South American-Red Tiger Cichlid/Oscar

Question
Hi Ron! I've had (Mr.Peabody)for soon one year! he has a 60liter Tetra Aqua Art Aquarium we live in Sweden. My question is: He likes to jump and has injured himself on his head..what shall I do?  inside the tank there are shells and rocks I will be removing more of these so he doesn't hurt himself more but how should I go about the removeing the water..I  want to clean the tank totally but should he still be inside? while I'm cleaning it? please help me because I don't wish for him to get pissed off he has his temper but he is very nice.can you advice me how to fix his sores and change his home with new water please. Tonya

Answer
Hi Tonya,
  The good news is that he will likely heal, given time.  

  It is important to change the water in an aquarium, but you need to do it gradually. You should never change more than 50% of the water at once, and in general, I recommend changing only 25% at a time.  Ideally, you would change 25% once a week, every week.  If you change too much at once, that can be a real shock to the fish, plus it will totally disrupt the biological system operating in the aquarium.  In other words, resist the urge to really clean out a fish tank. That is very bad for the fish.  If the tank is really dirty, change 25% today, then 25% tomorrow, and keep doing that until the tank is clean.

-- Ron C.  
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>