PLEASE READ: What is wrong with Houston water?

[ptran]

Yep. I learned my lesson the hard way as well. Less than 2 hours after a water change, more than 30 fish dead... And out of those, only 5 were wild geophagus red head tapajos and 1 was a wild flash pleco. The others were super hardy tank-raised silver dollars, tank-raised BN plecos, and emperor tetras. The water change was done about a day or two after a heavy rain, which is when the city adds all sorts of crap to the water. I always double dose Prime but in this case I dosed it at 5 times the normal, to no avail. The tank sat at about 6.8 pH (peat moss, IAL) so those guys had no chance. The shellies tank was relatively protected due to it's high pH of 8.6 (aragonite and coral sand).

I will never again keep any fish in this city without a carbon bottle. Took me 9-10 months to recover from the carnage and restart that tank.

Hey thanks. You confirmed NO WATER CHANGE AFTER HEAVY RAIN. I learned something new today. It's good thing I catched this thread. I was about to do 50% wc for my 14-F1 moba tank. Could be an expensive lesson. So how long should we wait after the big rain to do a wc?

[Ballinxalex]

I would wait a couple of days I have lost 6 of my mobas and 4 wild plecos and 4 clown loaches to a bad water change before

[mistahoo]

About 2-4 days after rainy days. Unless you've got Safe. Chloramine dosing is cheap and easy.

[eklikewhoa]

Fyi carbon in you filtration system does not have the same effect and normally when you need it to work it's already exhausted

[nightster]

I have a carbon bottle and still use safe.

[specialone0812]

Thanks, how about water softener system, does it do the same job as the carbon bottle? Can you use water from the water softener for the house?

There is reisin in softener bottle that does not react with chlorine or chroramine at all. We will need some sorts of carbon as a solution for chlorine and chloramine.
I bought a softener bottle, tested with my tap water and water came out with very high level of chlorine. So, I dumped all that reisin out and replaced by activated carbon and water was good after that. When doing WC, I put my refill hose a little high,close to the top of my tank, so when water drops down in my tank, it hits water surface and creates some kindda water movement and I also have a pump pointing upward to water surface(this will help a little on chloramine).
it suckes losing fish when you do something wrong, does not matter they are cheap or expensive fishes.

[BeefyG]

I have a carbon bottle and still use safe.

I've noticed that this is a common practice with those in the know.

[BeefyG]

There is reisin in softener bottle that does not react with chlorine or chroramine at all. We will need some sorts of carbon as a solution for chlorine and chloramine.
I bought a softener bottle, tested with my tap water and water came out with very high level of chlorine. So, I dumped all that reisin out and replaced by activated carbon and water was good after that. When doing WC, I put my refill hose a little high,close to the top of my tank, so when water drops down in my tank, it hits water surface and creates some kindda water movement and I also have a pump pointing upward to water surface(this will help a little on chloramine).
it suckes losing fish when you do something wrong, does not matter they are cheap or expensive fishes.

I'm in the process of doing the same thing. Picked up a softener tank for $20 off of craigslist. Just gotta get a In-Out head and start stocking up on carbon.

[specialone0812]

I still use Safe from seachem just to be safe along with my carbon tank.
I refill my tank slowly to give more reaction time for chlorine and chloramine to be removed.

[ptran]

IMO this is a credible response from Troydale in another thread:

"A quick summary on water treatment

---

I was an engineer at a water treatment facility for ten years until I changed jobs. Chlorine & chloramine are not the only chemicals added to water. Most water comes from a fresh water source such as rivers or reservoirs. Reservoirs preferably b/c water is less turbid and more settled. Chlorine/chloramines(pre chlorination) is added as the water enters the plant. Chlorine is used to control odor & taste, to add oxygen to water, and kill off water bourne pathogens. Then a chemical aluminum sulfate and/or potassium permanganate (or something similar) is added to make all the trash(sand, dirt, plant matter) attract to each other like magnets and form large masses to be removed in a sedimentation basin. Sedimentation basins allow all the large formed masses time to settle out of the water. The last stage in most water treatment plants is filtration, where the water goes through a large filter that removes any remaining settlement in the water. Water is then dosed with another dose of chlorine/chloramines(post chlorination) and with fluoride and/or lime(in some states) for again taste and odor, germ control and teeth and bone preservation. Then water is distributed throughout the cities or towns to holding tanks or holding reservoirs where they are dosed with more chlorine/Chlorimine until they reach the end user.

