No water changes at all!

[Barb]

Being a strict very- frequent- water- change- on- all- my- tanks gal, I am horrified at what my daughter and son in law are doing.  They have a 65 gal. tank with a Tilapia who is at least 12" long plus several African cichlids, deep gravel and lots of rocks.  They got the Tilapia as a 1" baby from a lfs long ago.  They NEVER change the water.  Only top off the evaporated water every few weeks or months.  The fish are swimming in sewage as far as I can tell.  And how on earth did this fish grow so large?  The cichlids are all 4-6" and raised in there from babies too.  And they feed the fish dry DOG FOOD.  Any ideas how this all can work?  They don't want or ask for my help or opinion so I keep quiet.  And I am a discus keeper so you know my water change routine!
Barb

[Mugwump]

Does seem rather bazaar??? Nitrates must be through the roof, and ammonia spikes frequent....do they perhaps have a sump?...maybe they change/service that??....plus...'dog food....Hmmmmm

[Barb]

Jon, they wouldn't even know what a sump is.  They have a med. size Penquin bio wheel HOB, nothing else.  No air pump and airstone, nothing.  I can barely stand to look in the tank since I know what the water quality is in there.  But it is always clear.  The Tilapia is huge!
Barb

[Mugwump]

Good grief...the original Rid-X users?......wow.....

[PaulineMi]

This reminds me of a friend's situation. She couldn't understand why I did so much with testing water and doing frequent water changes. She told me her husband doesn't do all that stuff and "his fish are fine". She said he only adds water to their tank when it evaporates.Then one day she told me her husband's fish were all dying and they couldn't figure out why. They got away with this for a long time though.   

Maybe there are probiotics in the dogfood. 

[BallAquatics]

Back in the day, this lead to what was know as "Old Tank Syndrome".  When I first started keeping fish, it wasn't uncommon for hobbyist to recommend NOT changing excessive amount of water.....  when you got everything just right, you didn't want to disturb the balance.   

Dennis

[Mugwump]

"old tank syndrome"....it's very common amongst some fish keeping 'experts'....er hobbyists   

[BillT]

I don't know about the other fish but Tilapia are renowned in the aquaculture industry for their tolerance of ammonia levels (and maybe the levels of other nitrogenous compounds).

If they have lots of gravels and rocks (rocks with little holes?) then denitrification could be going on in there.

This would leave the accumulation of built up compounds like minerals and other things that bacteria would not be able to eat to be explained.

Or maybe they do do an occasional water change.

[BallAquatics]

If they have lots of gravels and rocks (rocks with little holes?) then denitrification could be going on in there.

The Bailey brothers have a show where they talk about using lava rock in a denitrification system.....

http://www.petfishtalk.com/shows_special/denitrification/denitrification.htm

Dennis

[Frank The Plumber]

Tilapia can breathe surface air. They can live in very filthy waters. This is why I don't eat them.

[BallAquatics]

This is why I don't eat them.

When my sis was married to the hog farmer, some of the things I saw hogs and chickens do and eat was down right disgusting...  but I still eat both!



Dennis

[Frank The Plumber]

I did a survey for a company that was trying to remove the uric acid taste from pork. They gave us samples of several different types to see if we could taste the uric acid. Uric acid is by the way "Pee pee". Which pork tastes least pee pee ish? There was one that tasted very pee peed. These guys were genetically modifying the hogs to hold less uric acid within their bodies. Most hogs go nearly diabetic from the feeds that we use to fatten them quickly, their organs go almost dead from overload. This is why they taste pee pee ish. My sis in law is a hog farmer in S Ill. small scale.  In an experiment we feed a group of just regular old hog piglets a diet that was fairly lean and really nutritious. Apples, fruits, nuts, and clean scraps, veggies and forage items. We butchered them and they were sweet with no pee pee taste. Most hogs are fed heavily on food scraps from our industrial food machine. A lot of sugar and a lot of corn sugar scraps. High fat content feed and meal derived from animal by product. Blood guts bones and the like. This causes them to taste like pee pee. Chickens the same. Her chickens eat ants. God is that an awful tasting egg.

[PaulineMi]

When I had chickens they foraged naturally and were fed wholesome whole grains and our leftover fruits and veggies. The store bought eggs we get now are like water and taste bland compared to what we got from our chickens.

[BallAquatics]

That's how these chickens were as well Pauline.  They pretty much had the run of the field behind the main house and ate what ever it is that chickens find to eat.  The eggs were firm with bright orange yokes... not like the runny things they sell at the grocery.

As for the hogs, they raised all the grain for them on the farm.  It was 1200 acres back when farmers were still farmers and not agra-businessmen.  We had this big red machine that attached to the tractor and was powered by the PTO.  It was loaded with dried corn and a bag of vitamin & mineral supplements and then it was all ground and mixed. The sows with piglets got it mixed with water and the hogs in the fields got it dry in big feeders much like bird feeder where gravity lowered the food as it was consumed from the hopper.  Funny how I can remember all this, I was only 6 or 8 years old at the time.

Dennis

[Barb]

Thanks for all the good input here.  Last time there was a true water change in this tank was when they moved and the tank was moved, about 40 gal new water was added then.  And that was about 5 years ago.  It is a mystery to me, but I think Frank has the right idea, Tilapia can breathe air and can live in filthy water. The rocks in the tank are not  like lava rock, they are pieces of marble and granite slabs he got from some kitchen supply store.   
Barb