You already know by now that regular water changes are vital when maintaining any type of aquarium setup.
Water changes are necessary for nano and normal-sized tanks, regardless of the fish species you’re housing or how powerful the filtration system is.
Water changes, oxygenate the environment, remove floating particles, and dilute excess nitrates that could become toxic to your fish, among other things.
But what happens when your fish start dying because of it?
Fortunately, I’m here to explain things.
So, let’s see why some fish can experience, you know, death during or after water changes.
It’s rarely that fish die during water change unless the circumstances are really bad.
Normally, fish start dying soon after performing the water change, and there are several reasons for that.
We include here:
All tank fish have specific temperature ranges where they feel comfortable. For most, the ideal temperature falls in the 72-82 range when talking about tropical freshwater fish.
Others will go as low as 65 °F and feel comfortable around 68-74 °F, as is the case with the classical goldfish.
In this context, water changes are always opportunities for dramatic temperature shifts. Especially when changing a lot more water than you should.
The official recommended water volume to change is 10-20% of the total, but not all people stick to it.
Changing too much of the fish water at once and not measuring the water’s temperature before adding it to the tank can backfire fast.
Fish will showcase signs of stress if the temperature isn’t optimal or even experience temperature shock, which can kill them nearly instantly.
You can avoid this problem by monitoring the water temperature and maybe increasing it a bit before adding it to the tank. When you do add it, do it slowly, so as not to disturb the fish in the process.
Chlorine is a legitimate fish killer, with many aquarists not even realizing the danger.
Novice aquarists are the most vulnerable when it comes to poisoning their fish with chlorine which is highly toxic to them. The main source? Tap water.
Tap water is the preferred type when performing water changes which is understandable given its widespread availability.
The problem is that tap water contains lethal doses of chlorine – a chemical designed to sterilize the tap water and make it drinkable for us humans.
So, you need to dechlorinate the water before using it.
You have several options in this sense:
Always check the chlorine content in the water after any dechlorinating technique. Remember, this substance is deadly even in small doses.
The tank’s pH levels should remain stable to support your fish’s physiological functioning.
Each fish species demands specific pH levels and can experience health problems if they drop or increase above the safe threshold.
This usually happens after a massive water change, as the procedure dilutes the available nitrates beyond the same limit, sending fish into osmotic shock.
In other words, fish won’t be able to regulate the amount of minerals and water that they can absorb from their environment.
This can cause osmotic shock, which is deadly in most cases.
You should only change up to 20% of the tank water in one session. Anything above that can cause more problems than it can fix.
The main problem is that the tank water contains a variety of minerals and beneficial bacteria that play a critical role in the chemical stability of the ecosystem.
Changing too much of the water can imbalance the environment and cause drastic chemical fluctuations.
One of them is the ammonia boost that results from eradicating many of the colonies of beneficial bacteria.
We’ve just discussed the other problem: diluting water minerals and causing fish to experience osmosis stress and shock.
Most fish tanks only require moderate water changes, especially if you have a stable cleaning routine in place and your tank is cleaner and healthier overall.
You should always monitor water parameters before, during, and after every water change.
In this sense, you should keep an eye on the water temperature, pH, hardness, dissolved oxygen, the presence of ammonia and chlorine, etc.
This allows you to not only prevent but also identify problems in time so that you can handle them before further damages take place.
Fortunately, changing your fish’s water is easier than it sounds.
Consider the following steps:
After you’ve completed the water change, keep an eye on your fish for the following 24 hours and monitor water parameters in the meantime.
If everything checks, you’re good to go.
Every water change contributes to the well-being and stability of the system. You don’t need to go overboard with it.
One partial water change every 5-7 days should be enough to keep the tank water clean and well-oxygenated.
Do everything right, and your fish won’t have any reason to die in the process.
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