After WC - How long till your fish bounceback??

[chuckiesmalls]

OK, so I just wanted to ask about how long it takes for your discus to bounce back after a water change?

I've noticed mine bounce back to normal behavior quickly (5-15 mins) if I keep my water changes around 50%.

If I do over 60% my fish seem more agitated, clamped fins, skittish, hide more, etc. and take perhaps 45mins to bounce back.

Which is normal or the preferred scenario IYO? Which situation is giving my discus most harm/benefit? If anyone has ever heard of anything with relation to this your input would be greatly appreciated.

[Phillydubs]

I just finished replying to you in your other thread regarding this... Ill keep my response here short as not to duplicate...

IMO, something else is going on here and it has nothing to do with water %. The fish doesn't have any idea how much water you are changing, and in theory more fresh water the better... Do you notice anything else happening as you change water, are you wiping the tanks down etc.?

In my domestic tank, when I do my big 100 changes the fish are fine as soon as it fills, they stress a slight bit as they are on their sides and waiting for water but nothing crazy...

[chuckiesmalls]

No, I really don't.

For example when I do my normal detritus siphonings. They spook a little too. Maybe start swimming around normal in a couple minutes.

Food typically breaks them out of this trance immediately. And honestly they never show stress bars even at higher %'s. SO I am thinking that this is also me just being a discus hypochondriac maybe....

They, don't spin like whirling or slam into things at all. Maybe even more spooked when I turn on lights for morning feeding actually. They just huddle and are spooked.

I also forget sometimes that discus are slightly more sensitive than other fish I have previously cared for like huge cichlids.

Maybe I am tripping and I should just be clocking in bigger water changes. Hmm...

If not, what else could it be? I will try to find the other threads and link them here regarding larger than 50% WCs being a problem.

I was even thinking a very slight case of microbubbles possibly?

Better yet-I should try to shoot a video and link it here too. Let me try work on that when I get home after work and bust a water change. I will go 75%-80% if I film so you can really see what I am talking about.

Dang, hate being stumped.

If anyone else has any ideas or input, again, your help is appreciated.

[brewmaster15]

Do you know your pH out of the tap and aged for 24 hours?

Im banking the issue is dissolved gases if you arent aging your water.

Al

[Phillydubs]

It sounds to me like you may be over analyzing. I mean there are people on here rasing juvies and changing 200% water at a time or multiple 100% changes a day with no ill effect, if anything its the total opposite...

Like I said, you are never going to harm a fish by adding good clean water to a tank...

Put yourself in their shoes as well. If you were just hanging out at home, all of a sudden, the roof was ripped off your house and a big pair of hands comes at you, big hose or siphon and shoves you to a corner and starts moving all over. You might huddle up and stress as you weather the storm. Essentially you are doing the same to them. We are big giants in their world. Sounds to me like they are reacting quite normal to the WC.

[Phillydubs]

Al- I believe in his other thread he stated the the ph's are relatively the same from the tap to his aged water and to whats in the tank prior to a WC...

[brewmaster15]

Al- I believe in his other thread he stated the the ph's are relatively the same from the tap to his aged water and to whats in the tank prior to a WC...

Hi Phil,
Read that but Im not convinced. pH out of the tap,aged and in the tank are all about the same?Possible but Not very common.

Chuck how did you measure your pH ? How did you age your water? And for your tank measure how long after a wc was the measure made?

Also, dissolved gases like C02 will affect pH. Other gases may not.

Al

[ericNH]

It takes about 20 minutes for my fish to behave normally after a water change. Less if I skip gravel-raking.

[Filip]

I have the same problem after Wcs but the reason is that I don't age water , but do straight tap with safe.
IMO dissolved gasses aka microbubbles do more harm after WC than ph swings.
P.s. pH swings toward lower pH are much more harmful to fish than swings toward higher pH values.

[chuckiesmalls]

Sorry that I don't setup updates and have taken so long to respond....shame!

I do not age my water as I do not experience Ph swings when I have done water aging 'experiments'....

Since having the original problem, I just kept adding more water little by little and now am doing over 70-80% daily and the fish have responded nicely. All are getting big and I am quite happy.

It has been quite a journey since Feb of this year. I beagn with 3 inches or green gravel from my old setup and now I have a tank full of beautiful discus.

Hope you enjoy the pics99339
99340 this guy was one of my first and has blown up. Like 2 inches in 2 months..craziness
99343another one of my first but has been turning out decent for a LFS fish
99341 love this guy royal blue x altum flora
99342 a few of my guys together

[Fundulopanchax]

I was going to suggest big pH swing but you have checked that. I change about 90% of my water 3 times a week with the adults. They are eating well as the tank refills. I do sometimes have microbubbles, which I dont recommend (I fill directly from the tap with lovely well water of about 60-80 uS, pH 7.6) but the fish ignore the microbubbles. In fact, the adult discus, they often pick at the end of the hose prospecting for food while the water is draining and while it is filling. With young discus that are more "spooky" during their daily water changes most of them also are eating again while the tank is filling but often a very few sulk behind the sponge filters for 20-30 after the change. It is always the same fish, interestingly some of the faster growing are more prone to this.

Ron

[hollis]

I feed a cube of freeze dried black worms immediately after a water change , so fish will always associate water changes with a feed . My fish start getting excited halfway through fill up because they know what's coming

[Ryan925]

I have to shoo my fish out of the way when siphoning substrate or when they are nibbling my hands while my arm is in there