Rubik's_Anonymous

I just did a complete cleaning of the gravel using a manual gravel pump, and performed a 25% water change. I have a couple of questions though.

1. Does this stress out the fish? It seems like it would
2. It appears that the water is a blue color. I am assuming this is particles from the gravel. Will this settle?
3. How often should I perform a water change / gravel cleaning and what % of water should I remove?

Thank you all. I have a 15 gallon aquarium.

BlowPhish

1- If you move slowly it shouldn't be very stressful for your fish.
2- That's strange. I'm not sure what that is maybe a dye of some sort?
3- Remove anywhere from 10-40% as often as you can. The more the better. Fish in the wild are getting daily water changes You don't have to change the water every other day though. Try to do it once a week if you can. Keep it under 50%

Nick G

I doubt if the fish like it much, but it won't stress them too much. I'm assuming your gravel is blue? If so then yes it will settle. As for water changes, 25% weekly and a gravel vac should be fine, depending on the amount/type of fish you have.

Shawnie

if your tank is cycled, you only need a water change once a week ....is the tank new? did you change the gravel or medicate the tank lately to get some blue? is your gravel blue or any new decoration you added that could have some blue dye in it?

Rubik's_Anonymous

Thanks for all the answers guys.

THe gravel is blue, the tank is about 1 month old or a little more. I never changed the gravel and the decorations are not blue.

I just want to be sure this will settle

Nick G

What fish do you have?

BlowPhish

Welcome. What kind of fish are you stocking? Are you using a water conditioner?

Rubik's_Anonymous

Hey there!

I am stocking freshwater tropical fish, specifically 2 black mollies, a dalmatian molly, an orange sword tail, 3 kuhli loaches, and 2 other very different tropical fish. I'm not complete sure what you mean by water conditioner, but i used stress coat to make the water safe I added.

agabr123

do you know what the other two tropical fish are? you sound like you're a bit overstocked. do you have stress coat or stress coat +? just the regular stress coat doesn't do what you need it to do, which is detoxify ammonia. i'd suggest picking up some Prime, which detoxifies ammonia, and removes chlorines, chloramines, and heavy metals.

BlowPhish

When you do your water changes you want to add in water conditioner with the new water so that the harmful chemicals are removed. That way your good bacteria in your filter will not get killed and you'll keep harmful things like ammonia to a minimum.