Water Change

[smithy05]

hi i done a water change today out 25-30% i dont have the chlorine chems or any others for that matter,

few moments after adding the new water all the fins on my black widow tetras turned white/clear, after bout 5-10 mins they started changing black again except 1 fish, is this normal due to cold water being added and will they be fine? i mean they aint died yet but dont know if it harms em long term or infact would kill em? any help???


my danios, glass cats, and serpais were all fine and carried on as normal

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

You don't use any dechlorinator or anything? Then your fish won't last long, dechlorinator is used to remove chlorine and other harmful chemicals from tap water so your tank can cycle, chlorine will also kill off your fish over time.

 

[smithy05]

well i havent had problems yet but the new tank i will b adding dechlorinater, b4 i add the fish,

wot i more interested in is the fact that my black widow tetras fins truned white/clear when i done the 25% water change. is this normal?? have other ppl had this problem??

 

[Vegan Peaches]

This happens every time you do a water change without dechlorinator? The chlorine might be affecting the fin color... bleach has chlorine in it, maybe it's like bleaching your fish. There could also be some other kind of substance in the water that does it... you really should add a dechlornating / metal nullifying tap water conditioner to the tap water before you add it to the tank.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

It is most likely a stress related symptom, you really, really need to add dechlorinator to every bit of water that goes into your fish tank, and never wash the filter out in plain tap water- if you don't use dechlorinator when you need to your fish will get no where near to living out their proper life expectancys no matter what you do, let alone be in a constant stressed state- trust me you start getting serious problems if you don't use dechlorinator all the time, if not already getting them.

 

[smithy05]

i will be using dechlorinator as im getting the new tank today (bonus payday) so will be buying everything i need for it, and this has never happend b4 with the fins even when moved em from 5gal to the 13gal and they were fine but i will take ya advice and use the dechlorinator as i want to eventually try and breed these fish, but the other fish listed in my siggy havent been affected as far as i know with colour change, this the very frist time they changed colour, i was thinking it mayb cos the cold water going in cooled tank down to quick??

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Always when you add freshwater to the tank to try and get it as close as posible to the current tank temp, if the tanks temp fluctuates alot because you are adding water that is too cold or too hot in comparison to its current temp in can bring on things like septicemia in fish, especially in little fish that are more sensitive to tank temp- dechlorinator is the only real completely nesarsary chemical you need for your tank to work, just add it to the water as you are filling the bucket up to pour into the tank or however else you put your water into the tank- the vast majority of other chemicals out there are either useless, a waste of money or aern't important to your basic healthy tank set up .

 

[Dorkhedeos]

bleach has chlorine in it, but chlorine doesnt have bleach in it. i dont think pure chlorine removes colors, or people swimming trunks will lose its color when they swim in a pool

 

[dwarfgourami]

bleach has chlorine in it, but chlorine doesnt have bleach in it. i dont think pure chlorine removes colors, or people swimming trunks will lose its color when they swim in a pool

You're right, it's more likely to be stress-related as Tokis says.

Be particularly careful of those glass cats as they are sensitive to water quality.

 

[smithy05]

asked guy at LFS wot he reckoned it was and he also said stress from the temp of new water being added,
also got me new tank its a pearl 80, 22.6gal gonna b well planted has few caves and white gravel got black background to (them plastic ones).

and for me old tank which i added some dechlorinator to today, i have a clown loach to feast on the snails b4 i use those plants to. the dechlorinator came free with the tank so added that to all of em now, plus got some other stuff that ya add weekly and than only have to clean tank out 6mths, but i do it less than that i guess if it starts gettin mucky b4 6mths it being cleaned. the first fish im adding to the new tank when its finished is my danios as they cold n warm water so they b fine as their quite hardy fish