Can You Do Too Many Water Changes?

[scooterchick]

The guy in my LFS seems to think so. There are 2 guys that work there, well one owns it, the other works in it, the one who owns it really knows his stuff, but unfortunately it was the other one there today.

Basically I'm having problems with my fish. One tank we got 6 weeks ago in a pretty poor state, the owner had died and her son had been topping the water up for a couple of months and not mcuh else. Since we got it, we've been changing the water twice a week (we brought half the water, and the filter). When I vac the gravel it's still bringing loads of junk despite being thoroughly cleaned when we empited the tank. However the tank is vastly overstocked and has a 10" pleco in it, whos' no doubt the biggest polluter. Anyway, the guy in the LFS says I'm changing the water too much and I'm not giving the good bacteria time to multiply. Everytime I test the water the ammonia and nitrites are always 0, it's the nitrates that can climb a bit. I was under the impression it was the filter that haboured all the good bacteria making his argument null and void. Anyway, he also said 'I've been at this for years, I know what I'm talking about'. Grrr. OK, I haven't been at it long, but I would still think clean water a couple of times a week is better for the fish than only changing it once a week/fortnight.........

Any views?

 

[jourdy288]

Yes, you can, but, after cleaning the filth from bottom, strain the water through a filter pad and return it to the aquarium.

 

[OohFeeshy]

Nowt wrong with twice a week if it needs it, if there were any problems you'd be having spikes, which there aren't so no problems. Just nod and smile at the LFS guy and politely tell him to naff off because he's wrong. Or just nod and smile.

 

[gilaesther]

Just smile and nod, some people think they know everything! You don't want to be nasty and then have to go back there for something and deal with the same guy....

 

[scooterchick]

The guy's a total prat, I hate asking him anything, he makes me feel as though I'm wasting his precious time. The other guy is so much more helpful, but I never know which one is going to be working, unless I start lurking outside the shop, but then I'd probably get arrested for stalking.

 

[part-timer]

If you are doing very frequent water changes or large volume water changes, then as long as you use a dechlorinator and maybe a bit of stress coat you'll be fine. The main thing to remember is to clean the filter in tank water and don't leave it out of water for any longer than necessary. Fresh, clean and treated water is a godsend to your fish - plenty of oxygen, diluting any pollutants you may have in your tank and sometimes even making them a little frisky. Twice weakly, you're doing nothing wrong at all - I normally do 3 15% changes a week and my fish are thriving.

If your water quality readings are fine, then you have nothing to worry about - you tank is mature and if you're overstocked, the frequent water changes will help you keep on top of that. Ignore your LFS guy - its good that he's willing to offer advice, but try speaking to a few other local stores as well to get a balanced view.

PS, depending on the size of your tank, maybe think about offloading the plec - there are some lovely dwarf plecs out there which won't break 6-8 inches and will reduce your overstocking - your current plec could possibly grow another few inches if your tank has the room!

 

[sandie66]

I've read of people doing water changes on their bettas every day, so I wouldn't think that you could do too many water changes, but I could be wrong.

 

[severum boy]

Nowt wrong with twice a week if it needs it, if there were any problems you'd be having spikes, which there aren't so no problems. Just nod and smile at the LFS guy and politely tell him to naff off because he's wrong. Or just nod and smile.

Seconded! Whats your filter like and how big is the tank?

Yes you can do to many water changes, changing hourly will kill the fish after not very long. But no-one does that.

 

[scooterchick]

If you are doing very frequent water changes or large volume water changes, then as long as you use a dechlorinator and maybe a bit of stress coat you'll be fine. The main thing to remember is to clean the filter in tank water and don't leave it out of water for any longer than necessary. Fresh, clean and treated water is a godsend to your fish - plenty of oxygen, diluting any pollutants you may have in your tank and sometimes even making them a little frisky. Twice weakly, you're doing nothing wrong at all - I normally do 3 15% changes a week and my fish are thriving.

