Lfs Telling Porkies?

AdAndrews · Dec 16, 2008

my lfs had a help sheet, which i picked up and it was going thro all the things neccesary to maintain a successful tank, when it came to adding fresh water to the aquarium it told you to put the water in the bucket and leave it overnight, then dechlorinate it in the morning, is this true?

i havnt been doing this as i thought that the dechlorinator dealt with all of that!, we asked the bloke and he said that its very important so your fish dont get whitespot, i have only had white spot once and cleared up strait away

is he right or wrong,
you help needed!
(thanks in advance)

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grasshopper_green · Dec 16, 2008

my understanding is that the dechlorinator works very well and very quickly, thus eliminating the need to let the water sit around.

AdAndrews · Dec 16, 2008

cheers dude, thats exactly what i thought!

helterskelter · Dec 16, 2008

Ditto but they may mean to warm the water as well as tap water can be very cold, but over come by using a kettle. LOL

AdAndrews · Dec 16, 2008

no coz my house is like 5 degrees, i could work out why the need, i figured that after the night the temp would be atleast 5 degreees lower than my tank water

petertr · Dec 16, 2008

Certainly won't hurt, probably the best way you can do it - but not a requirement

loachman · Dec 16, 2008

Doesn't hurt, and can help the tap pH stabilize or with temperature variations. It's not required though and has little to do with whitespot outbreaks.

Honeythorn · Dec 16, 2008

Adding Dechlorinator and BLASTING the tapwater into the bucket releases the chlorine quickly ( in gas form of course ). You don't need to let the water stand overnight if you do that. Water can be brought to temp by filling the bucket part way and adding hot water until the temp is correct ( just keep a spare thermometer )

jonnyf84 · Dec 16, 2008

Water can be brought to temp by filling the bucket part way and adding hot water until the temp is correct ( just keep a spare thermometer )

use the thermometer from the tank you are doing the water change on as some cheap thermometers can show slightly different temps.

OH the things that some lfs staff tell us - leave your water overnight or your fish will get whitespot :lol:

I have now got into the habit of pretending i'm a newbie when i visit new shops just to see what they say - its bloody hilarious, when on holiday in cornwall i popped into a shop in Truro, i forget the name but they told me that if i get ich then i need to LOWER my temp as far as possible before treating!!

There not all bad though, my local in Leeds has a couple of very knowledgable fishkeepers thats have helped me on more than one occasion, but the majority are just comical.

drobbyb · Dec 16, 2008

jonnyf84 said:
I have now got into the habit of pretending i'm a newbie when i visit new shops just to see what they say - its bloody hilarious...

That's actually a great way to find a LFS with knowledgeable staff.

OldMan47 · Dec 16, 2008

The dechlorinator will work right away as Honeythorn said. The whole concept of miscellaneous conditions bringing on ich shows a poor understanding of the disease. Ich is not a stress condition, it is a parasite. If the parasite is present, fish will get it on them and show the symptoms. If the parasite is not present, it won't generate out of thin air and the fish won't have the disease. There is no dormant version of the freshwater ich parasite so it can't suddenly appear from nowhere. It does survive for a few days after the cysts open and the parasites live in the substrate for a couple of days before re-infecting a fish. If they miss their chance to infect a fish, they die, they can't lay around waiting. Unfortunately people will see an ich problem days after the fish first contract it and it can come in on plants. The person's memory is "no new fish in weeks and suddenly there is an outbreak". They forget the plant they got 10 days ago and they didn't inspect the fish well enough to notice the first cysts that formed so "they came out of nowhere" is what goes through their heads. I am sure the people that tell you stress causes ich are well meaning but they are wrong. For details on the parasite's life cycle, see the ich info link in my signature.

smegforbrains · Dec 17, 2008

loachman said:
Doesn't hurt, and can help the tap pH stabilize or with temperature variations. It's not required though and has little to do with whitespot outbreaks.

Actually, getting the temperature to stabilise within a few degrees is more important, the PH should be stable anyway.

I see what you are saying, but it's not strictly 100% correct.

Whitespot outbreaks can occur from adding water to the aquarium that is too cold (ie; tank = 28 deg + 40% change with 10 deg water, for example).

boyneburn · Dec 17, 2008

Honeythorn said:
Adding Dechlorinator and BLASTING the tapwater into the bucket releases the chlorine quickly ( in gas form of course ). You don't need to let the water stand overnight if you do that. Water can be brought to temp by filling the bucket part way and adding hot water until the temp is correct ( just keep a spare thermometer )

If you have chloramine in your water make sure the dechlorinator also removes this as some don't.