In heavy rain events you have run-off of all types of stuff(sand, dirt, trash, etc) into the water, which makes the water more turbid containing more sediment in which chemical doses have to be adjusted to account for the boost in sediment/impurities. So you do not only have to worry about chlorine/chloramines, you also have to account for added levels of your aluminum sulfate/potassium permanganate type chemicals that help remove the sediment from our drinking water. I am not sure how much of these chemicals remain in the water once they reach our homes but they should all be safe levels for human consumption, but for our beloved fish it might not be the best. I would recommend not putting water directly into your tanks but in some type of container or reservoir then treat it with a dechlorinator and let it sit atleast 15 minutes before adding it into your tank. Some let water sit a day or more and I know lots of people add water directly to their tanks and have never had a problem, but I rather be safe than sorry. Not saying that this method is guaranteed, but it will help improve your chances of keeping our expensive pieces of nature safer. I have added water directly to my SA tank for about 8 years with no problems but they werent as expensive as my Fronts. Hope that helps a bit. Geez my fingers are tired! And sorry for your lost MIKULA."

[Panda]

:facepalm:

This happens way too often here in Houston, why don't people spend the $300 and get a carbon bottle before buying expensive fish? I just don't see it

No offense Sunny but this is why i did not post here what was for me a traumatic experience yesterday.
I knew i would get some "you should have known" - "you should have done" X,Y,Z responses...

At the end of the day i lost close to a $1000's worth of beautiful fish, it took me many months to put the setup/colony together and to watch helplessly as they all died within an hour was devastating...

Anyway, hopefully my loss will help some of my fellow hobbyists avoid tragedy...

This plus my USPS disaster has made for a heck of a month for me, just when you think you are on top
life knocks you back down. You just have to get back up, dust yourself off and start over...

[ptran]

Thanks Panda/Mikulka (sorry don't know your real name) for sharing this info man. It could have happened to me and other beginner fish keepers. You saved my fish for sure because I was going to do a scheduled wc last night. Again sorry for your loss.

[moganman]

No offense Sunny but this is why i did not post here what was for me a traumatic experience yesterday.
I knew i would get some "you should have known" - "you should have done" X,Y,Z responses...

At the end of the day i lost close to a $1000's worth of beautiful fish, it took me many months to put the setup/colony together and to watch helplessly as they all died within an hour was devastating...

Anyway, hopefully my loss will help some of my fellow hobbyists avoid tragedy...

This plus my USPS disaster has made for a heck of a month for me, just when you think you are on top
life knocks you back down. You just have to get back up, dust yourself off and start over...

Yeah I empathize with your feelings. Sorry it happened. Somethings are just out of our control. We all take losses and we rebound and learn from a tragedy. People will always say that we should've done something after the fact, but I feel bad for your luck lately man. I know it's tough. Goodluck on your future endeavors.

[johnnymisty]

No offense Sunny but this is why i did not post here what was for me a traumatic experience yesterday.
I knew i would get some "you should have known" - "you should have done" X,Y,Z responses...

At the end of the day i lost close to a $1000's worth of beautiful fish, it took me many months to put the setup/colony together and to watch helplessly as they all died within an hour was devastating...

Anyway, hopefully my loss will help some of my fellow hobbyists avoid tragedy...

This plus my USPS disaster has made for a heck of a month for me, just when you think you are on top
life knocks you back down. You just have to get back up, dust yourself off and start over...

Wow sorry it happened to you I had a simillar exerience i did a wc the other day and all my multis died it was strange i filled a bucket added prime let it sit 10 min or so and drained the tank and added the bucket and yesterday saw them all dead i know its not as bad or as devestating as your loss my first experience with wc at the new house

[mistahoo]

Panda, sorry for your lost, but I'm curious as to why you don't have a carbon bottle/filter owning such expensive fish in Houston?

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