water change woes

[Stryker]

I have a rather strange problem. At this time (owing to the problem) I have a 100 litre tank with two 1.5" goldfish. Thats right just plain old goldfish I'm making this post as soon I'll be given a 130 litre-ish tank in which I'm going to keep tropical fish.

The problem is whenever I do a 20% water change my fish seem to suffer. Now I have a 10 litre watering can which is brand new and used just for the fish. I treat the water with "stress coat" which is supposed to neutralise chlorine instantly.

Last night I did just a 10% water change and sure enough this morning I noticed my fish were not looking too perky and the one fish's fin looked a little limp. They are no way as bad as before so I'm sure they will recover.

So what goes on? I'll be buying an amonia and PH testing kit this weekend, I suspect the water change is hitting my good bacteria, but if so.... how? I live in the west midlands so I'm sure my water is not too hard.

I'm just looking for any other avenues of investigation before I start offing pretty tropical fish.

PS I've read just about every scrap of info on this site

Thanks in advance, PS great forum!

 

[Cheese Specialist]

Does stress coat work for chloramina as well? This can be found in tap water. Your fish should not be reacting in this way. Do you temapature match the water?

 

[Stryker]

Thanks Mr Cheese,

I dont think the stress coat does remove chloramina. I'll be looking for something else to use I think.

Fish were fine last night, thats about 36 hours since the 10% water change.

 

[Cheese Specialist]

Thanks Mr Cheese,

I dont think the stress coat does remove chloramina. I'll be looking for something else to use I think.

Fish were fine last night, thats about 36 hours since the 10% water change.

That's a long time. I think you should get a new condtioner that is only for doing that. Stress coat is used for other things as well and so can still be useful.

Oh and it's Miss Cheese

 

[Tempestuousfury]

Chlorine and chloramine are two different things, by the way. So I'm guessing your stress coat neutralizes the former? If so, you should do water tests on your tap water to see if it has high amounts of chlorine and if it has any chloramine (and how much if it does). Then buy treatments accordingly.