I think the Water Department screwed up my aquarium.

[PackardG00SE]

I recently did a water change after my water had been shut off for a while, and now my larger fish aren’t active. I usually do water changes every 7-10 days. At first I thought I may have added too much Algae Killer, but after doing 2 water tests I no longer think that’s the reason.

Test Results:

Ammonia is nil.
Nitrites are nil.
Nitrates are mild.
Iron is nil.
Copper is nil.
Chlorine is nil.

But…

Total Hardness (GH) - 150-300
Total Alkalinity (TA) - 180-300
Carbonate (KH) - 180-300
pH - 8.4+

My city’s water is always somewhat hard, but I’m thinking while it was shut off the minerals built up in the pipes, and were then transferred to my aquarium.

Have any of you had or heard of a similar experience?

Aquarium - 83 gallons + 33 gallon sump.

Fish - 2 Blood Parrots, 2 Severums, 1 Angel Fish, 10 Tetras.

The Tetras and Angel Fish seem to be doing ok, but the Blood Parrots and Severums are just hanging out at the bottom of the tank next to the heater.

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[Fishfunn]

I recommend and use a RO/DI filter for my aquariums. I mix a 50/50 mix of RO water with tap water.

 

[GaryE]

If the algicide is building up, it can easily kill everything. It's a dangerous thing to play with.

 

[PackardG00SE]

Thanks for the feedback. I’m going to do another water change tomorrow. Hopefully, it corrects the situation. I’ll let you know.

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[Colin_T]

The calcium and other minerals don't build up in the water just from having the water turned off for a few days.

If the water company did work on the pipes, they would have added a massive dose of chlorine or chloramine (depending on what they use) and if you did a water change within a few days of that, you might have chlorinated the fish.

When the water companies add a massive dose of chlorine after working on pipes, the dechlorinater that you use will treat a normal amount (about 2ppm) of chlorine in the water but won't deal with extra chlorine if more is in there. In such cases you might have to add 3 or more times the recommended dose to neutralise all the chlorine.

The only real way to check the chlorine level is with a chlorine test kit and ideally you want to dechlorinate tap water in a separate container, test the chlorine level and make sure it's 0ppm, then use that water in your aquarium. However, that's not always practical for most people.

At this stage I would suggest no water changes for two weeks and don't add anything to the tank either except maybe another dose of dechlorinater.
You can add some activated carbon to the filter and it should help remove anything that might be poisoning the fish.
Increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise the oxygen in the water.

 

[PackardG00SE]

I didn’t see your post until now. I just did a 60%-75% water change. The fish seem to be doing a little better, but my water’s GH, KH, TA & pH is still off the charts.

I called the water department, but they were closed. I guess I’ll try them on Monday.

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[Jinx_]

Any updates?

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Just as an FYI, KH and alakalinity are the same thing which is why you have the same numbers fir them.

KH is most responsible for the pH level in a tank.

Beginner FAQ: Practical Water Chemistry

Buffering capacity refers to water's ability to keep the pH stable as acids or bases are added. pH and buffering capacity are intertwined with one another; although one might think that adding equal volumes of an acid and neutral water would result in a pH halfway in between, this rarely happens in practice. If the water has sufficient buffering capacity, the buffering capacity can absorb and neutralize the added acid without significantly changing the pH. Conceptually, a buffer acts somewhat like a large sponge. As more acid is added, the ``sponge'' absorbs the acid without changing the pH much. The ``sponge's'' capacity is limited however; once the buffering capacity is used up, the pH changes more rapidly as acids are added.

Buffering has both positive and negative consequences. On the plus side, the nitrogen cycle produces nitric acid (nitrate). Without buffering, your tank's pH would drop over time (a bad thing). With sufficient buffering, the pH stays stable (a good thing). On the negative side, hard tap water often almost always has a large buffering capacity. If the pH of the water is too high for your fish, the buffering capacity makes it difficult to lower the pH to a more appropriate value. Naive attempts to change the pH of water usually fail because buffering effects are ignored.

In freshwater aquariums, most of water's buffering capacity is due to carbonates and bicarbonates. Thus, the terms ``carbonate hardness''(KH), ``alkalinity'' and ``buffering capacity'' are used interchangeably. Although technically not the same things, they are equivalent in practice in the context of fish keeping. Note: the term ``alkalinity'' should not be confused with the term ``alkaline''. Alkalinity refers to buffering, while alkaline refers to a solution that is a base (i.e., pH> 7).

