Terrified That I've Overdosed On Nutrafin Aqua Plus

[Kaidonni]

Not having a good week, my OCD keeps spiking. On Monday I cleaned the tank, 10l change out of about 45l (used about 10ml Nutrafin Aqua Plus in the replacement water on the Sunday, and left it standing for 24 hours). I also added in ~12.5ml-15ml on the Monday evening right after the change to destress the fish. However, today I added another 10ml in after adding new plants because I was worried about any residual chlorine on my arm and hand (I wash thoroughly in cold water and dry thoroughly prior to putting my hands in the tank), and then I started worrying that I've overdosed the fish and something bad is going to happen. I always use dechlorinator on replacement water and leave it for 24 hours, and I've adopted the practice of adding dechlorinator when finishing a water change so the fish aren't over-stressed. Do I need to worry about my action today, or will they be fine? I only use Nutrafin Aqua Plus, and haven't the faintest how long it remains in the water column.

 

[fluttermoth]

They will be fine.
 
In practice, it's very difficult to overdose on dechlorinator. Most stay in the water column for between 24 and 48 hours.
 
However, there is absolutely no need for you to be adding extra dechlorinator. It won't 'de-stress' your fish (whatever it says on the bottle!), and even if you were putting wet arms in the tank, there wouldn't be enough chlorine on them to hurt anything.
 
Remember that the amount of chlorine in tap water is there to kill loose, floating bacteria; not fish or a robust bacterial colony, like you have in your filters.
 
In fact, if your tank is well established (say over six months old), you could do water changes of up to 40 or 50%, without using a dechlorinator at all; very many experienced aquarists do this without causing any harm to their set ups.
 
There's also no need to stand your water for 24 hours; dechlorinators work almost instantly, so a quick stir after adding it to the new water, and you're ready to go. You can use hot water from the tap or kettle to get it to the right temperature

 

[Kaidonni]

Thanks for the reply. I've just gotten into the habit of using dechlorinator to be on the safe side, and still leaving water for 24 hours.

 

[Noahsfish]

First off most water conditioners you can safely highly overdose, like 5x recommended amount without negative effects. Secondly when you wash your hands and arm with water there's no need to add more dechlor because the amount entering the water is so minuscule and will be eliminates anyways. So yeah, unless you dumped the whole bottle in I think you'll be fine..

I've always hears using hot tap is bad, myth?

Heard

 

[fluttermoth]

I've always hears using hot tap is bad, myth?

Heard

Yes, it is really. In some, really old water systems, there may be a slight chance of dissolved copper, but the amount would be minuscule, and your dechlorinator should lock that up anyway.
 
Certainly I've used hot tap water for many years, in old houses, new houses, trailers (yes, I did once live in a trailer park!) without causing problems; although, TBF, I didn't keep shrimps in those days

 

[snazy]

I keep shrimp and use the hot water each time. I even pour the water directly from the tap(hot/cold mix) via a python when doing 50% water change and dechlorinate the entire tank while filling up and it hasn't caused any issues or problems since I got shrimp 7-8 months ago.
With fish I've been doing it for years. Don't worry about some drops of tap water on your hands. I wash mine just with water each time before going into the tanks without drying them.

 

[Noahsfish]

I've always hears using hot tap is bad, myth?Heard

Yes, it is really. In some, really old water systems, there may be a slight chance of dissolved copper, but the amount would be minuscule, and your dechlorinator should lock that up anyway. Certainly I've used hot tap water for many years, in old houses, new houses, trailers (yes, I did once live in a trailer park!) without causing problems; although, TBF, I didn't keep shrimps in those days

Oh wow that's good to know, no more heaters in the 5g buckets anymore!

 

[Kaidonni]

Thank you for the replies, everyone. I've had one of those weeks where if it hasn't been one thing, it's another. If I don't ask, or if I don't do certain tests, it's like I'm neglecting the fish (even if deep down I know I'm over-reacting). It doesn't matter if I've done a lot already, there's always another issue.
 
I mean, I just did some ammonia tests on the tank. Had to purchase a new pack of pipettes because I kept re-using the one that came with my Nutrafin liquid test kit (got rid of the darn thing, I believe it was impacting on ammonia tests somehow). Now I'm worrying that the new pipette touching the inside of the test tube in between taking water from the tank will have introduced chemicals into the tank. I know it's silly because I re-used my old pipette plenty of times, and it touched the inside of the test tubes also. Not to mention, I always wash the test tubes after tests. I even squirted water back out the new pipette into the tank when it didn't measure properly, and I'm thinking that was stupid and would do harm (didn't re-add any from the test tubes or anything, just when I took the samples I wanted to be as accurate as possible and not rely on the 5ml lines in the test tubes, so if there were too many air bubbles or it measured too far high, I retook the sample after squirting that water back into the tank)... The squirting back of water was only after taking volumes to wash out the test tubes, so I'd technically washed out the inside of the pipette first anyway. It's always something I worry about...