Mopani, Water Changes and Ich

[Nemo]

I setup a new 29g aquarium with two pieces of Mopani wood. Eventhough I had
soaked the wood for several days prior to putting it in the tank, it is
still leaching tannin into the water turning it yellow.

I have 5 plants, few platies and a school of neon tetra in the tank. I know
the neons like the stuff, but I figured the platies may not enjoy it. To
this end, I have been doing 25% water changes on a daily basis to keep the
water from turning into Mopani tea. I thought the water changes may also
reduce nitrogen peaks in this early stage of tank development (the tank was
cycled prior to adding the fish).

Last night I discovered ich on the fins of some of the tetras. Thinking back
now, I think the water changes were the most significant factor in causing
the outbreak. I was to blame, of course, because I was not heating the new
water prior to adding it to the tank. My tank runs at about ~26C (79F). The
new water temperature is about 20C which is the ambient temperature in the
house.

The obvious lesson learnt from this is that one should throw a heater in the
water bucket while it is aging so that the fish are not thermally stressed
due to water changes. What I would like to know, however, is this: What
effect will the tannin have on platies? Can I reduce the frequency of my
water changes to twice weekly, say, if the pH remains within acceptable
range?

The pH of the tank is measures in the vicinity of 7.2 now, considering my
current frequent water changes. My tap water has a pH of 8.0+

[Cris]

The fish won't be affected by the tannins. The wood will only lower
the ph if your water is already very soft - and even then, very
slowly. As for the color, it will continue coloring the water for
about a year. I boiled mine lots of times, which makes it release the
tannins much more quickly. I kept it soaking in a bucket for 4 months
before giving up and putting it in the tank anyway. You can use
carbon in your filter to clear the color - but the carbon will last
less than a week - and it gets very expensive to keep changing it.
Finally after a year it has stopped significantly coloring the water!

Btw - Some people like the tea colored water. Some fish prefer it as
well - like Discus and killifish.

Cris


On Wed, 17 Dec 2003 10:55:19 -0500, "Nemo" > wrote:

>I setup a new 29g aquarium with two pieces of Mopani wood. Eventhough I had
>soaked the wood for several days prior to putting it in the tank, it is
>still leaching tannin into the water turning it yellow.
>
>I have 5 plants, few platies and a school of neon tetra in the tank. I know
>the neons like the stuff, but I figured the platies may not enjoy it. To
>this end, I have been doing 25% water changes on a daily basis to keep the
>water from turning into Mopani tea. I thought the water changes may also
>reduce nitrogen peaks in this early stage of tank development (the tank was
>cycled prior to adding the fish).
>
>Last night I discovered ich on the fins of some of the tetras. Thinking back
>now, I think the water changes were the most significant factor in causing
>the outbreak. I was to blame, of course, because I was not heating the new
>water prior to adding it to the tank. My tank runs at about ~26C (79F). The
>new water temperature is about 20C which is the ambient temperature in the
>house.
>
>The obvious lesson learnt from this is that one should throw a heater in the
>water bucket while it is aging so that the fish are not thermally stressed
>due to water changes. What I would like to know, however, is this: What
>effect will the tannin have on platies? Can I reduce the frequency of my
>water changes to twice weekly, say, if the pH remains within acceptable
>range?
>
>The pH of the tank is measures in the vicinity of 7.2 now, considering my
>current frequent water changes. My tap water has a pH of 8.0+
>