How much WC is enough

[lado]

I have three discus around 4" in bb tank and im doing dayli WC at 80% .Fish is heavily feed 4 times a day.Im trying to faten them up( two females for posible breeding and one fish is still juvy.Im always trying to match water parametars for WC.For some reason last couple of days fish is not doing well afterwards,slowly breathing,hardly moving at all.After half an hour they would come back to "normal".Ph 6,kh maby 2,no3 3ppm,temp 28C.Every day im giving them multy vitamins (Time release).
And since tank is 20gal is it over stocked even dough im doing dayli WC

[lado]

Totaly forgat No2 is 0 too.

[Dkarc@Aol.com]

Do you age your water before doing a w/c? The possibility is that if you do not age your water before hand is that there is a pH change and that is affecting your fish. What is the pH of your tap water? Also, what is the temperature of the new water? Is it the same as the tank temperature (+/- a degree or two)??

-Ryan

[Willie]

Are you treating for chlorine and chloramine?

Willie

[Mughal]

You may just be stressing your fish out by changing so much of the water and disturbing their peace every single day...Discus dont' do well under stress is what I've heard

[Elcid]

My guess is that ur fish have some bacterial infection and ur making it worse by changing the water....

JMO,
Sandeep

[JMArtist]

I have three discus around 4" in bb tank and im doing dayli WC at 80% .Fish is heavily feed 4 times a day.Im trying to faten them up( two females for posible breeding and one fish is still juvy.Im always trying to match water parametars for WC.For some reason last couple of days fish is not doing well afterwards,slowly breathing,hardly moving at all.After half an hour they would come back to "normal".Ph 6,kh maby 2,no3 3ppm,temp 28C.Every day im giving them multy vitamins (Time release).
And since tank is 20gal is it over stocked even dough im doing dayli WC

First up, you tank is to small for 3 discus that are around 4" even for a 20 gallon bare bottom tank. May I suggest you look into getting a 30 gallon or better yet a 36 gallon bow front tank, thus giving you a little extra room for your fish to grow.
An 80% daily water change is way over board, I know members will disagree with me on that. I suggest a 25% water change when vacuuming the tank out every other day for your size tank.
If possible, try to age at least half the water you will be returning to your tank, you can use cleaned out plastic gallon milk containers to hold the water.
The rest of the water use a conditioner on, and also contact your local water authority and get the water readings from them.

[lado]

Thanks everyone for replys.For chloramine and chlorine I'm using aquatan by SERA.Yess you guys are right about aging, unfortunatly i dont have room for that kind of equipment.WC Temp. is around tank temp.which is 28C

[Greg Richardson]

Without aged water the difference in PH may be the initial stress you are talking about.

How long they been in tank?

Reason I ask is my theory doesn't hold true if this just started after doing same type of WC's for some time.

Only other thing water wise I can think of is if your water recently had changes due to work near by or something like that.

[kaceyo]

I think 80% w/c with tap water is too much, even with dechlor. I have one juvie tank I do 80% w/c twice a day but it's aged and same temp. I also have adult tanks I do one 50% w/c streight from tap with dechlor and at same temp. Don't change more than 50% from tap and You should be OK on that score at least. Check your pH from tap and compare it to tank. If tap is higher than tank your OK with smaller streight from tap w/c's.

Kacey

[lado]

I was doing it for couple of months, and they were fine.Might be something in water true enough.

[Carol_Roberts]

If the water is pH stable you can do 100% water changes - I do 90% water changes once or twice a week in my discus tanks. ( they don't like laying flat on the bottom of the tank, but they love all the fresh, clean water after wards).

How are you "trying to match water parameters"?

[lado]

Well i check ph with my ph meter and tds .Adding same amount,about half spoon of RO right and ph stable for every WC.

[Carol_Roberts]

ARe you using pure RO and reconstituting?

[Cosmo]

IF you are using reconstituted RO only.

If you're referring to TDS when you say your KH is 3 to 4 ppm, then the water is way too soft. Very possibly you're having ph crashes over night, especially with that heavy a bio load. Do you read the tank parameters before you start the WC?

