Bad day to be a fish of mine... :(

**Honey Badger 1** · 01-29-2013, 06:39 PM

Unless there is something wrong with the tap water, and the OP already says there isn't, large and frequent water changes will not hurt a fish. The idea that large amounts of fresh water might hurt a fish is ridiculous. It's like saying large amounts of fresh clean air will over stress and kill mammals.

**Allesgut** · 01-30-2013, 03:24 AM

Originally Posted by mommy1

The idea that large amounts of fresh water might hurt a fish is ridiculous. It's like saying large amounts of fresh clean air will over stress and kill mammals.

I guess you don't catch my idea. I never said fresh water will hurt fish. If you can be sure of water quality and fact that before\after params don't change, go ahead with any % of pwc. We are here looking for a reason of fish deaths and if stress from params change is not the reason of fish deaths anywehere, then I quit from this discussion.
Regarding huge water changes for discus - actually, there could be even constantly running water system installed at discus breeder's farms, but please realize how crowdly their tanks are stocked with fry. Some people blindly copy this as rule for discuss, keeping 5-6 fish in a 500 gl tank with daily water change - OK, thats fine, but could it be reasobale indeed?
I cannot be sure about quality of my tap water, besides, I am confident that water in the tank changes its params after 2-3 days drammatically, especially if you inject CO2, ferts, special soils, etc. and amount of such param change is far beyond the range your simple tests of just PH, hardness and nitrogen can show you. There is a huge number of param you cannot test, unless you have lab equipment. So what I suggest, is not to blindly follow the rule of huge pwc, especially if your fish is duying with no mere reason. This risk factor can be minimized as well.

**koaladarshana** · 01-31-2013, 04:18 AM

An update: I found another dead cardinal today. Something is most definitely up; that's four dead fish in three days when this tank has prior been without a single death since I can't even remember...

I cleaned the filters in old tank water, did another 50% water change, and thoroughly siphoned the gravel; I plan on doing the latter two every other day until I see no more deaths. I figure keeping my water quality close to impeccable is all I can do for now since no fish look "sick" so I can't really quarantine anyone or make a definitive diagnosis as to what the cause of deaths is.

I'll have to take the risk that excessive water changes are the root of my problem because I have been doing 50% water changes every four days like clockwork since I got the tank and up until now I had no deaths from doing so.

My best assumption is that some uncertain contagious pathogen or a poison has worked its way into my tank. It just puzzles the heck out of me because I have not added any fish or plants to the tank in several months so I'm just wondering how it got in there.

Thanks for all your advice.

**Limming** · 01-31-2013, 05:07 AM

Something I didn't see asked yet, what are you feeding? Don't know but I'd assume that bloating might be a sign of poor diet?

**koaladarshana** · 01-31-2013, 08:24 PM

Micro-pellet, algae wafers, spirulina flake, and frozen bloodworm. I try to rotate what they eat. Does this seem like a healthy diet?

**koaladarshana** · 02-11-2013, 03:06 AM

An update: I lost all but two of my cardinals (8 total dead, though some I'm just assuming because they went missing and I never found them) and none of the others (dwarf cories, endlers, galaxy rasboras are all safe)...

Whatever that illness afflicting my fish was, I assume it just had to run its course. I'm pretty sure the water changes were not at the cause of the problem as I've kept up with them every other day and so far it's been over a week (nine days to be exact) since I lost any fish. However, I think it's time to cut back on water changes to every four days like I used to do...

I want to thank you guys for all your helpful advice!