Water Changes

[ddm18]

Hi,

Something that's perplexed (good word, eh?) me for a while - I know that people say that water changes are stressful to the fish, and I have no reason to disbelieve that, but why is it? Is it that the water gets agitated when you put it back in (in which case you could avoid it by putting the water in slowly), or is it that the fish are aware that the water level is dropping and naturally find this worrying?

Anyone know? Probably not, unless you're actually a fish...

 

[Teelie]

I think it's a mix of that and the fact the water conditions get changed when you add water to the aquarium. Added water is never the same as the water already in there. It's always got higher or lower levels of something and in some cases, lacks anything like in the case of RO water.

 

[heresmike]

I'd have to say that it's the process of changing the water more than the change in water itself. Being in there with the siphon is not something the fish are used to, so they might get stressed. And adding the new water creates agitation in the water, which therefore could cause stress. The water parms in my tank remain relatively stable (ammo/nitrites always 0, nitrates never over 20, pH stable) and are very close to the water I add in, so I don't think the new water conditions causes any stress. On the contrary, I think it makes them happy! So when I do water changes, I move slowly with the siphon, and add the water gently so as to reduce stress.

 

[cutecotton]

i agree, when you make water changes, the stuff in the new water differs from the stuff in the old water, whether in temperature, mineral contain, pH, and all that other stuff.

not to mention teh syphoning and pouring the water back in and disdturbing everything in the tank sorta gets them worrying

 

[Teelie]

My fish are actually used to the siphon and some are actually curious about it and come "sniffing" around it.

 

[heresmike]

My fish are actually used to the siphon and some are actually curious about it and come "sniffing" around it.

Yeah, the fish in some of my tanks are used to it too, and actually chase the poop up the siphon, thinking it's something to eat! The congo tetras in my 29gallon, on the other hand, get really freaked out by the siphon and try to dig themselves into the sand. You'd think they'd be used to it by now!

 

[cutecotton]

i htink one of my bettas tried to do that, until the syphon caught a bit of his tail and almost send him flying up the tube

since hten he always hides in the corner while i vaccum

 

[njnauticalnut]

As I was reading through this topic, I had this random thought, it happens! My dogs hate when I vacuum and usually stay away from it. I used to have a dog that barked at the vacuum. So obviously they get stressed out from it.

This thought lead me to another question, why does stress in fish cause disease? I know that stress causes disease even in humans, but it seems that for fish it happens much more quickly.

Oh well, I'm done rambling....

 

[Teelie]

Stress causes disease in humans and fish because it puts a strain on the immune system and weakens it. There's a lot of explanation behind why stress weakens the immune system but I'm not going into it.

 

[Max Action]

Oddly, I happened to have this bookmarked, on the topic ... http/www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/200...s-ssa010804.php

 

[CFC]

It all depends on the fish, not all fish get stressed by water changes, my large fish just carry on with their business as i vacume around them and sometimes even have to be gently pushed out of the way so i can vacume under their caves and wood.
Small fish become stressed by instinct, in the wild something like 80% of predatation comes from birds so they instintively try to escape from shadows above the water and things entering the water, the end of a syphon triggers this instinct. More intelligent fish will learn that the syphon is harmless and that as it stirs the bottom up may releases small particals of food to eat, others like tetras and barbs will continue to think that the world is ending at every water change.

 

[Guppylover]

My fish love it when I water change, only when I first got them they were really stressed out but after a while I they love it. Always swimming near the surface just waiting for me to poor the water in, in when I do they swim around it. ^__^

 

[karrihug]

in my 55 gal the fish are so curious i can barely vac at all. had to buy ghost shrimp to help out. there are so many fish around teh syphon that if i move it much i am in danger of sucking someone up . but between my ottos and cories and the ghost shrimp i barely need to vac now, the ghost shrimp actually eat the fish poo . then when i put the water back in they all fight over who gets to swim in the stream of incoming water . no stress that i have noticed