Water affecting behavior?

[KJoFan]

This might be a silly thought but I'm wondering if water can affect (or is it effect?) discus behavior...

It seems to me like, at least in my fishroom, this might be a possibility. I have recently started switching some of my tanks over to R/O or an R/O mix. I have three tanks getting the R/O water now and those fish are perfectly fine and happy and eating well. They started with a TDS in the 400's and are now down around 100 or less. I need a new membrane for my R/O though, as it comes out at ~50 on it's own, but it's certainly better than 400 and I'm just trying to induce spawning, I don't have eggs or anything. Once that tax refund comes, maybe I can upgrade my unit to a larger capacity one anyway. :)

I have 4 tanks of fish that just like to act scared and timid and skittish more often than not. Two of those tanks being the melons I got from Al/Dan.

On the other hand the challenge tank and another housing some ocean greens and a few RGD's seem ok. The challenge fish are especially acting fine. (yay for that!)

I just for the life of me can't think of what might be the problem aside from just the crappily high TDS levels.

So...does anyone have any thoughts or ideas on this theory or is it just me wishing for a somewhat simple solution to the less than desirable behavior from my fish?

Or maybe that's just the way the fish are but...from what I've heard about fish that come from Al and/or Dan no one else seems to experience this kind of behavior from them. So I'm thinking it's just something environmentally specific to me and my setup.

So lemme know your thoughts everyone.:)

[Kindredspirit]

Karen, why are you using RO water? I thought that was used for breeding tanks only? I think, that you should not keep Discus in RO water unless you are trying to get them to spawn....?

I will let others chime in ~ I could be so wrong!

[Don Trinko]

You should not use 100% ro. Eventualy you will not have enough KH and the PH will probably crash. If you add strait ro do a few smaller wc untill you get the water near the TDS you want. A drastic change in water perameters will effect the fish. Don T.

[Tropical Haven]

Karen, why are you using RO water? I thought that was used for breeding tanks only? I think, that you should not keep Discus in RO water unless you are trying to get them to spawn....?

I will let others chime in ~ I could be so wrong!


Some people don't use RO just for breeding, you can use RO just for general discus keeping. The main reason why people only use RO for breeding pairs only is because it can get expensive to use RO if it isn't being benefited for raising babies.

[KJoFan]

Ok, apparently I wasn't clear. I'm not using straight R/O, I am using a mix in my tanks. The reason I am using R/O in some of my tanks is to try to induce spawning. The rest of my tanks are kept in straight tap.

So...my question was does anyone think that since my water is so hard and high in TDS from the tap (400's you'll remember) it can affect the fish negatively? Such as the skittishness etc.

I went back and read my original post and I did state why I was using the R/O Marie. To induce spawning...

And I did state it was an R/O mix...perhaps that wasn't clear as I said "R/O or R/O mix". the reason I said it that way was because some tanks are getting straight R/O changes, until I get the TDS down where I want it. Then I will know what % mix I need of tap and R/O.

But again, the point is it's not my tanks getting the R/O I'm concerned about. They are doing great, very active and eating well. It's the tanks NOT getting R/O that have me stumped. They are the more skittish, less eager to eat tanks.

So given all that, does anyone have any thoughts on my tap water having a negative affect on their behavior and appetite?

[Ardan]

Hi Karen,
Yes, there could be something in the tap water causing some irritation to the fish.
It may be the TDS, depending on what is in the water.

It could be iron, pesticides, any VOC (volatale organic compound, such as residual from paints....)

When you thin the water down with RO, you are Diluting the tds (whatever is dissolved in there), so this could be better for the fish (the RO removes all dissolved solids, or almost all)

You also could try a few things.
1. A poly pad in the filter http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=4335&Nty=1&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntk=All&pc=1&N=0&Ntt=polyfilter&Np=1
2. carbon in the filter may remove some voc's

3. inline carbon filter (in the water line to the sink )

We don't know what it is, but I agree it could be something in the water.


Ardan

[KJoFan]

Ok first of all, thank you Ardan for getting the point of my question. :D

I know that reading through my city's drinking wate report there's nothing that jumps out, but then drinking water standards and "fish standards" may not be the same thing. :)

I have heard though that we have phosphates occuring naturally in our water, as well as higher iron levels.

It would be interesting to try those poly pads just to see what they might indicate.

It would be no surprise if there were pesticides and such in the water, given the geographical location I'm in. (Lots of agricultural land)