Fish dead after 50% water change

[Fishperson]

First of all Jarrod, I want to say that I like your post a lot and I agree with the scientific part. But you've got to be more careful with your wording, especially if you want to have a lasting effect on a community.

I think all of us, when new, had a toxic water issue..went to forums and got told to change a high % of water . Everything seemed fine but in the morning....everything is dead.

Not only has this never happened to me, but I've never even heard of this occurring. I've been doing 50-80% water changes without consequence for years. I'm not saying it never happens but it certainly doesn't happen to all of us.

This is a fundamental underlying concept that most of us have seen but that the water change police just cannot grasp

... the water change police just cannot accept this. There mind cannot even see this as a possibility...it MUST be something else. To them, water changes CANNOT be bad. EVER. It is a extreme belief that is holding back the hobby.

Ok. Huge pet peeve of mine.

We get it. You disagree with the side of AA that is more traditional and set in their ways. But in every one of your posts you seem hell-bent on either insulting those that you are trying to persuade or doing whatever is possible to make yourself out as the victim.

Make your case; state your opinion, whatever, but do it without disrespecting people. Just tell us what you think and why; you don't need to get into what other people think. Doing things like this really doesn't help anyone.

By the way, I only say this because it's happened before and I just think it's important that we as a community hear what you have to say. The new almost always forces out the old, after all, but you can't expect to march in, tell people that they are wrong, insult them, and then expect them to change their opinion to agree with you.

OP, sorry for the hijack.

 

[jarrod0987]

First of all Jarrod, I want to say that I like your post a lot and I agree with the scientific part. But you've got to be more careful with your wording, especially if you want to have a lasting effect on a community.




Not only has this never happened to me, but I've never even heard of this occurring. I've been doing 50-80% water changes without consequence for years. I'm not saying it never happens but it certainly doesn't happen to all of us.



Ok. Huge pet peeve of mine.

We get it. You disagree with the side of AA that is more traditional and set in their ways. But in every one of your posts you seem hell-bent on either insulting those that you are trying to persuade or doing whatever is possible to make yourself out as the victim.

Make your case; state your opinion, whatever, but do it without disrespecting people. Just tell us what you think and why; you don't need to get into what other people think. Doing things like this really doesn't help anyone.

By the way, I only say this because it's happened before and I just think it's important that we as a community hear what you have to say. The new almost always forces out the old, after all, but you can't expect to march in, tell people that they are wrong, insult them, and then expect them to change their opinion to agree with you.

OP, sorry for the hijack.

I don't expect them too. I gave up on that. Sorry if I was cranky that day. That belief is a pet peve of mine. TBH I was all done even posting on the issue. That message was actually written for someone else who emailed me about how they were getting jumped on about Big WC dead fish issue even though they do WC all the time. I just happened to have written the explanation for them and I noticed the topic popped up to the top of the forum again. Decided to post it even though I knew it would just cause more problems. Attitudes can be just as harmful to the fish and the development of the community as hurt feelings. Also....How come no body cares about my or any other members feelings when we get called lazy or bad fish keepers for using supplemental methods? No body tells them hey don't be insulting.

 

[em1981ma]

Personally for Goldie's I think they benefit from bigger water changes I do 50% weekly. I think start as you mean to go on. So if you are going to do large water changes do it from the get go. So fish get used to it.

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[Minato]

Best way is to collect rain water or have couple gallons standing for weeks do de chlorinate naturally or in my case have 50l barrel with air pump usually 2-3 weeks before I use the water


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[PoppaRyno]

Ive done large WCs for years. Never lost fish to it. I dont see how someone can even say i see this all the time. Osmotic shock could be what caused it, but lets not push that as the answer. Because (to me) thats like saying, large WCs cause osmotic shock. Which is wrong. And can we not worry abt who gets on who for what (J). Were all adults here. Weve all been "GOTTEN ON" here. If osmotic shock was the culprit, then its because somebody didnt temper the water correctly to their existing tanks needs (temp, ph, tds, dechlor, etc....) always test your source water to see what your dealing with, and to see how you should prep it for use.

