Well water/softener

[Green Country Discus]

I need a bit of advice to pass on. We have a friend/ client that is moving to a new house with well water service and a water softener. I advised him to check his parameters straight from the well. He may have better water than he started with??? I do not know if water from a softening system is ok for Discus. I do know that salt is used in the process. Please give some advice to pass on.

[FishLover888]

No, it is not good for the discus.

[fishmama]

Hi Andrew-

Just my experience, I have my discus (and all my other fish) in water softened via household water softener. I have had no problems as a result. I know that a lot of people will tell you "no, it's not good", but no one has yet to correctly explain why. Most will tell you that "it adds salt". This is a falacy...an "urban legend" if you will. Modern household softeners (e.g. GE Smartwater) use ion exchange resins/beads. Some use K+ , some use Na+ to charge the resin beads. This is why you load the salt crystals (NaCl) into the reservoir. The beads (which are in an adjacent reservoir) are charged which "loads" the resin with NaCl. When the incoming water from the well (or city supply) washes over the beads, the Ca+ and Mg+ are "attracted" to these resins more strongly, and they release the Na+ into the water in "exchange." The end result CaCl2 and MgCl2 are washed down the drain and the Na+ is what ends up in your household water supply. It is important to note that Na+ is NOT salt (NaCl). Much like NH3 (toxic, free ammonia) is very different from NH4+ (ammonium ion, non-toxic form.)

That being said...if a species doesn't like "hard" water (Ca+ and Mg+) they most likely won't care for Na+ either. This exchange occurs on a 2:1 ratio I believe, so you are still ending up with what the fish experiences as "hard" water.

I have chosen to "dial down" my softener (causing it to recharge less and leave more Ca+ and Mg+ in our water). Most household softeners have this "hardness" setting option.

I also only have fish bred and raised in my area, so they are already used to our water in the midwest. My TDS reads 325 post-softener. And believe it or not, my pair still spawns and produces free swimmers. I use no RO with my discus. However, conventional Gh tests show my water to be very "soft"...most likely due to the absence of Ca+ and Mg+.

I would just advise your client to research how their softener actually works. And apply that knowledge to what we know discus can thrive in. Just be careful to weed thru the info out there...much is incorrect. Also, well water can be very, very high in nitrates and harmful bacteria due to farm, etc runoff. I do not know how you would rectify that. Well water quality can fluctuate wildly depending on the season, rain, etc.

hth
Lisa