Water Changes questions....

[kamel_007]

If the water parameters are good,,,
no ammonia, no nitrite and low nitrate,,,

i see many people change more than 50% daily or every other day..

is there any need to change water in that high ratio??

what will happen if we change i weekly? like 20% or 30% ???

if the fishes seems fine and the tank system working in a good condition...

[Brokenrack]

Your Nitrates will rise as well as other pollutants and your fish will get ill.

[DiscusDrew]

Which has already happened to you so I would think you would be thinking about doing MORE not less water changes.... If they arent going to recieve proper care, its your call but I think most of us would spare the discus' lives. You cant have minimalist approach to this hobby, these fish are kind of all or nothing, especially juvies and the simple fact is if you cant provide for them properly then wait for a time in your life when you can. As a BARE minimum, I would say 50% every other day water changes need to be done for juvenile fish, slightly less often for adults and such, but the tank still needs to be kept clean regardless. Why not try Severum's or other cichlids that are far less needy and will be happy with your available schedule? In an established aquarium your levels of ammonia and nitrites will stay at zero constantly, that doesnt mean the water is healthy by any means and a water change with fresh water keeps things stable in the tank and eliminates a majority of nitrates, which are far more toxic to discus than most other cichlids or any other fish for that matter. Just please, for the fish's sake, think about what you will actually be able to handle before you dive into discus again. I would think you would not want the same results as last time.

[kamel_007]

Which has already happened to you so I would think you would be thinking about doing MORE not less water changes.... If they arent going to recieve proper care, its your call but I think most of us would spare the discus' lives. You cant have minimalist approach to this hobby, these fish are kind of all or nothing, especially juvies and the simple fact is if you cant provide for them properly then wait for a time in your life when you can. As a BARE minimum, I would say 50% every other day water changes need to be done for juvenile fish, slightly less often for adults and such, but the tank still needs to be kept clean regardless. Why not try Severum's or other cichlids that are far less needy and will be happy with your available schedule? In an established aquarium your levels of ammonia and nitrites will stay at zero constantly, that doesnt mean the water is healthy by any means and a water change with fresh water keeps things stable in the tank and eliminates a majority of nitrates, which are far more toxic to discus than most other cichlids or any other fish for that matter. Just please, for the fish's sake, think about what you will actually be able to handle before you dive into discus again. I would think you would not want the same results as last time.

thanks DiscusDrew for your reply,,

I was wondering about how often to do water changes, i have a heavily planted tank, stocked with a pair of angels and 1 discus and a few small fishes...

The survived discus is doing better and better and his health enhanced and started to get more thickness than before, hes was so skinny,, i feed 3 time a day a variety of artemia, color flakes, tetra prima, frozen bloodworms...

I have a strong biological filter, and i do water changes with tap water mixed with RO, tap water here is very very hard...
i reach Hardness degree around 15 DH, that not bothering my plants and suitable for angels to let the eggs hatch,,

I've successfully hatched angle fish but the discus ate them!
i didn't move them to other tank because i was so busy and didn't interest to breed them...
I'll post a video for angles with fry in my main tank.... you can also see my discus how they were doing, the survived one is the red marlboro..

http://youtu.be/Mp08SatnUDI

[nabilbb]

That's a nice looking tank,
1. Do you have CO2
2. Are you planning on getting more Discus

[brianyam]

I suggest getting a test kit, like from API, and just testing your water everyday and getting use to your water's personality based on how you feed. Try that for a week, and again another week... write it down and average it out so you don't get the weird week. Then you know where you stand.


It really comes down what you feed and how often. I use to have like 8-10 huge royal plecos in my 210G. Each one can crap like a small dog a day. No joke. But my water was fine, nitrates were so low even by the 2nd week with just one WC a week. They ate dry food and wood, with the odd veggie. Once I got back into discus and fed BH, my water crapped out in a few days. Even though I had allot less fish in the tank. Nitrates would go sky high by day 2-3. I stopped BH, and the nitrates takes much longer to appear.

[kamel_007]

That's a nice looking tank,
1. Do you have CO2
2. Are you planning on getting more Discus
thanks,
yes i have CO2 pressurised, and i got two blue diamond discus, they are juveniles i think around 2~2.5 inch

[kamel_007]

I suggest getting a test kit, like from API, and just testing your water everyday and getting use to your water's personality based on how you feed. Try that for a week, and again another week... write it down and average it out so you don't get the weird week. Then you know where you stand.


It really comes down what you feed and how often. I use to have like 8-10 huge royal plecos in my 210G. Each one can crap like a small dog a day. No joke. But my water was fine, nitrates were so low even by the 2nd week with just one WC a week. They ate dry food and wood, with the odd veggie. Once I got back into discus and fed BH, my water crapped out in a few days. Even though I had allot less fish in the tank. Nitrates would go sky high by day 2-3. I stopped BH, and the nitrates takes much longer to appear.
i feed them twice a day, flakes, frozen bloodworms, and pelletes,,
i i was regularly testing the water... And i reached the point to control water quality..
Now every week i do water change with watching my fish closely to notice any ubnormal symptoms. If you feel the fish you'll know what your tank say.. Then nitrite and amonia never rearch high levels, they always zero,
but i have phosphate problem, and i need to decrease it..

[nabilbb]

i feed them twice a day, flakes, frozen bloodworms, and pelletes,,

You shouldn't feed bloodworms daily, the netretien value of it is absolutly 0 I give Bloodworms to my Discus once a week or every 10 days

[DiscusDrew]

I would recommend getting into the freeze dried market to up your variety, look into FDBW from Dan our Al. I also feed adult brine shrimp for health of the digestive tract on an infrequent basis, not a daily food but the roughage is beneficial.

[kamel_007]

I would recommend getting into the freeze dried market to up your variety, look into FDBW from Dan our Al. I also feed adult brine shrimp for health of the digestive tract on an infrequent basis, not a daily food but the roughage is beneficial.

not all frozen food available here.. i see mostly the sell bloodworms, and i feed once a week bloodworms not daily,
for daily i feed, tetra prima, aretmen flakes, acti color flakes,