Not liking WC's?

[Trier20]

I've noticed lately that during my water changes my discus aren't liking them as much as they used to. They are turning darker and their eyes are also turning dark. I've also noticed that there is a lot more tiny bubbles in the tank afterwards and some are. Longing to the fish. Is this normal? I do a water change ever 1 or 2 days at 65-70%. Ph stays the same throughout. I'm using municipal water nitrates are around 5 nitrites 0 and ph is at 7.6 tank runs at 85 degrees and ammonia is at .5. Do you think it's the ammonia causing this?


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[Second Hand Pat]

Could be those tiny bubbles. Maybe time to age and aerate the water to bleed off those bubbles.

[xKevinx]

let the water sit for like 30 min, or age it with an airstone. i heard of tiny little bubbles getting into the fishes from big water changes with tap water, can affect their bladders

[Trier20]

Looks like I'm back to the bucket brigade. My fiancé thinks I'm crazy for my water aging idea which include drilling holes in the floor and having 2 55g blue drums in the basement with a pump to run it upstairs... She says I'm "obsessed" :) I mean really....Who on here is obsessed? ;) lol


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[Bud]

I have holes drilled all over(drains out AND fresh water in)luckily its through carpet and i just cut a perfect X so i can carefully staple it back down.Normal?!

[Skip]

micro bubbles..

whats the temp in IOWA

[ockyra215]

I agree micro bubbles
I suggest you age your water for 24 hrs before water changes with an airstone like mentioned above and check the parameters of your tap water you never know what may have changed in your water.
JMO:-)

[judy]

Back up a sec-- ammonia at .5?????????? That can't be right... if it is, why?

[Trier20]

Warlock- temp is a balmy 48 lol and Judy- not sure y at .5... I took out my large rock in the corner or my tank last night. Lots of build up under there so it staying out! So we're going from there. Cleaning filter tonight and going to put some ammonia reducing media in it.


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[zimmjeff]

what kind of substrate do you have? is the amonia before the water goes in?

[Orange Crush]

Cleaning filter tonight and going to put some ammonia reducing media in it.
Do not use amm reducing media, it will starve your BB colony and prevent it from getting large enough to deal with future amounts of ammonia. Just do large water changes using Prime or Safe.

[Trier20]

Zimmjeff- I have black sand for substrate. And the ammonia before WC is .5 and after is .5. The shade is slowly getting lighter in my test strip.
Everyone else- thanks for the advice! I'm just going to keep doing huge water changes and incorporating the water up through the sump to try to cut out the micro bubbles. Tuesday I'm going out and buying some huge Rubbermaid trash cans to age water in and get a couple more sump pumps. Hopefully all of this will solve the problem. It's extremely frustrating to have these beautiful fish all of a sudden look so poor. Thanks again!


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[Trier20]

So I did a 20% this morning and a 60% tonight. Things were fine this morning but tonight was another story. These bubbles are KILLING me and possibly my fish. I added an aerator to the tank during the change to "help" with the micro bubbles. I also switched to prime from the API water conditioner being people on here swear by it. But once again there were a few micro bubbles and my largest one went on his side. Naturally my paternal instinct made me stand by the tank and pace back and forth till he was upright again. I then gave them their nightly feeding of live black worms. 4 of 5 just stayed back while one of the smallest went up and started eating. I know aging the water will help but I don't have this system set up yet and it may take a week or so to get it there. What can I do in the mean time?


-Brandon

[Orange Crush]

If you are up to doing more than 1 water change per day you could do smaller amounts so there are less micro-bubbles put into the tank at one time.
In my 75 when I do a wc my discus stay to one side, I pump the water into the other side and it does not bother them that way. If one ventures near the python then they get some micro-bubbles on them but otherwise this works for me.

[Trier20]

That's what they do. They all stay to one side and I pump the water into the other side. I tip the nozzle upward to reduce bubbles coming out of the hose. I also put it up against the glass to expand the surface area of the water when it enter the tank to reduce the bubbles. I'm at my wits end! Lol


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-Brandon

[Skip]

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?93797-Question-on-De-gassing&highlight=microbubbles

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?91574-Slime-coat-shedding-alone-cause-for-concern&highlight=microbubbles

[judy]

If your ammonia is .5, i don't think microbubbles are your problem. I think for some reason your tank is cycling. How long have you had it running? If it is cycling-- the ammonia indicates to me that it is-- then you should be doing 50% WCs daily until you get a zero ammonia reading consistently for a week. I reviewed your earlier posts-- it looks like you are on your second batch of fish within a month... and it appears you added them all at once. that could spark a new cycle.
I think it is the ammonia that is killing your fish... using Prime will lock the ammonia into its non-toxic form, but you still need to do those water changes until your cycle is done.

[Trier20]

The tank has been up and running for about a year now. Anyhow I had a disaster this morning so I have to tear the tank down and start fresh. I will start a new forum for this topic.


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-Brandon