water changes "how"

[fish_r]

hi
with my water changes @ the moment i do it slowly straight from the tap with a long hose and i add dechlorinator as i start to fill,
is this ok with discus ? or should i age my water
i do a 30% water change weekly, but now i have discus i am going to do it twice a week i think ?

[Nathan]

the mor water changes the week the better.

a lot of people on this forum age there water, but i dont, i just add seachem prime and put the water in the tank, doesnt seem to bother the discus to much

HTH

[FishLover]

WC is a touchy topic here. Most people will tell you the more the better, which I agree to a point. We also have to consider that keeping Discus for most of us is to make us happy, not to make us working harder.

It all depends on what is your purpose of having discus (and maybe few more):
1. Your fish load comparing to your tank size
2. How much/often/what do you feed your discus
3. How good is your filter system?

If your fish load is low (10+ g per adult), with a good filter system, and you DON'T want to breed them, you may get away with once a week 30-40% WC, provide you don't over feed your fish and you don't feed them heavy things like beef heart. These are the food the breeders like because they promote fast growth and they are cheap compareing to other fish foods. If you only want your fish look pretty, IMO you don't need to feed them heavy food like that (maybe once a while for a change), which less the bio-load of your tank, which let you get away with less W/C (once a week).

There are TWO different threads of thought here. One from the BREEDERS point of view, one from the average fishkeeper (like me). Because they have different purpose of having Discus, their method of caring for the Discus may have some differences.

Breeders are more likely to have more water changes, heavy feedings, and heavy fish load. They are more demanding on the water condition and depend on more W/C as a sure way to keep their stock healthy and fast growing. Their purpose is to grow them fast and look round shaped.

As an average fish keeper, you may not need to grow your discus as fast as you can, nor do you need to grow them as big as you can, nor do you really care if they look perfectly round or shaped like a football. All you care is they look pretty and coloful. I will be happy as long as my discus are happy and showing off good colors. Most of us may not have the time to do W/C every day. The way to make sure our Discus are happy is to reduce the fish load, reduce the feeding and stay away from food that can mess up your tank water (like beef heart). With all these actions, it is posssible to make the average fishkeeper happy too (without doing W/C everyday).

[aquaholic]

hi fish_r
As i am newbie i don't like to give advice but one thing for sure is that water should be the same temperature
as your tank water.
I run my water into a bucket add my ager give it a good stir then into tank
I think fishlover has summed it up well.

cheers andrew

[fish_r]

thanks a lot for the advice guys,i really appreciate it
i wont be breeding in this tank, so just want to keep the fish happy really.
i have a fluval 405 with all noodles and foam pads. "5 foot tank"
i feed all my fish once in the morning and once in the arvo, and only what they can eat within about 5 mins
my fish load is
5 bn's soon to be 3, 20 neon tetra's soon to be none,
5 SAE soon to be 3, 14 rummy nose soon to be 25
and 8 harlequin rasbora, soon to be 15-25 and of course my 5 discus
it will be pushing me to do water changes 2 times a week as i have two tanks and other hobbies too, but hoping to manage it...
the real thing that concered me was changing water directly from the tap and adding dechlorinator as i do it, as iv'e read it can kill ur biological filter ?

[FishLover]

I use a plastic container that holds about 40% of my tank water and run the tap water with a hose put the new water in there first, add Prime and Discus Buffer, then pump it into the tank.

That way I can control the temp and other water parms without stress out my fish. I think most people here do that. You have to pay a bit up front. (about $20 for the container, $50 for a good pump, make sure the pump can reach the hight of your tank including the stand) I think $70 is not that much considering we are having Discus.

The pump and container really made my water changes much easier. I think my discus like that too.

[fish_r]

thx fishlover
i already have a large container, just need a good pump now.
i did my first water change with the discus in last night
40% and woke up this morning and one discus was obviously sick it was on it's side on the substrate, i gave it a prod with my tongs and it swam off, but got home tonight and it had died, the others are pretty quiet too althought they did feed a little tomight, so hopefully a good sign ?
i will definately age my water next time and bring it up too the same temp as the tank.
cant afford too many losses and i hate killing fish !

[FishLover]

Sorry to hear that.

When add water, please make sure the following water parms are close match to your tank water:

1. Temp
2. PH
3. make sure you use Prime or something else, make sure to follow the instructions on how much is needed

You also need to check your water PH over a time period to avoid PH swings. Take some tap water, mesure the PH, then wait for few hours, mesure the PH again, and mesure it again in 24 hours. Compare the value to see if you have a PH swing problem or not. PH swing is deadly for Discus if the value is too much (anything over .3 change within 24 hours is going to stress your discus, more could be deadly)

[shayesmommy]

about water changes.
my fish are all well. but my water drops about a degree or two F when i change it. my bf does it the same temp of the tank. and we let it sit a day or two.
but when im sticking my hands in teh water cleaning the tank. and mixing the aged water i can definatly feel the change of temp. but it doesnt drop to much and we do it on a different side of the tank.
how do you make sure that ur aged water is the same temp. Here we have 5 5 gallon buckets and unless i buy five heaters theres not much ican do?

[Inspiringfish]

I fill 1 gallon jugs (for me, easier to carry, and get it into the tank) and place them in the bath tub (I can fit 24 in the tub). Fill the tub up with hot water until I get the desired temp (digital thermometer).