Water Change question

[PaintingPintos]

People say a lot that doing a 75% or 100% water change is too much for a tropical fish like a betta...
May I ask why?
I only have a 3 gallon tank and it doesn't really seem like you can cycle those.
I love big water changes because they're much easier and it works fine with the goldfish, but how about bettas....
I'm just really confused here!!!

[miish]

I do weekly 100% water changes and my fish does fine :) (my tank in not cycled)
It's hard to cycle anything under 5 gallons I think. In smaller uncycled tanks the bigger water changes are okay/better to avoid ammonia!

I think what is confusing is that big water changes are not so good for cycled tanks because then they can become unstable again.

I'm pretty sure that's how it goes!

[PaintingPintos]

Originally Posted by miish

I do weekly 100% water changes and my fish does fine :) (my tank in not cycled)
It's hard to cycle anything under 5 gallons I think. In smaller uncycled tanks the bigger water changes are okay/better to avoid ammonia!

I think what is confusing is that big water changes are not so good for cycled tanks because then they can become unstable again.

I'm pretty sure that's how it goes!

Oh GOOD! I did a 100% water change today because when I do the 50% it just stirs up whatever I couldn't reach and the tank gets cloudy!
Anyway the tank looks fantastic and it makes me so happy to see Omelette and Ash toodling around ^____^

[miish]

Yay :) ! Yeah, sometimes I do a 50% change part way through the week if it's needed but they defs don't get the small tank as clean looking as 100%

[Kenny G]

I never do 100% water changes because betta's have good bacteria in the tanks that they need to keep them healthy. I have two betta tanks and I do 40 -50% water changes every week. Then week 4 I change 80% of the water and thoroughly was all decorations and plants (if silk or plastic). All this is a personal preference. It all depends on the cleanliness of the water and how well your water filter works.

[aokashi]

beneficial bacteria sticks to the walls and surfaces as well as filter media. doing 100% wont kill bacteria. (it's like the same as why doing 100% wont kill plants) but if your tank is cycled, it is simply uneccessary to do 100% waterchanges.