Activity and water quality?

[Rod]

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

[Martin Thoene]

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.

[Rod]

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

[TammyLiz]

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

[Rod]

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...