Chloramine Test

[guggas]

So, in trying to get ready for my first batch of discus I have set up a water aging barrel and pump and I moved a group of rummynose and cardinal tetras out of my main tank into a smaller tank to clean it before ordering discus. I had aged the water in my barrel for 24+ hours with an airstone, I filled a 40b with water from the barrel and transferred all my tetras to it. They all died within about 5 minutes. Kinda frustrating, i had all of them for over a year with no deaths. I sat there watching them drop like flies trying to figure out what could possibly have gone wrong. My best guess is chloramine, this is the first water I have used without treating with Prime. I called my water supply company a few months ago and they assured me they definitely do not use chloramine. So i thought if I age my water im ok, but maybe they actually do. Is there a good way I can test to confirm? Another clue: the fish just sank to the bottom as they died, a few of them were flashing, but mostly just sank to the bottom and died. I thought when fish get hit with cloramine it burns there gills and they go to the top to suck air? I dont know what happened for sure. Its possible that i also killed them with methylene blue, I had them in a bucket with some MB for about 5-10 minutes before putting them back in the tank.113129

[Ryan925]

The only way I know of using a quality pool test kit. Not just your standard backyard test kit. The kit needs to be able to test free availabke chlorine (fac) and total chlorine (tc) subtracting the fac from the tc will give you combined chlorine which is chloramine

[Bizarro252]

The only way I know of using a quality pool test kit. Not just your standard backyard test kit. The kit needs to be able to test free availabke chlorine (fac) and total chlorine (tc) subtracting the fac from the tc will give you combined chlorine which is chloramine

Can't you just test for free ammonia in the water sample, then take a second sample, add prime, and test. If the prime sample shows ammonia and the control sample does not that means you have chloramines - right? Or am I way off base?


OP, was there a temp difference?

[White Worm]

Always treat the water even if aged. You can never trust what someone from the water company says over the phone. Ageing mainly helps remove dissolved gases. It wasn't the methyl blue IMO.

[guggas]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00R3EQ84S/ref=nav_timeline_asin?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

ordered this. I guess I'll just treat my water from now on, but i would like to know whats in it.

[White Worm]

where in texas? do you use prime?

[guggas]

Im in the Woodlands. I normally use prime but i thought i didnt need to if i aged.

[White Worm]

Ageing doesn't remove chemicals over night. It takes much longer. Still need to use a conditioner like Prime or Safe. Ageing equalizes ph and rids the water of dissolved gases/oxygenates.

[bluelagoon]

Ageing doesn't remove chemicals over night. It takes much longer. Still need to use a conditioner like Prime or Safe. Ageing equalizes ph and rids the water of dissolved gases/oxygenates.

I would disagree a bit here.I use aged,aerated water that is not treated,but it is always 24 hours old or longer.Our municipality uses only chlorine,tho.I've been doing 80% WC's with no side effects,whatsoever.However,it's best if you don't know for sure what is going in your water to use a good conditioner for both.

[White Worm]

Its fine as long as you know for sure what is in your water. I for one, play it on the safe side. I have lost too many fish not to treat my water. I have lived in 3 different states over the past 10 years and it has been the same story different place. Always treat my water if I want to keep my fish alive. Especially if it is a large WC. That's just me. Chlorine, yes, aerate 24 hours. Chloramines, no. Treat the water and be safer than sorry.

[DJW]

Testing for chloramine in the tap water is easy. Test it for ammonia using the API ammonia test. If it shows ammonia, there is chloramine in the water.

[Filip]

I doubt that such a sudden and quick death can occure because of minute chloramine or ammonia presence in the tap water .
I rather suspect a PH shock(downward swing) or maybe some strong chemical or pollutant from the aging barrel (was it a new barrel ? Did you store anything else in it prior using it or maybe washing it with chemicals prior its use ? ) .
Meth. blue overdose is also a suspectable cause to count on .

[guggas]

It is a new barrel, its been sitting in my garage for maybe 6 months. I just rinsed it with the hose, no chemicals, before filling it. I used it to do a 80% WC on my main tank with no problems a few days before transferring the tetras to the new tank. They didnt seem to have a problem with the water then, but i did use prime for that WC.

For the Meth blue I used 1 teaspoon in a bucket with about 2 galons of water. It's 2.303% solution from Jehmco. The bottle says 1 tsp per 10 gallons for disease prevention or 5 tsp per 3 gallons for detox or nitrite poisoning. so i thought I would be safe with 1 tsp in 2 gallons of water, they were in it about 10 minutes.

As far as PH shock, I've used that same water on my main tank for large waterchanges and never had a problem. I will test with the API test today for Ammonia like DJW said.

I'm not too torn up about the tetras, I had considered getting rid of them anyways. Mostly I'm trying to figure out what I did because I dont want to make that mistake once i get discus..

[White Worm]

If I do a large WC from tap (75% or more) without treating with water conditioner, I will kill whatever is in the tank quickly. Did it recently on accident and killed 100+ juvenile angels in 10 minutes. Mine were all gasping at the surface so I'm not sure if it was trapped gases or chemicals in the water. I do my wc's the same way every time but that time I think I forgot the conditioner. Never again.

[Megalodon]

Ammonia test is a good method. I have chloramine and run a total chlorine test on each batch of water. I've had to add more Prime a fair number of times even though the first dose was an overdose.

[guggas]

Ammonia test is a good method. I have chloramine and run a total chlorine test on each batch of water. I've had to add more Prime a fair number of times even though the first dose was an overdose.

I tested my tap water today with the API kit. No ammonia shows. I will try the total/free clorine test also when i get my hands on it. Can anyone confirm that i didnt kill them with the Meth Blue solution? 1 tsp in 2 gallons of water for 10 minutes..
thanks

[bluelagoon]

You should wait about 30 minutes after conditioners before using MB.Use 1-2 drops per gallon not teaspoons.

[DJW]

I tested my tap water today with the API kit. No ammonia shows. I will try the total/free clorine test also when i get my hands on it. Can anyone confirm that i didnt kill them with the Meth Blue solution? 1 tsp in 2 gallons of water for 10 minutes..
thanks

The 10-minute dip (yours was at 15 ppm MB) along with a sudden change in one or more water parameters might have been too much of a shock. I've noticed tetras are easily traumatized.

My bottle of MB says 50 ppm for no more than 10 seconds. I have seen recommended dips of 6 ppm for 30 minutes. I haven't been able to find much toxicity info on short duration dips of MB. The nearest thing I found was the LC50 (the concentration that kills 50% of the fish) for striped bass fingerlings was 15 ppm for 24 hours.

With tetras it would be safer to go with the long term bath at 3 ppm.

[guggas]

The 10-minute dip (yours was at 15 ppm MB) along with a sudden change in one or more water parameters might have been too much of a shock. I've noticed tetras are easily traumatized.

My bottle of MB says 50 ppm for no more than 10 seconds. I have seen recommended dips of 6 ppm for 30 minutes. I haven't been able to find much toxicity info on short duration dips of MB. The nearest thing I found was the LC50 (the concentration that kills 50% of the fish) for striped bass fingerlings was 15 ppm for 24 hours.

With tetras it would be safer to go with the long term bath at 3 ppm.

Hey thanks for the info, I guess I just put them through too much. Having them for so long and them being so healthy, I guess I got too comfortable and thought they were bullet proof. They were a good batch from snookn21, I guess this will give me an excuse to order more fish.:guitarist:

[dillct]

I noticed you live in the Woodlands. I live in Houston, but am pretty sure everyone in the area has chloraminated water. That said, our water is crap even with Prime and aging. Save yourself the headache and buy a carbon bottle at ADG.