oh dear, thats why they die!

[sarahw20000]

I found out today (after 7 months of keeping fish) that my hot water tap that i use for water changes to bring the temp up has salt in it from the water softener!

I'm assuming thats not good and could explain a few 'unexplained' deaths

I don't know what sort of salt it is but it's meant to make our hard water soft so i'm thinking it's not like aquarium salt?

 

[millym]

hi
just wondering do you use a dechlorinator in your water like 'tapsafe'?

 

[sarahw20000]

Yeah always but i wouldn't have thought that would have made any difference to the salt?

 

[debiasir]

no the dechlorniator will make no difference to salt. Sorry I can't suggest anything though

 

[dwarfgourami]

I've no idea how dangerous the tap water salt would be, but it would be easy enough to play safe and boil a kettle to bring the water up to temperature. I find that roughly 1 ltr of boiling to 9 ltrs of cold water feels right, but test with your hand. I've always done this as I think our hot water seems a bit icky.

 

[rdd1952]

Having salt only in your hot water doesn't make any sense unless you have a filter on your hot water tap and it contains the salt. If there is salt in your tap water, it would be in both the hot and cold.

 

[sarahw20000]

No what it is, is we have really hard water in my area so my parents bought a water softener which is like a tank of salt cubes that all the water ( apart from the cold water in the kitchen) passes through before coming out of the tap.

Unfortunately i thought that both the hot and the cold in the kitchen were okay untill my mum saw me using it for my tanks and enlightened me!

 

[ferrikins]

I never use, my hot tap, I always use the cold in a kettle, to warm the water, as some of the hot tapes in the UK are made of copper, and this can put copper in the water.

Are water is very very hard as well, but we just use a water filter, like the jug type, witch we put in the fridge.

 

[sarahw20000]

Yeah i'm gonna use the kettle in future, i just can't believe i've been using that water for so long!

I spose it can't be that bad otherwise i wouldn't have any fish at all!

 

[rdd1952]

Most fish with scales can handle some salt. Scaleless fish like catfish though are a different story. If that is mainly what you have been losing, then I'd say that is your problem.

 

[CathyG]

I never use, my hot tap, I always use the cold in a kettle, to warm the water, as some of the hot tapes in the UK are made of copper, and this can put copper in the water.

Are water is very very hard as well, but we just use a water filter, like the jug type, witch we put in the fridge.

[snapback]845984[/snapback]​

Taps are invariably made of brass, not copper (it is too soft a metal) but water is commonly drawn through copper or plastic pipework. So long as water is run off for a short while, it does not stand long enough in copper pipework to be contaminated -- where the possibility remains, is when hot water is drawn from a standing copper cylinder storage tank.

If you have a combination boiler (hot water is mains fed and heated on demand) you have just as much chance of contaminating your hot water with copper as you do from a cold mains fed supply.

If you have a conventional heating/hot water system (copper hot water storage cylinder) it is not advised to add hot tap water to your tank.

If you choose to heat water using a kettle, be aware that boiled water does not contain any calcium or salts, and thus would affect your pH in larger ratios (the scale build up in your kettle is calcious deposits left behind).

When filtering water, take care that it is not filtered through salts, for reasons already discussed. Common filters intended for human consumption are not suitable for fish, especially since the salts are not aquatic salts.