im doing a chemistry research project on this, but i am very interested in this topic. does the make up of the water affect bass living in it? does it affect their eating habits? what about their whole lifestyle? how could we learn from this and become better fisherman?

Much has been done on the subject. Just get on the web and do some searches.

Bass have very high acuity when it comes to acid base balance and that will affect where they travel and where they won't. I can't remember the specifics here but I recall only subtle changes in pH would cause the bass to flee.

Also.... The characteristics of the water alter the pigmentation in their skin. That is something really intriguing. Muddy water - white washed bass. Clear water with good vegetation - beautiful green character to their skin. Fish that live buried in the grass can appear almost black.


Look at some of the research done by Dr. Keith Jones. He's an Aggie that has studied the bass as much as anyone on the planet and has written books on the topic you're interested in.

Tight lines,

J

I have also read water PH can affect bass coloration, but don't discount the sun. Bass pigmentation is almost exactly like a humans. Stay in the sun and you skin will darken. The substance Melanin is what causes the color to darken. The darker the skin the less UV light penetrates. Bass form clear water, or shallow water see a lot more light. Bass from deeper water, or mulkier water sees less light. Take the same light colored fish and put them in a kiddies pond in the sunlight and in a couple of hours they will be much darker.

Does air make up affect you? I would say yes water make up does affect bass to what degree I do not know.

Knowing how water chemistry affects fish is more important in the life-support/fish-care aspects of fishing rather than the catching of them. Each species has a range of water chemistry variables they can tolerate. Water chemistry can explain why some fish live in one place and not another. Digging into that, you can research osmoregulation in fishes and how their internal anatomy and metabolism limits them to certain ranges of water chemistry.

To somewhat answer your general question with a very general answer, Yes water chemistry does greatly affect bass. Poor water quality (water that has low dissolved oxygen, too low or too high alkalinity/hardness, wide swings in pH, etc) can lead to fish health issues and poor fishing. It depends on how specific you want to get about it.

im basically looking for any information i can get on it, not exactly an answer.

I would suggest you go either to the library or a tropical fish store for some of your research and peruse the fish care books, what seems like a lifetime ago I used to keep bass in aquariums, started with a 55gal and eventually ended up with a 125 gal tank...with fish keeping your not really really keeping fish - your keeping the water they live in as close to perfect so as to keep healthy fish...so, after time i knew when the water was off balance by the fishes behaviour, I would quickly test the water and it would be off usually on the acidic side - that was mostly due to the large stump I had in there decomposing along with normal fish waste because they fed allot since I had a creek close to the house and would catch craws and chubs...I would do a water change and get the Ph back to neutral and the fish would return to normal...to make a real long story short, go to the library or fish store and peruse the fish care books they have a lot of information about water chemistry and the diseases that poor water quality can do to fish, note there are many other chemicals that occur naturally other than acidity and alkalinity that affect fish health and behaviour... good luck in your search.