Have you ever had water trouble?

[Ardan]

I am beginning to realize that many people have had trouble with the water supply for wc's. I am interested in this and how large a problem it is and what can be done about it to prevent problems for our fish.

If you have comments or
1. recommendations to avoid problems
2. list what country, city and state you have problems in
3. your water source (river, lake, well, bottled water)
4. Is there anything we can do as a group (NADA?) to have our governments inform us when we have added chemicals to the water supply??

ANyway, I had a recent problem (first time in 30 years of fishkeeping) and have a thread to that effect. I have a city water supplier that uses chlorine and other chemicals (pp for one) . My water source is Lake Michigan in Racine, Wisconsin USA.

Thanks for your input and comments. :)

[etr63]

I live in Lansing Michigan Ingam county. Not sure the sorce of the water. we have chloramine in the water. I use prime to handel that but I do get NitrItes in the tap water after a rain. The KH of the water here is 0 ppm to 1 ppm depending on the day. not good for a stable PH.

Earl

[Jason]

Hi Ardan,

Great topic!

I've had alot of probelms with my local water supply(lake superior) mainly due to funding cut-backs and inefficiant treatment facillities.

1. They like to mega-dose with chlorine if they get a high bacteria count, more common after rainfall and very common in the spring time.
2. They "flush" the lines frequently will aluminum sulphides or something like that, thats a death sentence and they have no phone list to be put on or any warning system(I tried to get them to implement one, but got the beurochratic run-around)

only workable solutions I have at present are filtration, all fish water gets filtered through 3-20" carbon blocks(thanks Randal!) that I change in rotation.
If I suspect aluminum was used I have a 4th filter ready to go filled with metal absorbing resins.
If its really bad and I actually lose fish due to poisoning, I switch to drips from aged/treated water and do not do any manual water changes over 15% until the problem is over.

not the best solutions, re-constituted ro water would be great, but I don't have the holding capacity for the amount I need.

What I recomend for people I talk to with simmilar problems is always have chlorine test kits, keep a strong stock solution of sodium thio on hand AND a water conditioner like amquel, and prep your water through carbon whenever possible, even a simple 10" home depot carbon filter helps.

[Ardan]

Thank You very much for the info Jason and Earl.

Jason, I have a call in to the head chemist at the water plant. I need to find out if they were using things other than just chlorine, If so I may need to revert to carbon filters (I use to use the small ones from a place similar to Home Depot). thanks for sharing your experience, it is interesting to see how you have figured out how to deal with it! 8) :)
Ardan

[henryD]

Ardan,

It is like clockwork up in the northeast. When the snow melts here in the spring and we get all the run off from the mountain and farms. The water company always adds something extra to the water. It is usually for 1-2 weeks.

I normally do why w/c straight from the tap. When the weather warms up in the spring I always bring out my 55 gallon drums.

Every once in awhile they do add some extra stuff in the water.

Henry

[dmacch]

Here on Long Island,NY I get my water from an aquifer. I have to run my w/c water through a carbon block filter before adding it to the tank. I can always tell when the filter has to be changed by the way the fish are acting. Sure enough once I change the filter and complete a couple of w/c's the fish start acting and looking good. I am no longer waiting for the fish to tell me when to change the filter, I change it once a month just to be safe.

[Ardan]

Thanks for the input 8) :) Looks like carbon filters may be the way to go, I'm still waiting on some info from the water dept. ::)

[Lauren]

My water did afew things like Jasons water co did and I lost 3 very nice fish. Thanks to a bacteria bloom not only did they up the chemicals but they also flushed the lines. And to add insult to injury as my fish were dieing slowly one by one they gave me the run around for a week before I actually went to the main office and talked to someone who gave me a report & told me they had flushed the lines & had a bacteria problem.

1. Pray?.... I talked to Randal about getting filters & was told I didnt need it unless the problem happend again. I've thought about volunteering @ the water co to watch conditions but its to far to walk to. So I'm back at the filtration idea.
2. USA Sanford Maine
3. River treated with chlorine so far, has many bacteria problems over the year I found out. Some workers are rude, will refuse any information/water reports if you happen to speak to one of them. Had to show up and beg the secretary to speak to someone who tested/treated the water before getting answers (He was, however, very nice)
4. I like Jasons idea of a contact list, even if it was just an email list.

But all in all, I think I'm in the same situation as Jason, just ageing the water did not seem to help in my case. I had to stop water changes for afew days, then I only did aged water a little at a time. After awhile the fish were just normal again, and now they're as healthy as ever.


How hard is it to install afew carbon blocks?


Edit EEK I just went to the water co's website and "The Fall flushing program will start October 11th and should end in November" O jeez x.x

[Jason]

Hi Lauren,

setting up a carbon block is not hard at all, if you can hook-up a python you can hook-up a carbon filter. ;)

[Lauren]

Wish me luck starting tommorrow. I'm setting up many empty tanks/barrels with water today while I wait to get & install a filter.

What sort of metal absorbing filter do you mean?

[Anonapersona]

Edit EEK I just went to the water co's website and "The Fall flushing program will start October 11th and should end in November" O jeez x.x


Ah, maybe that is the answer, one person to monitor the site and email the rest of the local fish keepers. Assuming the local water co HAS a website AND updates it.

Mine doesn't.

[DarkDiscus]

I'll soon be bringing my discus in and subjecting them to my well water. By all tests, it's perfect for discus... soft, 6.2 pH, no chemicals...

We'll see!

;D

John

[Ardan]

Good Luck John! 8) 8)

Hope the filters work for you Lauren. What kind are you getting?