"Surprise!" Your normal tap WC nearly kills your fish

[pastry]

Hey, anyone else this past year (who does WC's straight from tap) experience freak variation in normal tap water chemistry?

Most here know I don't have the cleanest tank in the world but twice this year I've changed the water (and remembered to add prime...) and wiped out my lemon tetras within 15 mins of adding new water. My tap has been consistently just over neutral PH (7.2) but after the last incident I tested the tap and it was well above 8. No ammonia reading but I can't recall anything with nitrites/nitrates (not sure if I even took those readings). I was pretty shocked by the ph reading because it was in the high 8's. Didn't check TDS then but normal TDS is 095.

I asked the nearest aquarium shop (the only one worth a damn... I still don't buy discus from LFS though) if they've experienced that and they said they've had some problems as well. Lastly, my wife's not the best with her school aquariums but right around the same time as my first experience, she did a WC and all fish but a pearl gourami bit the dust.

That said, anyone else ever have that problem? Should water companies have to warn people????? Not just worried about fish but what the heck else can that water do? Also, my house is separated by 15 miles from my wife's school and 20 miles (opposite direction) of the LFS; so I'd have to think the root of the cause is by the water company. I've heard that after big rains (speaking of, most of my neighborhood is flooded right now) then to weary of WC's but the first occasion took place after several weeks of hardly any rain.

Alright, just wondering. Nothing I can really do about it. I'd be lying if I said I'd check the tap water before each WC; HOWEVER, I love having lemon tetras (any tetras) because they're like the canaries of WWI... if that canary is dead then dawn your gas mask

[Phillydubs]

You can't age your water and take the guess work out of it all?? If you know you have issues with the tap then why take a risk each WC??

[DJW]

If the source water has a higher pH today than it did yesterday, I don't think aging it would necessarily change that unless the difference was due entirely to less CO2. There might be something else going on besides dissolved gas. The best thing would be to have one of those pH monitors on the aging barrel, or if using straight tap, to check it every time. I keep a probe in one of the tanks, and if I want to know the pH of the tap water or in other tanks, put some water in a cup and dip the probe in the cup for a minute.

[pastry]

Philly, because after aging the water the first winter that I had my current group (winter time has gas/micro bubbles here in tap), my wife won't let me do it again.

Well I just tested the PH and it's back to high 8's and has an ammonia reading of 2.0 ppm (straight out of the tap); is that alright for drinking? Sorry if a dumb question but better safe than sorry.

[DJW]

If the city is adding chloramine, the drip-and-shake test kits will see that as a positive for ammonia. The Prime should neutralize that anyway. But this doesn't explain the high pH. Chloramine and ammonia at that level are fine for humans, bad for fish.

[DC Discus]

You really should be aging your water before use in an aquarium. Your Water district adds chloramines (explaining your ammonia reading), but they also use chlorine dioxide. Chlorine dioxide is a power disinfectant that needs time to out-gas from you water.

http://www.charlestonwater.com/149/Water-Treatment

Not sure if you're directly adding water by a hose or bucketing it to your tank. I'd at least bucket the water and use a battery powered air pump to aerate it for a couple minutes, that would prime time to mix before addition to your tanks.

Cheers,
DC

[pastry]

Yep, I'm an idiot on previous wonder about ammonia reading. Forgot it's one part of chloramine. Saw that earlier, DC but thanks! Also, never heard of chlorine dioxide. New to me and certainly will research. I would love to age again but currently prohibited by wife. We've agreed that next house I'll do it again plus have bigger tank and use this one as sump!

Still wondering what happened to me, wife, and LFS when at random times a normal water change was anything but. Ah well.

[pitdogg2]

Pretty simple what time of year is it????

If your city water comes from lakes ...lakes turn twice a year and many cities need to modify their chemical cocktail during lake turns

[pastry]

Actually by ocean but I'm pretty sure the water comes from man made lakes/ resovoirs. So that might be it. Ah well, I knew from the get go that by not aging the water then I was always taking a risk. Will say one thing though, discus are not delicate... They're pretty damn tough. Many tetras, few cories, bn, pigmy cories, and shrimp didn't make it.

[strawberryblonde]

I have the icky water problem twice a year Elliot. I also do straight tap water, no aging, and don't pay any mind to the naysayers who insist on it. =)

I've just learned to watch carefully as I'm filling my tank in the spring and fall. If I see the fish getting uncomfortable, I stop the fill and aerate what's already in the tank till they settle down, then treat with more Safe and fill again. Oh and I add extra oxygen with a spare hydro sponge.

Mine is so bad that at times my sand gets a layer of fine gray silt on it!

And yep, my discus are a tough bunch of fishies. The cards and cories have it much rougher when the water goes all pear shaped.

[pastry]

I love you Toni

[Jack L]

I love you Toni

way back when... i used to do water changes straight from tap into planted D tank. never more than 1/2 in a 110 gallon tank. it had chloromine, and ran at about 8.2 ph

it was never a problem in the established tank.

i now use RO water(because softened water was wrecking plants) and then found my tap what comes out at 40 on nitrate.

where i am at now, the city pulls from different wells, and the water does change from time to time. it also climbs from 7.2 to 8.4 in 12 hours.