Something wrong with water please HELP!

I have had my Discus for over a year now in a bare bottom tank and always done the same thing for water storage/changes but within the last two weeks
I have had issues with new water. Discus are stressed out at the top of the tank trying to get oxygen plus lost lots of tetras.

I keep my water in a 135g water container with 1/3 RODI and 2/3 tap to get a ph of 7.0 to 7.4, tds 120 to 180, gh 4, kh 0, ammonia 0, no2 0, no3 0. Has an airstone and heater in there, normally age for 1 to 2 days plus i add prime to be on the safe side. Tap water has 1pmm of total chlorine and 0pmm of free chlorine ph is 8.2 to 8.6, i use a pump with clear hose to send water to the Discus tank(I do see a few small spots that have black mold on the inside of the hose, I dont leave water in hose) and use another hose to take water out.

So with all this I was thinking it was something wrong with the storage container(dirty or something) or the hose I use to send new water to tank or can it be something leaking in the tap water that isnt leaving? IDK what else it could be and I do 60-70% waterchanges every other day.

Thanks in advance.

Did you continue aeration until the water change? When was the Prime added and how much?

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Originally Posted by I305I Knucklez

I have had my Discus for over a year now in a bare bottom tank and always done the same thing for water storage/changes but within the last two weeks
I have had issues with new water. Discus are stressed out at the top of the tank trying to get oxygen plus lost lots of tetras.

I keep my water in a 135g water container with 1/3 RODI and 2/3 tap to get a ph of 7.0 to 7.4, tds 120 to 180, gh 4, kh 0, ammonia 0, no2 0, no3 0. Has an airstone and heater in there, normally age for 1 to 2 days plus i add prime to be on the safe side. Tap water has 1pmm of total chlorine and 0pmm of free chlorine ph is 8.2 to 8.6, i use a pump with clear hose to send water to the Discus tank(I do see a few small spots that have black mold on the inside of the hose, I dont leave water in hose) and use another hose to take water out.

So with all this I was thinking it was something wrong with the storage container(dirty or something) or the hose I use to send new water to tank or can it be something leaking in the tap water that isnt leaving? IDK what else it could be and I do 60-70% waterchanges every other day.

Thanks in advance.

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It's possible your chloramine level has spiked? That 0 fc reading with a reading of 1 tc means it's 1 ppm chloramine not chlorine. Often times it can fluctuate and in some cases can be as high as 2-3 ppm from what I have seen

I would call the water company and see if anything has changed in your water source.
Ron

Prime should remove about 0.15 mg of chlorine per mL. It sounds like low dissolved oxygen levels rather than chlorine or ammonia toxicity. Low DO2 can be caused by excess unreated Prime or aging water which is why I asked about their timing.

Does the gasping behaviour only happen after water changes and then they go back to normal?

Sounds like your muniple water company changed something. They may have been treating for bacteria and had to increase or add something. Im no expert but I have read many stories of this happening. Id call them.
hope you figure it out,
-JD

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Originally Posted by Megalodon

Did you continue aeration until the water change? When was the Prime added and how much?

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yes the whole time i have the air stone on and i add 1 capful (10ml) as soon as container is topped off

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Originally Posted by Ryan925

It's possible your chloramine level has spiked? That 0 fc reading with a reading of 1 tc means it's 1 ppm chloramine not chlorine. Often times it can fluctuate and in some cases can be as high as 2-3 ppm from what I have seen

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ok thats good to know I didnt know that.

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Originally Posted by alron2

I would call the water company and see if anything has changed in your water source.
Ron

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ya i'm going to do that today when i get a chance.

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Originally Posted by Kyla

Does the gasping behaviour only happen after water changes and then they go back to normal?

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yes only after water changes then about an hour or 2 later they are back to normal but I did lose tetras in another tank i have when i do the water changes.

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Originally Posted by Discus_to_die_for

Sounds like your muniple water company changed something. They may have been treating for bacteria and had to increase or add something. Im no expert but I have read many stories of this happening. Id call them.
hope you figure it out,
-JD

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Thats what I'm afraid of, lets see what they say.

Thank you all for responding quickly I really Appreciate it!

If you aerated all the way until the water change and dosed Prime right when the container filled then it's less likely oxygen levels were low. If you had aerated for awhile and then stopped and added Prime right before the water change then low DO2 would be more likely. I was going to say that there shouldn't really be significant chlorine or ammonia getting through RO/DI but you used 2/3 tap. I would test total chlorine after adding Prime and giving it some time to react.

135 * 2/3 = 90 * 4 mg/L chlorine = 1,360 mg Cl2 / 150.7 mg/mL = 9 mL Prime. Ten mL of Prime should be more than enough for 90 gal of tap water at 1 mg/L chlorine but in the upper range it wouldn't be sufficient. The chlorine limit is 4 mg/L on an annual average basis so they could, in theory, go way over 4 mg/L. I think this scenario is unlikely though.

You shouldn't add a conditioner to your aging container and let it in there for long,especially when chloramine is used.Adding it just prior to a WC is fine.

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Originally Posted by Megalodon

If you aerated all the way until the water change and dosed Prime right when the container filled then it's less likely oxygen levels were low. If you had aerated for awhile and then stopped and added Prime right before the water change then low DO2 would be more likely. I was going to say that there shouldn't really be significant chlorine or ammonia getting through RO/DI but you used 2/3 tap. I would test total chlorine after adding Prime and giving it some time to react.

135 * 2/3 = 90 * 4 mg/L chlorine = 1,360 mg Cl2 / 150.7 mg/mL = 9 mL Prime. Ten mL of Prime should be more than enough for 90 gal of tap water at 1 mg/L chlorine but in the upper range it wouldn't be sufficient. The chlorine limit is 4 mg/L on an annual average basis so they could, in theory, go way over 4 mg/L. I think this scenario is unlikely though.

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I will check that when i get home today.

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Originally Posted by bluelagoon

You shouldn't add a conditioner to your aging container and let it in there for long,especially when chloramine is used.Adding it just prior to a WC is fine.

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Thats what I have heard but just thought to be on the save side i would add but I'll change that.

I have called my water company and they havent made any changes at all and are going to come out Tuesday to run some test but i guess i will do a smaller WC while I wait :(