When you do water change,

[thomas]

Hi all,

I just buried 4 of my fishes in the backyard garden today. 1 female dwaft neon rainbow and 2 cardinal tetra, and 1 celebrial pearl danios passed away today. I did 50% WC last night and added 10ml of Amquel as usually to the tank while filling 15gal of water up my 30gal planted tank.

I can think of two reasons why my fishes died: chlorine in water or Neon Tetra Disease. The dosage on the Amquel Plus label wrote 5ml for 10 gal. I want to check if it means the volume of the whole tank or just the addition volume of water. If the dosage implies the total volume of the tank, then I was short my 5ml. However, if the dosing is for the water added, then it's right about enough. What do you think?

Second hypothesis was Neon Tetra Disease. This is not impossible because I bought 10 cardinal tetra from a LFS yesterday. Was this the cause of this disaster?

The water parameter is always good and consistent. The tank has WC 50% every week, heavily highly-photosynthesis plants, and good circulation.

Best,
Thomas

[eklikewhoa]

Re: When you do water change,

Do you ever test the water parameters?
I dose de-chlorinator for the total volume of the tank...not just the amount change but that has change with the addition of the carbon filter to the maintenance supplies.

As for the new fish....you have to be careful adding new fish to your tank especially if they are wilds.

[thomas]

Re: When you do water change,

i never test for the water parameter. I prefer relying on the plant's performance and CRS's breeding behavior. For new cardinal tetra, I have just looked one by one, but found no symptoms for NTD (they swim normally in a school and colors are not faded).

[PhishPhreek]

Re: When you do water change,

There is a lot of construction going on in this town and a lot of repair work.   You need to be aware that the water company will add more chemicals if they think the water may have been contaminated.  I've lost fish on more than one occasion due to a need for more than the normal amount of de-chlor.
That's why I age the water whenever I can. (also it takes care of any possible delta T problems).

[eklikewhoa]

Re: When you do water change,

Plant's performance and CRS breeding will tell you nothing about the tap water you are adding to the tank.........the only thing that they will show to tell you it's not right is what you are experiencing.....death.

[jklntx]

Re: When you do water change,

Were 2 of the cardinal deaths from the recent purchase of 10? If so, don't be too bothered...cardinals are extremely sensitive and the movement may have been too much stress for them. LFS lose  numbers of new stock in every shipment for the same reason.

[thomas]

Re: When you do water change,

oh, really.

[Mzungu]

Re: When you do water change,

That is true.

However, I wonder about the other deaths. I think it's a good idea to test your water, even if you only do it when the fish seem stressed. But it can rule out many factors.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: When you do water change,

I highly doubt it was the new cardinals that killed the other inhabitants....

[geoff_tropheus]

Re: When you do water change,

I always dose the full volume of the tank anytime I change more than 10% of the water.  

You never know when your munciple supply may be conducting a chlorine flush, and may have spikes in Ammonia or Nitrite.

Its not rocket science, on their dosing of city supplies so from time to time they may dose too little or too much that generates Ammonia or Nitrite.

They can also from time to time due to rain water and the amount of processing at the water treatment plant, may get overloaded and some amount does get bypassed.  So in general if you have been experiening lots of rain in your local area you might give it a day or two before water change, because parameters such as chlorine, ammonia, and pH will be off from normal.

Safe for me and you, but for the fishes could be problems.

Always QT new fish, espeically those that are prone to health issues.  I'm not real familiar with Cardinals, but I think they are in the same as Neons and all, and I see lots of dead in that kind of fish everytime I go to fish store.

The amount and how much you waterchange reall depends on your fish, and what kinds of wastes they produce.  Larger fish need more amount and frequency, large populations need more as well, small fish maybe not so much.

Best of luck!

geoff

[eklikewhoa]

Re: When you do water change,

A High-maintenance tank dosing the estimative dosing needs at least 50% water change weekly to keep the fertilizers from building up and causing havoc.