If a larger water change is necessary, back to back 50% water changes are required so as not to shock the Goldfish with pH swings. If they differ by more than 0.5, 50% is the maximum water change you should perform in one go. I cannot stress the importance of switching off electrical components prior to performing tank maintenance. I've had a nasty shock before and it can easily happen again. Switch off your filters and any heaters you have. If your fish are the 'Get me out of here!' sort, you will need a plastic tub filled with tank water, a cup, colander or small bucket/tub to move the fish (nets can cause damage to the slime coat and should be avoided) and a bit of frozen blood worm for them to snack on whilst they're in the tub always goes down a charm!ġ.

Some fish prefer to stay in the tank during a water change, some prefer to be removed.A towel - why tempt fate? It's inevitable, you're going to get wet.(Optional) A Python (or similar) water changer, pond pump and tubing.To perform a water change, you will need to get your water changing equipment together It's back breaking work, but worth every second for healthy fish I was a member of the Bucket Brigade for a long time and manually changed 300 gallons of water (I have a lot of tanks!), 2.5gallons at a time, every day. Regular water changes will replace these electrolytes and minerals and your fish will surely thank you for them.Ī bucket and siphon and elbow grease is enough to perform water changes. your tap water! Over time, the Goldfish will use these minerals and electrolytes and they will need replacing, to ensure your fish remain in optimum health. Goldfish also use minerals and electrolytes found in water that has been running through rocks for millions of years. The DOCs will also build up in the substrate, so regular vacuums will also help remove them. Food, waste and other organic material is colonised by bacteria which break them down into fine particulate and dissolved in the water column. Bulging eyes are a common symptom of stunting and are not to be confused with Telescope eyes.ĭissolved organic compounds (DOCs) will also need removing from the aquarium manually. Stunting is the process in which a Goldfish isn't able to grow its body stays small, whilst its internal organs continue to grow putting pressure on them and causing slow and painful death. Goldfish excrete hormones, which can cause stunting if they build up. There are other things in our tank water that we don't test for. 2×25%water changes = 43.75% water change. When we perform a second 25% water change, 25% of that water we are removing is freshwater and 75% is old water, meaning we add a total 18.75% fresh water, as the other 6.25% was already fresh. When we change 25% of the water, we replace it with 25% fresh water. When we change 50% of the water, we are replacing that water with 50% fresh water. 2×25% water changes is not equal to one 50% water change. If your nitrates are 20ppm, a 50% water change will reduce them to 10ppm and a 75% water change will reduce them to 5ppm. Whilst not as toxic to our Goldfish as Ammonia and Nitrite, Nitrates are still lethal in high numbers.

A reading of over 40ppm nitrates is considered high, ideally we want our nitrates to be 20ppm and under and we want them to be as low as possible. Ammonia is broken down into nitrites and then into nitrates, which we manually remove. Nitrates are the end product of the Nitrogen Cycle. Water changes and daily monitoring are vital during this time. You would have a reading for these if your tank is either not cycled or is going through a cycle bump. These toxins, even in small amounts can cause stress, induce illness and disease and even cause fatality. A cycled tank would not have a reading for either of these as they would have been converted by the nitrifying bacteria. If ammonia or nitrite are present, we must perform a water change. When we test our water (with our liquid test kit), we test for Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrates. We perform water changes for a number of different reasons, the first one is to remove waste.

Goldfish aquarium water change