using dechlorinator with well water

[gale]

We have well water. I always thought that chlorine was in well water naturally but after reading some stuff here I saw some posts where someone said they don't use dechlor because they have well water. Should I continue to use it? I'm using stress coat in my 20g and got some aquasafe for my 10g.

Also, I saw a post at about.com where someone linked to their personal fish site. On it they said that stress coat is not good and raises ammonia right after using it. This is why I got the aquasafe. Is there any truth to that? Is it safe to switch now?

 

[WILDER]

I don't no much about well water, I would use declorinator as you don't no whats in the water, stress coat is over rated as their no prove that it works.

 

[Teelie]

Depends on the well water and the dechlorinator. Some dechlors will also break down heavy metals which might be present in well water so it would help then, otherwise it would be useless as well water does not contain chlorine or chloramine.

As to Stress Coat, I agree it's just snake oil and doesn't benefit anything though if you have it already go ahead and use it up in small qunatities rather than waste it. I don't think it wlll hurt anything anymore than help. Then again I don't know if the claims about rising ammonia levels are true or not.

 

[gale]

I don't care about wasting it-just want to use what's best for my fish. Would it be safe to switch to the aquasafe in the 20g tank? It's not going to cause some weird reaction from mixing the two? I just did a pwc last night (about 10%) and used the stress coat because I wasn't sure about switching.

 

[Teelie]

I doubt it would cause any problems mixing it but I'm not positive on it. I haven't used anything but basic dechlorinator in my tap and a mineral supplement in my water in years.

 

[karrihug]

i use stress coat all the time and have never had ammonia rise from it. it eliminates chlorine and chloramine. i don't think it would be necessary to dechlor well water, but it won't hurt anything either. better safe than sorry i guess. as far as mixing them, i have done it on numerous occasions. never had a problem. i even set up a new tank with a mixture. it was a 55 with one of those little 25 gal packets of aquasafe and all i had on hand was stress coat for the other 30 gallons.

hth
karri

 

[FrankSlapperinni]

What is your location like? I have never used dechlorinator, as a well is our water source, but our house is up on top of a steep hill with not many others around, so fairly little chance of runoff or other things getting into the well. The water is fairly basic and hard, but I have never detected anything in it besides very low levels of nitrate, and my fish do not seem to be negatively effected by it in any way.

 

[Fish Buddy]

I think I might have the answer to the 'Stress coat raising ammonia levels'. Stress coats are not usually sold on their own. The bottle of the stuff also removes chlorine ect. This removing of chlorine is actually breaking down the molecule into its smaller parts Nitrate and Ammonia. So in essence it's not the stress coat that is raising the ammonia but the dechlorinator.

Edit: If I were you I would not use dechlorinator unless you know that the water you drink contains heavy metals (highly unlikely because it is drinking water from a well but hey)