Reply With QuoteMy guess is either ph shock or chloramines. If the temp went up too fast, this could have been an issue as well. This is why I age my water, and if I use straight tap I don't go over 50% in summer and 35% in winter...
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Discus died after water change.
After doing a routine weekly water change of 90%, I found three discus dead. This w/c was done straight from the tap, and treated with seachem safe. I had done straight from the tap before without much harm, except for discus being paralyzed. Before they died, the discus were either at the bottom immobilized or at the surface gasping for air. Could this be a case of chlorine poisoning or toxic air bubbles? Also, I set the temp on the replacement water a bit too high as it was 88 degrees. This was a difference of 8 degrees versus the original water. Feeling a bit frustrated right now to be honest so sorry for the hastily constructed post. I lost my favorite three fish out of my seven, one being a select grade Forrest Red Eagle. He was so round and deeply colored.
Re: Discus died after water change.
My guess is either ph shock or chloramines. If the temp went up too fast, this could have been an issue as well. This is why I age my water, and if I use straight tap I don't go over 50% in summer and 35% in winter...
Re: Discus died after water change.
90% is massive for straight tap. When do you add your searches safe? I bet it is a mix of temp/ph/chlorine that took them. I’d try doing more frequent wcs of a lesser amount and/or with aged water. Sorry for your loss.
Last edited by BrendanJ23; 06-13-2020 at 10:37 PM.
21 Discus, 7 Green Tree Frogs, 3 Eastern Dwarf Tree frogs, 1 Coastal Carpet Python,6 sawshelled/Murray river turtles, 2 dogs, a cat, 2 kids and a wife. Phew...what a mouthful
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Re: Discus died after water change.
I see, it could be pH shock since chloramines should have been eliminated by the addition of safe. I always did large water changes since they were more efficient use of time, as I could do one single w/c rarely as opposed to multiple small water changes. From now on, I'll be sticking to w/c's of below 50% to be safe. And I also killed a batch of boesemani rainbows due to a large w/c too.
Re: Discus died after water change.
Dang mate, sorry to hear, that really sucks
Re: Discus died after water change.
As you suspected, Johnny, this could be a mystery without knowing the water makeup. I myself use tap daily for past 2 years with Prime added at the time of changing. I have city water system and wonder if your system had by chance flushed or cleaned their systems. Brian is smart about these things and his reasoning seems logical. The only difference between he and I is the method of our daily water change. While sad if the remaining four are doing fine the good news might be that Kenny just got a new shipment of fish after months of none because of covids. Instead of grabbing for the nearest bottle of Jim Beam perhaps grab the phone and order? Kenny is the kind of guy on hearing your sad story might just pick out a few of his finest from his remaining stock and get you back in business.
Re: Discus died after water change.
Seachem Safe neutralizes 0.52 mg/L chloramine at the recommended dose. Compare this with 3.2 mg/L for Prime. Typical chloramine levels in the US are 2-2.5 mg/L...
Re: Discus died after water change.
Johnny, I would suggest also that you reduce the WC from 90% weekly to perhaps, at minimal, 3x a week 30% WC. Keep a watch on your water parameters and add the appropriate amount of Prime/Safe with your WC. If there are water issues that would "shock" the fish much less. I am sorry for your lost.
Re: Discus died after water change.
A few years ago, Seachem inexplicably changed the dosage of Safe without changing the formula. The dose was reduced more than six-fold.
If you heated the replacement water to anywhere near tank temperature, it would be degassed so it wasn't gas emboli.
Re: Discus died after water change.
Johny95132,
So sorry to hear of your loss. My Red Eagles (from Kenny) are my favorites too and losing them would be devastating to me as well. I’ve made mistakes in the past and currently do WCs in a specific way.
I never change more than abt 60% of the water. My replacement water is aged, aerated, and set to one degree F above the tank temp. IMHO, changing nearly all the water is risky as a whole unless I had several aged barrels of fresh water. Changing too much at once, and some will disagree, is working on a precipice as I see it. I don’t trust my finger gauge of temp, my water as a whole, and my adding chemicals to neutralize gases. Aged water can be tested, is nearly the same as what’s being replaced, and the way to go as I see it. I even test my aged water for KH, GH, and sometimes PH. I don’t like to take chances. Just my thoughts.
Re: Discus died after water change.
All fish, be they fresh or salt, like in constant water change in some way, shape, or fashion. Unfortunate for aquarium fish who also benefit from constant water changing because of their confinement are not afforded that luxury. So we are obligated to provide it for them. Seems to me a large water change could shock their systems thereby causing them stress and then sickness or death. Pretty basic really. Keeping this in mind I change a little amount every day for a total change of 100% on average per week. You know this works because you have read other postings elsewhere about vacations and fish. Fish can live for days or even during a hobbyists entire vacation. One week or maybe two weeks. I have over the past 2 years religiously changed water daily in small amounts of tap water with Prime added. I siphon into a bucket about 15%. Empty the bucket into the garden. Refill the bucket with tap water using a shower head in order to infuse lots of oxygen into the water while at the same time busting up the micro bubbles. I use my finger to approximate the temperature of the water that went into the bucket, add Prime, and then poor the water from the bucket into the tank. The fish love this because right away they think that this also included a meal so I feed them. I try to change the water about dinner time. Sometime I will go to 30% change one day but maybe the next none at all. And that is for the community tank.
For the breeding tank I change more percent about 20% every other day. I do that because sometimes a combination of water and temperature change will trigger a spawning activity. I do believe that only one time I ran into a problem and that was when I first set up the breeder. I filled the tank, let it sit for two days while it was getting to the temperature that I wanted it at. I put in the fish and pretty soon they began scratching. I thought because the water was too new for them so I added medication and salt About a week later they stopped scratching and began cleaning the heater for spawning. Apparently everyone has their own way and it all seems to work which means that the discus are more forgiving with this than we give them credit for.
Re: Discus died after water change.
What causes micro bubbles?
Re: Discus died after water change.
Dissolved gases coming out of solution. In aquariums, it's usually due to heating cold water. The bubbles you see aren't dangerous. It's bubbles that formed concurrently in the bloodstream of the fish that are dangerous.Originally Posted by Oxboy
Re: Discus died after water change.
If the water in your water system is delivered with high pressure, when you let that water out by tap it's at a lower pressure. Resulting in the release of dissolved gas which turns into tiny bubbles.
Re: Discus died after water change.
My input here is that since you’ve been doing this regularly and this is your first problem. The town more than likely cleaned the pipes. They added something to clean out the piping system. They do this routinely and most times you’d never know. I never change 90% unless I’m moving the tank. I also use tap water. I don’t use any additives I filter through an under counter filter first than into the tank. Sorry for your loss.
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