If your water quality readings are fine, then you have nothing to worry about - you tank is mature and if you're overstocked, the frequent water changes will help you keep on top of that. Ignore your LFS guy - its good that he's willing to offer advice, but try speaking to a few other local stores as well to get a balanced view.

PS, depending on the size of your tank, maybe think about offloading the plec - there are some lovely dwarf plecs out there which won't break 6-8 inches and will reduce your overstocking - your current plec could possibly grow another few inches if your tank has the room!

Hiya,

Yip, the plec's leaving us on Sunday, bless him. Would love to keep him but a 10" plac in a 30gal tank just ain't cricket, so someone's coming to take him away and give him a nice, larger home. xx

 

[scooterchick]

Nowt wrong with twice a week if it needs it, if there were any problems you'd be having spikes, which there aren't so no problems. Just nod and smile at the LFS guy and politely tell him to naff off because he's wrong. Or just nod and smile.

Seconded! Whats your filter like and how big is the tank?

Yes you can do to many water changes, changing hourly will kill the fish after not very long. But no-one does that.

Hi there,

The tank is roughly 30 gallons, 4'x12"x15" and there's 2 fluval 3 internal filters in it. One's mature, the other I put in a couple of days ago just to eventually replace the old one, which is brown with round sponges, it's so old I don't know if you can buy replacement sponges anymore!

Incidentally, when you're cleaning the sponges, I've been giving them a right good squeeze to get all the muck off. I'm doing it in old tank water of course, but could I be cleaning them too vigorously?

 

[Gatorbait]

The guy in my LFS seems to think so. There are 2 guys that work there, well one owns it, the other works in it, the one who owns it really knows his stuff, but unfortunately it was the other one there today.

Basically I'm having problems with my fish. One tank we got 6 weeks ago in a pretty poor state, the owner had died and her son had been topping the water up for a couple of months and not mcuh else. Since we got it, we've been changing the water twice a week (we brought half the water, and the filter). When I vac the gravel it's still bringing loads of junk despite being thoroughly cleaned when we empited the tank. However the tank is vastly overstocked and has a 10" pleco in it, whos' no doubt the biggest polluter. Anyway, the guy in the LFS says I'm changing the water too much and I'm not giving the good bacteria time to multiply. Everytime I test the water the ammonia and nitrites are always 0, it's the nitrates that can climb a bit. I was under the impression it was the filter that haboured all the good bacteria making his argument null and void. Anyway, he also said 'I've been at this for years, I know what I'm talking about'. Grrr. OK, I haven't been at it long, but I would still think clean water a couple of times a week is better for the fish than only changing it once a week/fortnight.........

Any views?

There's hardly any beneficial bacteria in the water. Most if it lies in your filters. The best thing you can do for fish is to change the water daily. Most of us just don't have the time to do it.

Discus aren't the hardiest of fish there are but some discus breeders change 100% of their water a day, sometimes they do two 100% water changes a day.

If I had the time I would change 50% of the water daily in all of my tanks.

 

[ArauraDiscus]

Thats hardly wrong at all. When breeding discus you need to change the water twice a day, about 25 percent each time for them to breed and grow healthy. Thats not too much at all. IThe helpful bacteria is rooted in the filter and sometimes the gravel and ornaments. There is almost no beneficial free floating bacteria. Doing water changes only removes waste and harmful bacteria, protozoans, and fungal spores. It can only help, not hurt. Now if your changing your filter every day, thats another thing entirely, but if you are ONLY doing water changes twice a week, heck I reccomend doing it twice a day.

 

[rdd1952]

As most everyone else has mentioned, you are doing nothing wrong. Unless you have an under gravel filter, there is only a very minute amount of bacteria in the substrate so you aren't harming the beneficial bacteria at all by doing gravel vacs twice a week. And as also stated, bacteria don't live free floating in the water. They are attached to the filter media where there is a constant flow of food (ammonia and nitrite).

 

[Teelie]

Have him read about Old Tank Syndrome so he might understand it better. Basically you can't change the water too much unless you're doing it wrong.

 

[Lynda B]

You're right, he's wrong. End of story.