Daily Water changes?

[Styx]

For a normal betta, are daily water changes good or bad? I mean, are the positive effects of clean water canceled out by stress or something? I have some sick fish and so I figure I'll just change everyone's water while I'm at it.

 

[SPLiSH]

How big are the tanks? If they are under around 5 gal, I would think daily water changes would stress the fish and do more damage than good.

 

[ral]

I don't think anybody can answer this question definitively. Water changes stress a fish, but so do rising levels of ammonia or nitrate.

 

[Mr Miagi]

I would tend to think that daily water changes would be of less benefit to the fish, causing it stress, Rather than eliminating ammonia and nitrite etc. These would not accumulate too quickly with a small beta! Surely?

 

[Styx]

Hm. Well, good to know. They all need upgrades in tank size, as they are admittedly living in small containers right now. But that's because all but one (who has a bigger home) are new and so in those smaller places I can keep a super close eye on them for the week I keep them under observation after getting them.

 

[cation]

I completely disagree. For a sick betta in a smaller, unfiltered tank, I would recommend daily (1g or under) or every-other-day (bigger then 1g) water changes of 100%.

 

[White Whale]

Exactly what size are those small containers?

 

[infant340]

how much water will u be changing?

 

[Styx]

They live in under 1 gallon and I change 100% of the water daily. Lucifer, my crowntail, lives in a gallon tank, since he doesn't like bigger.

Caution, so you think it's a good idea to change it daily? They're new bettas so I really don't have any idea what their health is until I observe them for a time.

 

[Seahorse]

If you can change it 100% daily, by all means, do it! The few I have in unfiltered tanks are changed every other day.

They will get used to it if you keep a steady routine. They will be healthier in the long run because of it. It might be stressful for them in the beginning, but they will adapt, and it always helps to reward them afterward with food.

Mine are hand tamed because of it, and they seem to know what is happening after awhile.

 

[Styx]

See, Seahorse, that's what I was thinking. But I wasn't sure. So that's why I asked.

 

[cation]

Seahorse said it all!

 

[ral]

I think sometimes we baby our betta's too much.

I followed the more frequent water change routines for smaller tanks and use filters in my larger ones (to avoid the large water changes), while my girl friend and her sister follow the weekly routine for 1.5-2.5 gallon tanks. My betta's are much much more susceptible to illness than theirs. A

I have backed off to 10% water changes every other day on the 2.5G filtered tanks. Water changes larger than 15% on the filtered tanks will prevent beneficial bacteria from ever developing. Another reaosn for this is my filters ar purely bioligical so I still need to take out dirt with a gravel vac.

I have also gone down to 50% water changes on the 1 gallon tanks daily.

For the neysayers, I noticed this while reading Atison's fighter conditioning guide:

Fishes that are in compound tank have softer skin and their scales are not smooth enough to lolerate hard hitting from a sharp teeth opponent. They need to be kept individually in a jar or bottle for conditioning about a week . Put half an Indian leaf or some dried banana leaves in the container. The Indian leaf or banana leaf will harden the skin and scales . During this one week in the container, just feed them once every two days with any kind of food such as pellet food or live food such as worm, mosquito lavae, atemia, moina or any live food. Live food is preferable since there is less fat than pellet food. Keep the fish in container without seeing each other. After a week fish will lost their fat, skin are stronger scales are harder and they look more shining than before conditioning. If there is no time to do the training or lack of opponent, the fish can be kept in the conditioning container for another 2-3 weeks without harming anything. No water change is required during this conditioning, for up to 4 weeks.

http/www.atisonbetta.com/Fighter1.asp

Or does IAF sucks up ammonia and nitrites like crazy?

 

[cation]

Water changes larger than 15% on the filtered tanks will prevent beneficial bacteria from ever developing.

This is patently untrue. The tanks will cycle - it might take longer, but it will absolutely cycle. I don't even klnow why you would say this. The only way you could stop a filtered tank from cycling would be to completely eliminate the ammonia, either through a product like ammonia lock, or through 100% water changes, or always rinsed your filter media in chlorinasted water.. Anything else results in some level of ammonia remaining, which allows the bacteral colonies to begin forming.

 

[ral]

I got it from here:

Every couple of days, do a 10%-15% water change...

What if I am Still Having Problems?

If, after six to eight weeks of cycling, your ammonia and nitrite levels aren't satisfactory, you need to trouble shoot your situation.

* Did you treat the water you added to the tank to remove chlorine and chloramine? If you didn't the chlorine you added to the tank may have killed the bacteria who were trying to start the filter. Or the ammonia in the chloramine could be more than your new bacteria colony can handle.
* Did you do water changes regularly? This will remove excess waste before it kills the fish or the bacteria.
* Did you do moderate (10%-15%) water changes rather than large (20%-50%) water changes? Large water changes will stress the bacteria and fish, causing inadequate filtration, as well as removing the ammonia and nitrite the bacteria are trying to metabolize.

http/honors.montana.edu/~weif/firsttank/cycle.phtml]http/honors.montana.edu/~weif/firsttank/cycle.phtml

And they are talking every couple of days. Not every day or very other day.

Other say you can chnage up to 30% of the water:

Periodic testing of water chemistry will help to determine if a tank is on course during the break in period. (See the Typical Break In page that follows.) Break-in fish may show signs of distress, including rapid breathing, loss of appetite and skittishness during the peak times of the cycle. Partial water changes of up to 30% do not substantially affect the cycling time and dilute the harmful chemicals, at least temporarily. Cutting back on the feeding will also help keep levels in check.

http/www.bestfish.com/breakin.html

It would seem changing 50% percent of your water is like satartign the cycle all over again:

So if this happens, do a 50% water change, and start the fishless cycle process over again. Or, if you know the error you made that caused you to add too much ammonia, calculate the number of drops you should be adding, and add that amount, according to the recipe, which follows, in the next paragraph.

http/www.bluecrayfish.com/cycle.htm