Maximum Number of Water Changes?

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jonathan03

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Feb 12, 2005
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I have a jaguar cichlid that has pop eye from the bad water in my tank. The problem is that the undergravel filter has not been pulling the waste from under the filter plates so it has been collecting into a huge mess.

I have changed the water Thrusday night, Friday morning, and am thinking of doing it again on Saturday or Sunday. Both times I changed half the water. I was only able to remove two sections of the undergravel filter during the water change. This is because I was very careful not to stir up the waste in the water and vacuumed very well. I have a 55 gallon tank, but the person I bought the tank from decided to put in an undergravel filter with 4 pecies and only two tubes for powerheads! I have been using the tank for 5+ years and just found out now - the hard way.

Anyway, the waste from the undergravel filter is generating spikes in the water. I don't have a test kit, but I'm sure something is wrong because the water is cloudy and has a bad smell to it. It doesn't smell like ammonia, but a different kind of smell that I have never smelled before. Its not really an awful smell, but its not roses either.

My question is, how soon can I change the water again? I have always tried to never change the water more than once a week, but this tank is incredibly dirty and my fish is sick. I have been siphoning the gravel in weekly water changes, but there is still an extremly large amount of waste that has gotten stuck in the filter plates. Would it be ok to do two 50% water changes in one day? How far apart should 50% water changes be? My tank is fully cycled as it has been running for about 5 years.
 
So long as the water you're refilling with is dechlorinated, the same pH and the same temp, you really can't do too many changes.
 
Agreed - you can do as many as you need to as long as you make sure the water is dechlorinated and match the temperature to the tank. I hope your fish recovers. Keeping the tank as clean as you are should really help him heal :)
 
I would pitch that undergravel filter and start doing some thourough gravel cleaning,and also put an aqua clear 500 "hob" filter on there
 
Thanks for the help. I think the tank is on the turn around at least, but I'm not sure about the fish. The undergravel filter is removed and will never be used again.

The model that was in my tank made it impossible for any waste to be sucked from the middle of the tank. The undergravel filter plates each had a border that complely surrounded them on all sides. So the border was blocking the suction in the middle of the tank. The lesson is to always check out the undergravel filter in a used tank :-p The gravel is now completly spotless (but only after 4 50% water changes).

Also, I noticed the tank has kind of a musty smell. I'm not usre how to describe it, but the smell doesn't seem like ammonia. All the other tanks I have are ordorless. Does this mean this is still a problem?

Is pop eye a cureable diesease? I have read some accounts where it has been cured and others where it hasn't. One link I found said that there is a viral and a bacterial strain. I'm just owndering how to tell which kind my fish has. Would raising the water temperature help any? I have it at 76, just like it usually is.
 
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jonathan03 said:
Thanks for the help. I think the tank is on the turn around at least, but I'm not sure about the fish. The undergravel filter is removed and will never be used again.

The model that was in my tank made it impossible for any waste to be sucked from the middle of the tank. The undergravel filter plates each had a border that complely surrounded them on all sides. So the border was blocking the suction in the middle of the tank. The lesson is to always check out the undergravel filter in a used tank :-p The gravel is now completly spotless (but only after 4 50% water changes).

Also, I noticed the tank has kind of a musty smell. I'm not usre how to describe it, but the smell doesn't seem like ammonia. All the other tanks I have are ordorless. Does this mean this is still a problem?

Is pop eye a cureable diesease? I have read some accounts where it has been cured and others where it hasn't. One link I found said that there is a viral and a bacterial strain. I'm just owndering how to tell which kind my fish has. Would raising the water temperature help any? I have it at 76, just like it usually is.
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This musty smell, is it sort of a loamy/earthy smell? If so, that's kind of common to tanks. To address the diagnosis of popeye, it is pretty hard to do. I don't know the raising the temp would do too much on virii or bacteria. I know our bodies will run fever to help the fight, but fish are much more fragile when it comes to high temps than we are, so I am not certain of a direct relation there. I know elevated temps will help in treatments of certain parasites, but they are different altogether than a virus.
 
Popeye can be difficult to impossible to cure. You're on the right track though with correcting your water quality problems. I'd recommend 50% water changes daily for a week or so, then maybe 2-3 times a week for awhile. Also, keep a close eye on ammonia and nitrite levels and do water changes as necessary to keep them down.

Popeye won't be quickly or easily cured in most cases. If it were me, I'd also use a broad spectrum antibiotic for treatment (Maracyn-Two, Tetracycline, etc). While there are other causes of popeye (tuberculosis, viral, etc), the most likely cause is a bacterial infection and I'm not certain there are any treatments available for the other causes? At this point, I don't see where antibiotics would hurt and they have a good chance of helping his condition.

Good luck! Hope everything works out for you and your fish has a full recovery :)
 
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