Petertilborghs Posted February 17, 2015 Report Share Posted February 17, 2015 Hi all Professional Discus breeders that grow the young discus out, change the water every day to get maximum growth rate in their young discus, this is that the discus releases a growth hormone ( some sort of hormone at least)that will stunt there grows rate particularly when keeping a large number discus in a tank hence reason to change the water every day to keep the hormone level in the water to a minimum Now the Question is will other species of young fish in a community with young discus have the same affect, as in slowing there grows rate if you only do a water change every 2 weeks peter, Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
none Posted February 17, 2015 Report Share Posted February 17, 2015 All fish release GIH. Discus breeders (and other breeders) who do large daily water changes do so primarily to remove the waste created by feeding high numbers of fish and to maintain good water conditions. In the average community tank doing a water change every two week is fine. You are attempting to compare two completely different things - highly stocked commercial setups and a community tank. Different ball park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danfishy84 Posted February 17, 2015 Report Share Posted February 17, 2015 Water changes dilute GIH and Nitrate. So long as you are not overstocked, and maintain your Nitrate levels in the acceptable range for your fish, GIH will not be a problem in a community tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petertilborghs Posted February 17, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2015 That`s what I thought just wasn`t shore great to get some feed back thank you Peter,Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hellboy Posted February 17, 2015 Report Share Posted February 17, 2015 So what does GIH stand for? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DFishkeeper Posted February 17, 2015 Report Share Posted February 17, 2015 So what does GIH stand for? Growth Inhibiting Hormone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danfishy84 Posted February 17, 2015 Report Share Posted February 17, 2015 Correct, though it is an old school term. A lot of readings nowadays refer to it as a substance not a hormone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pk333 Posted February 17, 2015 Report Share Posted February 17, 2015 What type of substance? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danfishy84 Posted February 17, 2015 Report Share Posted February 17, 2015 Cant remember the name of the substances but I recall they are excreted by glands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danfishy84 Posted February 17, 2015 Report Share Posted February 17, 2015 (edited) Will take a look after work or you could google GLS GIS. ***************** Obviously no scientist this end, but I have read a lot of debate over the existence and effect of both GIH and GIS, there is a good article to be found from The Conscientious Aquarist. You can find it on wetwebmedia. Basically the substances are metabolism by products, amino acids etc excreted by the exocrine. Where as growth hormone is from the endocrine. Either way whether GIH or GIS (I don't care), I believe growth rates are more likely chemically based than the old fish will grow to tank size bs. As I said, a lot of debate and debunking going on over these theories, hopefully someone with a PHD will chime in lol. Edited February 18, 2015 by danfishy84 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duckess Posted March 13, 2015 Report Share Posted March 13, 2015 I know this thread is a few weeks old now but it's worth chiming in that if you have young discus then I would still recommend at least once to twice a week water changes to keep them growing out well. Only changing the water every two weeks could still stunt their growth and stop them from growing out into a nice shape IMO. When we were breeding discus we changed water twice a week even when they were roughly half grown to keep them growing well in our community tanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
