How often do you vacuum - can there be too much?

[Noviceafter2yea]

Thanks everyone. I did a vacuum yesterday of about 60% of the water. I think I sent one of my new cories into upset. This morning I found it listless sort of lying on its side. It had cloudy eye in one and pop eye in the other. The one with pop eye was red.

I removed and treated with 1/10 of tsp of melafix in 1.5 gallons of water for about an hour. I slowly returned him to the main tank in a breeding container to observe. It,was,breathing heavily and it looked as though it had some red near the gill. He lay on the bottom for a while and then jolted a few times and rolled onto its side. I removed it and put it in a clear pretreated container and it died within seconds. Upon looking at it after,death, it seemed to have a yellow bump on its side that was not present when he was alive.

I did a bunch of reading up and the common theme of my research was,not to do too great of a water change at once. It may kick up ammonia levels even though I pretreat with prime and stress guard. He didn't have odd behavior last night.

None of my other cories is displaying abnormal behaviors of bodily changes. One of my bleeding heart tetras looked bloated which was what prompted me to do the water change last night instead of this morning. Prior to the water change I did the smashed pea thing, but the tetra didn't have any.

At least today, the tetra seems less bloated, but not entirely back to normal. Nevertheless, it is swimming around and not isolating.

I always feel guilty when a fish does. I will have to get another soon as there are only 4 now and they need at least another one.

 

[Fishobsessed7]

I vacuum the whole tank when I do wc's


Fishobsessed7

 

[Noviceafter2yea]

I vacuum the whole tank when I do wc's


Fishobsessed7

But you have that plethora of waste from the discus. Apparently cories are very sensitive to large water changes. Maybe if I just vacuumed 40% I could have avoided it. Guess I will never know.

 

[Noviceafter2yea]

Oops, sorry, that wasn't you. My bad.

 

[mikem691]

But you have that plethora of waste from the discus. Apparently cories are very sensitive to large water changes. Maybe if I just vacuumed 40% I could have avoided it. Guess I will never know.

Even my tank with cories gets a 50% weekly with gravel vac. Never had a problem

 

[jfclk33]

I have Discus also.

I have bare bottom.

I do 50-75% WC's every other day and 100% on weekends.

On every other WC, I vacuum because of this. View attachment 251642


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Do you have juveniles or full grown discus in your tank?

I was just curious if you were doing that many water changes on a grow out tank, or if that is your main tank?
Also, how do you do a 100% water change?

Sorry OP, I don't mean to hijack your thread. I just didn't think it appropriate to start a whole new thread to ask a specific person one or two questions.

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[Fishobsessed7]

But you have that plethora of waste from the discus. Apparently cories are very sensitive to large water changes. Maybe if I just vacuumed 40% I could have avoided it. Guess I will never know.

I have cories In my tank and have never had any issues with them and wc's. I wish I had discus


Fishobsessed7

 

[treemanone2003]

Do you have juveniles or full grown discus in your tank?

I was just curious if you were doing that many water changes on a grow out tank, or if that is your main tank?
Also, how do you do a 100% water change?

Sorry OP, I don't mean to hijack your thread. I just didn't think it appropriate to start a whole new thread to ask a specific person one or two questions.

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I consider mine to be all full grown. The two largest are 6.5". The next three are over 4.5" but not yet 5". They are all in my DT.

My method of a 100% WC is to get my incoming water temp up to my existing temp before I suck all the water out. I then drain the tank dry (python) and as soon as it's empty, flip the valve over to fill the tank. While the tank is draining and I'm setting my fill temp water, I add API Stress Coat and Stress Zyme to a 2g pitcher of tap water for the size of the tank. Dump that in as soon as it's empty with the fill valve on, and sit back with a beverage.

P.S. I've you ever just have a question or two for a particular person on the forum, sending a PM is always an option.


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[Masha]

Thanks everyone. I did a vacuum yesterday of about 60% of the water. I think I sent one of my new cories into upset. This morning I found it listless sort of lying on its side. It had cloudy eye in one and pop eye in the other. The one with pop eye was red.

I removed and treated with 1/10 of tsp of melafix in 1.5 gallons of water for about an hour. I slowly returned him to the main tank in a breeding container to observe. It,was,breathing heavily and it looked as though it had some red near the gill. He lay on the bottom for a while and then jolted a few times and rolled onto its side. I removed it and put it in a clear pretreated container and it died within seconds. Upon looking at it after,death, it seemed to have a yellow bump on its side that was not present when he was alive.

I did a bunch of reading up and the common theme of my research was,not to do too great of a water change at once. It may kick up ammonia levels even though I pretreat with prime and stress guard. He didn't have odd behavior last night.

None of my other cories is displaying abnormal behaviors of bodily changes. One of my bleeding heart tetras looked bloated which was what prompted me to do the water change last night instead of this morning. Prior to the water change I did the smashed pea thing, but the tetra didn't have any.

At least today, the tetra seems less bloated, but not entirely back to normal. Nevertheless, it is swimming around and not isolating.

I always feel guilty when a fish does. I will have to get another soon as there are only 4 now and they need at least another one.

I'm sorry about your fish, I also feel terrible when a fish dies.
However I don't think the cause here is simply from stress at the water change. It really sounds as though there was something else wrong already.

I also don't understand how a larger water change could up ammonia levels that sounds unlikely?

Did you test the water?

 

[Noviceafter2yea]

I'm sorry about your fish, I also feel terrible when a fish dies.
However I don't think the cause here is simply from stress at the water change. It really sounds as though there was something else wrong already.

I also don't understand how a larger water change could up ammonia levels that sounds unlikely?

Did you test the water?

I did test the water.
Am 0
N2 0
N3 15-20
Ph 8.1
Temp 78 Fahrenheit

The large water change and vacuum kicks up all the un dissolved food and waste. 3 of my cories were new additions, so maybe it had something to do with that and the bio load. Although, I would think that would more upset the existing inhabitants, not one of the newbies.

The only reason I thought possible ammonia increase because there was some red near the gills.

 

[Masha]

I do regular gravel vacuums, so I don't really get a lot of stuff stirred up... There isn't any to stir up. I have heard of cases where stirring up dirty gravel caused a mini cycle. So I suppose it is possible that could cause ammonia

But that would show in the test, and your test seems fine.

Maybe the corie already had something wrong with it before you bought it?

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[Noviceafter2yea]

I suppose it could have had something. Seemed healthy and vibrant, but definetly possible.