# Video: Fast water change



## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

Phillipines. Discus farm. No filtration at all.

That's how they change water 2 times every single day. I guess the water comes from a natural source.






--Nikolay


----------



## houseofcards (Feb 16, 2005)

My wife would kill me if I did a water change that way.


----------



## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

So much for not stressing the fish!


----------



## Ekrindul (Jul 3, 2010)

They don't look stressed to me. They're huge with beautiful coloring. Discus don't look like that if things aren't going good.

So much for the fish needing a stable water chemistry baloney. All the comments on that page from the myth bearers is pretty funny. The evidence of those giant healthy fish is right in front of them and they are crying "You're killing them!"


----------



## marcio (Jan 18, 2011)

Ekrindul said:


> They don't look stressed to me. They're huge with beautiful coloring. Discus don't look like that if things aren't going good.
> 
> So much for the fish needing a stable water chemistry baloney. All the comments on that page from the myth bearers is pretty funny. The evidence of those giant healthy fish is right in front of them and they are crying "You're killing them!"


That's a very good point for discussion... I think what we are seeing is a Darwinian selection (man is the main agent so maybe it is artificial selection, but still) where only the hardy, "I don't care aboout all this chaos" fish are becoming the norm because all those that don't, well... they never make it to Malaisian tank, let alone to a USA store. I recall twenty years ago when most discus were wild caught (at least in Brazil) and they were super sensitive to everything... now these guys are blasted twice a day with water (soft? hard? who knows?) and seem to thrive on a crowded tank with no vegetation.


----------



## Ekrindul (Jul 3, 2010)

marcio said:


> That's a very good point for discussion... I think what we are seeing is a Darwinian selection (man is the main agent so maybe it is artificial selection, but still) where only the hardy, "I don't care aboout all this chaos" fish are becoming the norm because all those that don't, well... they never make it to Malaisian tank, let alone to a USA store. I recall twenty years ago when most discus were wild caught (at least in Brazil) and they were super sensitive to everything... now these guys are blasted twice a day with water (soft? hard? who knows?) and seem to thrive on a crowded tank with no vegetation.


Probably very true. Although, I imagine it has much more to do with disease and the stress of captivity than water chemistry. The natural environments of fish are far from stable. I also imagine there is a correlation between osmotic stress tolerances among wild caught and selectively bred fish that would explain the sensitivity. Much more so than claims that temperature and ph are important, since fish encounter fluctuations in these parameters every day in the wild. Yet, people still dump buffers in their tanks, probably doing the harm they're trying to avoid.

I think what this also shows us is how in this hobby a myth can live on and on even when it is shown to be not true. This is probably due in large part to the fact that the veterinary profession doesn't play a role in fishkeeping; our knowledge of fish health is mostly self-help and asking around. This can lead to some really piss poor inference that is never challenged by someone with the authority to make it stick.


----------



## fishyjoe24 (May 18, 2010)

as a person who use to have discus before planted tanks, and yes I had wild caught ones.. it depends on the discus.. the main thing is having a healthy stock and feeding them good food.. I see people doing water changes every day.... it's not needed all I did was 30& water changes two times a week in a 55g with aged water that I stored in a trash can(that had never had anything in bought new from wallmart)..and feed them 3 times a day, with blood worms, beefheart, and flakes.. started with 2.5 inch discus and could get them to 4.5-5.5 inches in 6-8 months.
my filter was nothing more then a medium rated for a 29 gallon, and I stuffed the 55g and I remember I had 25-30 discus all different sizes from 1.5 to 5.5 inches. bare bottom helps a lot. I also would syphon the food out each day... 


I bet john nichelson(spelling?) caddo mills john wouldn't even say anything about the video, neither would txredneck Jon...


----------

