Fish dead after water change

[itiwhetu]

There's a big difference between carcinogenic chemicals like herbicides that kill people and animals, and a couple of drops of dechlorinator that usually consists of sodium thiosulphate, which people can drink and not die from.

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They don't always get it right. Remember, there are plenty of stupid people out there working in jobs that have hazardous materials.

Personally, I used to add the stated amount of dechlorinator and then add a couple of extra drops to water that I was holding. When I managed to get a chlorine test kit, I also used to measure the chlorine levels every week before adding dechlorinator. There were plenty of times I had to double and even triple dose my tap water with dechlorinator due to the excessive chlorine levels caused by stupidity at the water corporation.

If the OP has chloramine, that usually requires a higher dose of dechlorinator compared to chlorine. Most dechlorinators have one dose for chlorine and a double dose for chloramine.

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If you use a dechlorinator that neutralises chloramine and binds to free ammonia to make it harmless for a short time, you should add this dechlorinator to the tap water on the same day you use the water.

If you dechlorinate and aerate the water, then let it sit for a few days, the part of the dechlorinator that has bound to the ammonia can separate from the ammonia and it is no longer safe. You end up with toxic ammonia in the aquarium water, which gets used by the filter bacteria and converted to nitrate.

The filter bacteria will use the free ammonia pretty quickly (usually within an hour), but if the pH of the tank water is high (above 7.0), the ammonia can harm the fish.

If you doubled or tripled the dosage amount to make it work, and you did this because you were testing the chlorine amount, then that would suggest that most people from time to time would be putting in to little dechlorinator. Therefore they would think they were neutralizing the chlorine but in fact they were not even getting close.

 

[Colin_T]

A lot of the people in my area used to double dose just to be safe and that was before I found out the water corp was adding too much chlorine. We even tested the stuff in the shop and that was near my house, it had the same problem so we used to tell customers to be careful doing water changes and to try and aerate the water for 24 hours after dechlorinating it just to remove as much chlorine as possible.

I know plenty of fish died in my area because of the chlorine and the water corp didn't care. They were in breach of world health organisation guidelines for chlorinated water too. It was 3.5 times the safe legal limit at one stage and it took about 3 years before they reduced it to 2 times the safe limit.

That was when I started drinking bottled water simply because I couldn't tolerate tap water. I would have a glass full of tap water and buckle over in pain. It felt like I was being cut open with a knife. That is one of the reasons I got the chlorine test kit and started hassling the water corp, I couldn't drink tap water and my fish were dropping dead after water changes, and I had used dehclorinator in the water before it went in the tanks.

Here we are 20 years later and the tap water is still unsafe to drink. The government has advertising campaigns on television telling us to drink tap water and claiming it's just as safe and clean as bottled water. Nobody believes them.

 

[Callisto405]

You are in Florida and have chloramine in the tap water, aeration won't get rid of it. If you only had chlorine then aerating would get rid of it but chloramine is a mixture of chlorine and ammonia. They bind together and stay together even when exposed to vigorous aeration. The only way to break the chlorine ammonia bond is to add a dechlorinator. Then the chloramine molecules separate and the chlorine will be neutralised or aerated out of the water, and the ammonia is left behind. The ammonia gets temporarily converted (for about 24 hours) into a non toxic form of ammonia by the dechlorinator.

Your best bet is to make the water up on the day you are going to clean the tank. Fill the buckets with tap water, add the amount of dechlorinator that is required for the water in the individual buckets. Let them aerate while you clean the tank and gravel. Then remove the airstone from the buckets and add the bucket/s of dechlorinated water to the tank.

If the tap water is really cold (unlikely in Florida), you could have the buckets of water in the kitchen or loungeroom overnight to warm up a bit, and then dechlorinate and aerate them on the day you do the water changes.

Good stuff. I'll try that. In the past I always added the dechlorinator right before adding the water. I'll try your method and aerate after I dose

 

[Callisto405]

A lot of the people in my area used to double dose just to be safe and that was before I found out the water corp was adding too much chlorine. We even tested the stuff in the shop and that was near my house, it had the same problem so we used to tell customers to be careful doing water changes and to try and aerate the water for 24 hours after dechlorinating it just to remove as much chlorine as possible.

I know plenty of fish died in my area because of the chlorine and the water corp didn't care. They were in breach of world health organisation guidelines for chlorinated water too. It was 3.5 times the safe legal limit at one stage and it took about 3 years before they reduced it to 2 times the safe limit.

That was when I started drinking bottled water simply because I couldn't tolerate tap water. I would have a glass full of tap water and buckle over in pain. It felt like I was being cut open with a knife. That is one of the reasons I got the chlorine test kit and started hassling the water corp, I couldn't drink tap water and my fish were dropping dead after water changes, and I had used dehclorinator in the water before it went in the tanks.

Here we are 20 years later and the tap water is still unsafe to drink. The government has advertising campaigns on television telling us to drink tap water and claiming it's just as safe and clean as bottled water. Nobody believes them.

Okay that's very informative. I will be getting a total chlorine test kit. I might switch to bottled water as well

 

[mcordelia]

another approach to consider from the cost perspective of bottled over time is an under-sink filter. Not an RO filter, but one that removes chlorine, chloramine, pharmaceuticals, etc. It's cheaper than an RO system, and if you're able to verify with your chlorine test kit that the removal of chlorine/chloramine is total, then it may be less of a hassle (and potentially cheaper in the long run) than buying bottled water.

I used this article as my guide when choosing what water filter I got, I previously had the 3M filtrete one at my old apartment but I went with their upgrade pick for my current place. I haven't installed it yet but can update what my experience is when I get that far. https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-under-sink-water-filter/