How much buffering does your tank need? Most aquarium buffering capacity test kits actually measure KH. The larger the KH, the more resistant to pH changes your water will be. A tank's KH should be high enough to prevent large pH swings in your tank over time. If your KHis below roughly 4.5 dH, you should pay special attention to your tank's pH (e.g, test weekly, until you get a feel for how stable thepH is). This is ESPECIALLY important if you neglect to do frequent partial water changes. In particular, the nitrogen cycle creates a tendency for an established tank's pH to decrease over time. The exact amount of pH change depends on the quantity and rate of nitrates produced, as well as the KH. If your pH drops more than roughly two tenths of a point over a month, you should consider increasing the KH or performing partial water changes more frequently. KH doesn't affect fish directly, so there is no need to match fish species to a particular KH.

from https://fins.actwin.com/mirror/begin-chem.htm

Pretty much the way to lower KH is by adding "pure" water. That would be RO, RO/DI or distilled. These have 0 KH. In fact they pretty much have 0 of everything except H2O.

Next, you report 150-300 for GH, That is a huge range. The top number is double the bottom. Such a swing is not that common in tanks or municipal water. Most often it would happen if there is a change in the sources water coming into the the water company. 150 ppm is a tad over soft while 300 is fairly hard. That is a pretty big swing between the two.

General Hardness

0 - 4 dH, 0 - 70 ppm : very soft
4 - 8 dH, 70 - 140 ppm : soft
8 - 12 dH, 140 - 210 ppm : medium hard
12 - 18 dH, 210 - 320 ppm : fairly hard
18 - 30 dH, 320 - 530 ppm : hard
higher : liquid rock (Lake Malawi and Los Angeles, CA)

Do you know what the water parameters of your tap used to be? That is, before you noticed the issue you are posting about.

 

[Donya]

Have any of you had or heard of a similar experience?

Can't speak for the pipe buildup hypothesis but I have lived in two areas that had serious water quality swings. Municipal water supplies can have crazy changes quite fast. The first instance I saw was KH & GH that shot through the roof in a matter of days after years of being really low. It was high for several months and slowly came down again but never went back to where it was. The other the water suddenly had a bizarre smell and absolutely horrible taste almost like it had some kind of solvent in it - I also started getting skin irritation from it from showering and washing my hands when it was at it's worst. Needless to say I didn't put any of the water from that second event in with my fish and tried to avoid drinking it too.

If you're seeing behavioral changes in the fish, running carbon immediately as already suggested is a good precaution just in case there's something else bad in there you couldn't measure, but of course it won't do anything to change KH/GH.

 

[MaloK]

Can't speak for the pipe buildup hypothesis but I have lived in two areas that had serious water quality swings. Municipal water supplies can have crazy changes quite fast. The first instance I saw was KH & GH that shot through the roof in a matter of days after years of being really low. It was high for several months and slowly came down again but never went back to where it was. The other the water suddenly had a bizarre smell and absolutely horrible taste almost like it had some kind of solvent in it - I also started getting skin irritation from it from showering and washing my hands when it was at it's worst. Needless to say I didn't put any of the water from that second event in with my fish and tried to avoid drinking it too.

If you're seeing behavioral changes in the fish, running carbon immediately as already suggested is a good precaution just in case there's something else bad in there you couldn't measure, but of course it won't do anything to change KH/GH.

I have the same kind of provider today, and my poor tanks where all impacted with some kind of "impurities" that could never be resolved and where not good at all.

A little under a year of trying with invertebrates alone and also killing a betta in the process.. I completely abandoned, And went to full RO/DI. and balance my basic calcium and magnesium ratio. I'm now playing with the carbonates and fertilizer. As long as feeding schedule permits, I achieved one goal on one tank. This tank will never see fish.

But to be really honest as the tank reached balance. I had to stop doing water changes. Monitoring of the principal parameters and keeping them where I want.

Once nitrate stops building, You are in very good shape. Whatever you have to do. Could end up by just having to add little Baking Soda to maintain KH without significantly affecting pH or introducing sodium.