are just one thing we can test for, but there are plenty of dissolved organics in the water that go along with those. Think of all the decomposing waste, food, etc. that dissolves into the water in between changes. If your nitrates are rising, what else is? Try doing larger and/or more frequent changes and see if his color improves overall. If so, there's your answer.

 

[justarn]

40 was just a figure from last week, i done a filterclean with tap water and big water change then had a very cloudy bacterial bloom so im guessing ammonia spike then the nitrite then nitrate bacteria bloomed then died off as the ammonia leveled out? it tested pretty well on the thurday, waterchanged last sunday and today... i will test next saturday before the waterchange... that was a strip reading too as i havent got a drip test for nitrate... the drip tests showed lowest ammonia reading and 0 nitrite tho...

 

[petspoiler]

I was called out once here for suggesting nitrates over 20ppm were bad for your fish long-term, but I still stand by that. 40ppm is high. That's the kind of stuff that gives fish like Geos and oscars HITH, and stunts discus growth. I keep most of my tanks below 10ppm where possible. Nitrates are just one thing we can test for, but there are plenty of dissolved organics in the water that go along with those. Think of all the decomposing waste, food, etc. that dissolves into the water in between changes. If your nitrates are rising, what else is? Try doing larger and/or more frequent changes and see if his color improves overall. If so, there's your answer.

I totally agree with your points Ryan. It is therefore better to shoot for 10ppm being the "high" nitrate level, but for monster keepers to do that, often requires more than one single approach to water keeping.

Does anybody have an easy solutions for tap with high nitrates to begin with? Also what are the affect of nitrates on humans?

Use pothos and/or Purigen, both remove nitrates.
I have well water and sometimes my tap has tested at 10ppm, but TBH I'm not concerned about it. My colors get grayer every year, but my guts seem to deal with it just fine.
;-)
OH, and if you use Prime for water changes it neutralizes the tap nitrates in addition to chloramines.

40 was just a figure from last week, i done a filterclean with tap water and big water change then had a very cloudy bacterial bloom so im guessing ammonia spike then the nitrite then nitrate bacteria bloomed then died off as the ammonia leveled out? it tested pretty well on the thurday, waterchanged last sunday and today... i will test next saturday before the waterchange... that was a strip reading too as i havent got a drip test for nitrate... the drip tests showed lowest ammonia reading and 0 nitrite tho...

No offense, but that seems different than: "parameters are always good, nitrates rarely go above 40... "
kind of like 40ppm was not unusual. I think lots of guys here with monsters convey that as being allright, so not trying to make you feel bad, just saying it'd be good to triple your water approach when keeping large stock.

 

[justarn]

I very rarely test it tbh, only had the 40 figure from my problems last week so I would assume its usually lower... if you check my other thread theres a more detailed explanation thats why I wrote rarely... not saying you are wrong but most accept 40 as perfectly ok at water change time, lots of hardy cichlids are accepted to be tolerable up to and over 100 I think? Just wanna point that out before mass hysteria occurs with the newbs...

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