Loaches Online Forum

Can water quality effect how much your loaches swim about??

Yes, absolutely Rod. I'm not saying that inferior water quality necessarily makes them lethargic, but certainly many loaches get very lively shortly after a water-change which seems to suggest that it invigorates them.

Martin.

Cheers
I sure have noticed that...They go Bannanas for a week or so then, I dont see them nearly as much.

Yes, its a good idea to do 20-30% water changes once a week, at least twice a month. I skipped one water change last week and if you read my thread you'll see that martin possibly hit the nail on the head and my fish are already getting irritated. I didn't used to do so many water changes, but then again, I used to constantly lose fish that weren't known to be very hardy. Doing a large water change after they have been neglected for a while, you can actually kill sensitive fish. Unfortunately I know this from experience. When I was in college I had a tank at home that I only cleaned on breaks. Once I didn't go home for break because I was tied up with commitments at school. When I went home I came back to a tank full of fish my mom had been feeding, did a water change, and lost half the stock that evening. I know the same thing can happen on a smaller scale, stressing the fish instead of killing them, when you neglect water changes for a shorter amount of time. For stupid me it was several months but IMO anything more than 2 weeks is pretty bad. Small and frequent water changes are so much better.

Tammy

Sounds like the go..
I have kept fish for a long while now, but only did 3 to 4 weekly changes. Now I have sold a few tanks I can be more consistent.
CHEERS...