Happy fish Mom

I did a major water change, gravel vac and remodel on my tank yesterday. Took out a couple of things and added a piece of driftwood, After I got finished I noticed that my largest long finned black skirt tetra was acting strange and seemed to be losing his color. His black fins were a light gray color and he would occasionally kinda fall over sideways. All of my black fins have a red stripe running the length of their bodies but most of the time it is barely noticeable. His was really pronounced. I was so upset because I really thought I might have stressed him to death..

I was so happy to see him alive, well and back to his normal color and actions this morning. All of this to say, Fish will let you know that they are not happy with what you are doing so it seems to be best to just do one thing at a time over a long period of time instead of all of it at the same time. I learned a very valuable lesson and luckily I didn't have to pay the price of losing one of my fish learning the lesson.

 

Hello mattg...

Even something as healthy as a water change can harm the inhabitants. If the fish are used to small water changes and have adapted to living in tank water with a higher level of nitrogen and low levels of trace elements, a much larger than normal water change will stress them. In this case, too much of a good thing can be fatal.

Old

 

You're right Oldsalt. I did change a bit more water than normal too. They were used to 10 gallons. They got 12 yesterday.

 

I am glad you didn't loose any of your fish!

I have been pretty lucky in that my fish tolerate me doing random big water changes and filter changes, but this does remind me I need to be careful!

 

Thank you Secretive. I was very lucky. I really love these little guys and try my best to keep their home safe for them. Fortunately for them I pretty much have their home the way I want it so now their stress level should stay at zero.

They had gotten used to the water changes but the remodel was almost more than they could take. I do want to eventually switch over to live plants but I will do that very slowly.