RO Right is good for adding hardness, it's not really designed to add KH, for that you would want to add PH Stable. You also need to add Discus Essentials to add the trace elements.

Always better off aging your RO overnight with an airstone or circulating pump
to insure the additives are well mixed and the water is stable before adding to the tank. From what you describe, the tank and the new water are off just enough to give the fish problems, which could have a serious impact over the course of time.

PH of 6 is fine if the water is stable, but if not is very sucsetable (spelling?) to ph crashes. Get your TDS reading up to about 120 to 150 with the reading taken after both the RO Right and PH stable has been added. If you have chloramines, not a bad idea to add Prime to the storage tank in case any ammonia gets thru also.

Once you get your water chemistry stable, you can lower the TDS by lessening the amount of RO Right if you want but unless you're breeding there's no need to be even that soft.

hth
Jim

[lado]

Sorry to misslead you guys. I'm not using RO unit , "RO right "and "PH stable " are added because my water comes very soft ph 6 ,kh 2 gh3 out of tap and tds meter is not registering much.

[korbi_doc]

:D Hi, if you have very soft water & are raising juveniles, shoot for a TDS of about 300ppms with your meter. Adults will be ok with less, but juvies need those minerals....hopefully you don't have a water softener inline, the resulting salt content is not good for these fish..... HTH, Dottie :)

[gators111]

One other thing, 28C for temp is too low. Raise the temp to 30C. Also, the others are right you need a bigger tank. Look in the paper for a used 55 gal. They are always in the classifieds for cheap. Just be sure to check it for leaks. A tank that size will lower the frequency of water changes.

[alpine]

When some of you chane 80% to 90% of the water , I guess you disconnect the heaters and remove the hydro filters so they do not dry ??
I am starting to do about 70% water change and the top of the hydro IV filters are off the water line for some time while I am doing the other tanks and that kind of worries me.

roberto.

[Willie]

I only do 100% W/C's out of the tap. There's no problem with large water changes if your fish is used to them. Start with 50%, move to 70%, etc. During the water change, the fish are flat, the heaters are exposed, as are the sponges. I try to remember to unplug the heaters. Unless I forget and leave the tank, there's usually no problem adding water back immediately. Just squirt in your dechlor as you add water.

If you're doing daily WC's, there's no reason to use pH adjusters. Your pH is not moving enough to make a difference. With soft water, there's actually no difference anyway.

Willie

[Kindredspirit]

[QUOTE=JMArtist]First up, you tank is to small for 3 discus that are around 4" even for a 20 gallon bare bottom tank. May I suggest you look into getting a 30 gallon or better yet a 36 gallon bow front tank, thus giving you a little extra room for your fish to grow.


JM!

Thank You! I couldnt remember what my tank was, I knew it wasnt hex shaped. You just said it up there! I have a bow front, 35gal tank....You are my hero!http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/36/36_27_1.gif

Roberto~ I just leave my Hydro Sponges in the tank while i do my wc...I do squeeze them out tho and sink them back down....

hth


Marie~

[alpine]

Willie, how long are your sponges in the air for ? I do empty two 75 gallon tanks then start filling with tap water( as you recommended in Texas- Great Idea-The Fish seem to love it too..) the filling goes at aslow pace and that is where I worried about my Hydros being exposed to air so long.
Thanks for the replies,

roberto

[alpine]

Marie, thanks for the reply. I don't think I want to squeeze my sponges in the tank and make them let go of all the debries they have acummulated.
hey, where do you get all those neat smilies you put on your messages..they are really neat.
Thanks,

roberto.

[Kindredspirit]

Marie, thanks for the reply. I don't think I want to squeeze my sponges in the tank and make them let go of all the debries they have acummulated.
hey, where do you get all those neat smilies you put on your messages..they are really neat.
Thanks,

roberto.


Hey Roberto!

...but you are gonna drain all or most of that water out anyways, yes? Oh dearhttp://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/23/23_11_56.gif



Well, dayum it! My discus are very happy with the sponge squeezing....never been ill....prolly just jinxed myself


smileycentral.com ( download and enjoy Roberto!)


Marie~

[Willie]

Roberto;

I've kept the sponges out for 1 - 2 days with no problem! :)

Willie