Flooding and water quality

[tbird22771]

Our municipal water turned brownish and developed a iron like smell over the weekend. Spoke to the water authority this morning, due to the rivers flooding they are flushing the system daily, they are monitoring the water daily and it is "currently still safe for human consupmtion, but we can boil it if that would make us more comfortable." My concern is will it harm my fish, I do daily water changes of at least 50% and have some fry that I do at least 100% on. Should I put some carbon in my hobs? I am wondering if carbon will even help. I could also run a filter on my aging barrel but wondering what would be best to use as media.

[Len]

How long will this last? If it's only going to take a couple days before it clears up you might consider skipping water changes for that time period and ensure you don't overfeed as long as you have stable biofiltration and your tank isn't overcrowded. If the water authority is monitoring it and can tell you it is safe for consumption, ask them for the analysis report so you can see what is in the water and compare it to a normal report. They will probably gladly give you the information if you ask.

[DiscusDrew]

Good advice, a lot of water companies will up the amounts of chlorine and chloramine potentially used in the water. My advice if you do water changes would be to monitor heavily your water conditions. If you age it would potentially be beneficial and regardless I would double your dose of prime or safe in the event extra chlorine compounds are there that weren't before. The fry would be my biggest concern. I would not add carbon to the filters but if your worried and the conditions may last a while you may consider using at least a basic water filtration system before adding the water to your tanks or holding barrels. As in a three stage filter.

[Orange Crush]

I had this happen earlier this year. The water was nasty for a day, the second day it looked clear but I still waited until the 3rd day (made me nervous to go that long without a water change since I always do daily ones- lol). Anyways it still had a negative effect on my fish, they got dark and were acting funny. People on the forum recommended buying water from the grocery store to do water changes with. Still have to treat it with water conditioner but it is a lot better than taking the risk....

[tbird22771]

Thanks for the replies, no one is really sure how long this will last the rivers are still above flood levels. I am looking into a three stage filter and holding off on water changes on my 90 and 55 (which are both under stocked) and I did a partial change on the fry yesterday afternoon and even though the water looks rough they seemed to be just fine. The bottled water is a good idea but as of yesterday there wasn't one bottle to be found at the supermarket or dollar stores and the self serve machines were all in need of maintenance lol.

[Elliots]

Now I don't really know the answer. Maybe try some type of paper filter to clean the water? Or another type of filter like a Brita filter I use to make my tap water more drinkable. I realize either type will take a while to filter water for a water change but they are much cheaper than bottled water.

[Elliots]

you could use the Brita container without the resevoir part the holds the filtered water and run tap water slowly thru the Brita and then into your waterchange storage.

[DiscusDrew]

... Three stage water filter....

[tbird22771]

I called public works again and apparently its tannin in the water, and they aren't flushing everyday - contrary to what the last person told me, they are just checking it everyday - but it hasn't gotten any darker in the past few days so they believe it will start to dissipate soon.... so not stressing about the fish anymore, just not happy about having to use it for everything else.

[Lenin]

You could also just try a cull or runt, or maybe another type of fish, do a 10g with this water and a see what happens

[tbird22771]

Lol Lenin you made me laugh because that is exactly what I did. I have a few angels in a different tank so threw them under the bus and did a good size water change on them before I did any of my discus or oscars.

[DiscusDrew]

Your careful with your Oscars? That fish will live on this earth longer than man I'm convinced haha. They are damn near impossible to kill. Anywho... If its just tannins in the water then I wouldn't care one bit. In fact as a general theory discus do great in water with tannins. That's why I don't mind my driftwood leaching into the water at all, they seem to love it.

[tbird22771]

Yes Drew I am careful with my Oscars, they are impossible to kill but if you baby them they really thrive and no HiTH. I have one at our shop (Gwendolyn) that has so much personality people will just come in to see her. btw her personality is nasty and she has regulars that come in on Friday afternoons to cheer her on during water changes as she lunges at my arm and the siphon.

[Orange Crush]

I have one at our shop (Gwendolyn) that has so much personality people will just come in to see her. btw her personality is nasty and she has regulars that come in on Friday afternoons to cheer her on during water changes as she lunges at my arm and the siphon.

lol I wish I could see that!

[DiscusDrew]

haha thats funny, Ive got one daddy discus that does the same when he has fry. Hes my buddy.... until he becomes a dad again, then its ON.