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[Fishperson]

Best way is to collect rain water or have couple gallons standing for weeks do de chlorinate naturally or in my case have 50l barrel with air pump usually 2-3 weeks before I use the water


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As far as I know this is not a good idea. Rainwater has a very low pH (5.6 I think) and unless your tank is of similar pH that would not be beneficial.

You'd be better off with two water treated with water conditioner, unless you have some way of adjusting the pH of the rainwater.

 

[sinibotia]

I'm sorry, the chemistry just doesn't add up. Something unusual would have had to have happened for water that is 6 weeks old to be so significantly different that a 50% water change would be lethal. 4 platys in a 29 gallon tank don't have the bioload to cause so much nitrate and remove so much carbonate, even if there had been no water changes in this tank. If this was a tank 6 months old, I'd agree with you, but I think you're just being the opposite of the water change police right now- so hell bent on it being the cause of the problem that you're trying to force it into a box where it just doesn't fit.

OP- I think maybe your local water company may have recently done something to flush the pipes. I know that happened here recently and I've heard of it causing water change problems in aquariums before (I tend to avoid water changes when it happens).

 

[gemach7]

Just realised you said net change in tank temp was -1 degrees and was still 79 degrees. Are you using warm water? The hot connections for water can contain dangerous levels of copper and other chemicals that bound to copper. This is more dangerous for sensitive fish and inverts but fish can also be killed by levels of copper that would seem quite low.

http://www.renewableresourcescoalit...scoalition.org/files/Woody_Copper_Effects.pdf


When doing a water change regardless of size always use only cold water.


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[jarrod0987]

Personally for Goldie's I think they benefit from bigger water changes I do 50% weekly. I think start as you mean to go on. So if you are going to do large water changes do it from the get go. So fish get used to it.

Sent from my Kestrel using Aquarium Advice mobile app

I agree with this completely. I used to do this approach on my 75 gal African Cichlid tank back in the early 2000's. Man those guy make a lot of emmm...Nitrates

 

[jarrod0987]

I'm sorry, the chemistry just doesn't add up. Something unusual would have had to have happened for water that is 6 weeks old to be so significantly different that a 50% water change would be lethal. 4 platys in a 29 gallon tank don't have the bioload to cause so much nitrate and remove so much carbonate, even if there had been no water changes in this tank. If this was a tank 6 months old, I'd agree with you, but I think you're just being the opposite of the water change police right now- so hell bent on it being the cause of the problem that you're trying to force it into a box where it just doesn't fit.

OP- I think maybe your local water company may have recently done something to flush the pipes. I know that happened here recently and I've heard of it causing water change problems in aquariums before (I tend to avoid water changes when it happens).

This is the thing about tap water. It can change and have issues for a few days here and there. Is one of the many issues that can cause osmotic shock on a new tank. It could have also been something like super high CO2 or a buffering "Accident" at the plant. Even so....That still makes the WC the killer of the fish. However, I have been getting"Hell Bent" on that issue lately. I apologize for being so nasty about it. It wasn't my intention but it has gotten that way.

 

[jarrod0987]

Ive done large WCs for years. Never lost fish to it. I dont see how someone can even say i see this all the time. Osmotic shock could be what caused it, but lets not push that as the answer. Because (to me) thats like saying, large WCs cause osmotic shock. Which is wrong. And can we not worry abt who gets on who for what (J). Were all adults here. Weve all been "GOTTEN ON" here. If osmotic shock was the culprit, then its because somebody didnt temper the water correctly to their existing tanks needs (temp, ph, tds, dechlor, etc....) always test your source water to see what your dealing with, and to see how you should prep it for use.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

+1 Agree with that 100%. It is time and money consuming to run a full battery of tests every time you do a big WC just in case right? I'm starting to think a TDS meter might be more useful to tank water then I really thought. Still...I agree this is the reason why some people can do big ones for years without issue. Because they are always doing them and so the levels stay pretty stable. Unless something happens at the tap there in good shape probably. One of the things I really wish I had was little warning light on my tap that told me if CO2 was higher then usual