Would You Or Wouldn't You?

[cowgirluntamed]

Ok..so I sort of have two topics for this question of mine....lol.

The first is...do I really need water conditioner or not? I am on well water so no chlorine or chloramines to deal with. My last test on the tap water was in March but here are the results.

Ph-8.2
Ammonia-0.25
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-5
Kh-15
Gh-17
(Kh and gh are a bit lower in my tanks than the tap. Ammonia also goes down in tanks and fish have never reacted badly to water changes.)

I have been using Prime off and on, though I noticed on another thread that Byron had posted something about this messing up the nitrification processes? Not sure why though. He used something else(api I think?).


Next question....i have a 10 gallon tank with three guppies. I had started out with 7. One died to possible internal parasites that I caught too late. Months later, I moved the tank to a different room to redo the floor in the living room where the tank is located. I only took out about half the water and was able to carefully scoot the tank into the next room. My oldest and favorite fish got sick in there. Not a clue what it was. He stayed on the surface for a few days before sinking down and not swimming right. Then I also noticed what looked like a red ulcer or blood spot on his tail fin at the tip. He passed shortly after he went to the bottom. Then the next in line started it as well....and he passed. Then a third...though he got bloated and died faster. Then a fourth one got sick, same symptoms. Started treating with api triple sulfa. During this time I also noticed their tails start to deteriorate so i started api ererthromyacin(sp??). I did two treatments of that to no avail. Then I tried some aquarium salt for 3 weeks to no avail. Well, I haven't seen anything get worse though so I guess something helped. I did a 100% water change fairly recently to get rid of the salt and take out a ton of gravel. It was just too hard to keep clean. So far everybody is fine. I'm just wondering if this is just aggression issues between them? The smallest one always has been fiesty.

Now, here is the question...i am rebuilding a 55 gallon tank for the tetras in my 20 gallon(as well as adding more tetras and rasboras, currently have glowlight tetras and black neon tetras....and yes, they are doing very well. I get breeding behavior with them but because of the slightly harder water, no babies which I don't mind because no chance of getting overstocked. The glowlights I know are 2 years old, going strong. Black neons are close to that.) Anyway, do you think it would be safe to add these three guppies to the big tank once it's done and cycled? I didn't know if maybe they would be less aggressive towards each other? Another question is would they bother the tetras/rasboras?

Thanks for any help! Btw, this big tank probably won't be ready for at least a couple of months if I get my butt in gear and work on it more!! I just wanted people's opinions. Thanks!

 

[Akasha72]

Hiya, I would never not dechlorinate - better safe than sorry. I believe Byron uses the same dechlor that I now use - it's the API Tap Water Conditioner. It's super concentrated so a bottle of that will last ages. I calculated I needed three drops per 6 litre bucket ... that's 1ml for 60 litres of fresh water!
 
On to the next question. I reckon the guppies will be just fine in with the tetra's. I had guppies in with tetra's years ago (before I knew about water softness and species etc) and all was well. They shouldn't bother the harley's or tetra's and visa versa

 

[cowgirluntamed]

Hmm....i'll look this up more, but is there a major difference between the super strength version and the regular? They both take the one drop per gallon so it seems). The regular mentioned chloramine and chlorine I think where as the super strength only mentioned chlorine.

Thanks for the tip about the guppies. I just don't want to possibly infect my tetras! Or stress them out. Lol. Need to work on big tank.....lol.

 

[Essjay]

The concentrated product, called API Tap Water Conditioner, had two dosage rates depending on whether the water has chlorine or chloramine. It contains nothing to 'detoxify ammonia' so the bottle suggests using an additional product if the water has chloramine, as it splits chloramine into chlorine, which it removes, and ammonia, leaving the ammonia in the water.
 
I also use this product, because it does not have anything other than thiosuphate to remove chlorine and EDTA to bind metals. Nothing to remove ammonia, nothing to 'promote the slime coat'.
 
For chlorine, the dose is 1 drop per 1 American gall, or 3.76 litres. I use 2 drops in my 8 litre bucket, which I fill to 7.5 litres.

 

[Akasha72]

^what essjay said^ 
 
I meant to type something similar earlier but I didn't have time

 

[Byron]

There is only one API Tap Water Conditioner and it is a concentrated conditioner as others have explained.  The other "conditioning" products have different names and do different things I needn't go into; I would avoid those for various reasons.
 
You will not have chlorine/chloramine in well water unless you add it yourself, but there is the issue of heavy metals.  A complete test of the water by a lab would sort out just what is in the water.  Heavy metals are toxic to animals and humans too, depending upon the levels.  The API TWC detoxifies heavy metals so this should take care of these, if present.  However, like all conditioners, this detoxifying works for levels that are normally expected in municipal tap water (which would be "safe" for humans but possibly not safe for fish--for example, fish cannot tolerate copper at levels that are safe for humans).  In other words, excessive levels of one or more heavy metals might not be taken care of by conditioners.
 
Heavy metals include copper, iron, zinc, magnesium, lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic, and others.  Some of these are essential for life--whether plant, fish, animal or human--but become toxic at high levels depending upon the substance.

 

[cowgirluntamed]

Thanks for the replies! Do you know of any at home tests that I coukd use to test my water for heavy metals? I've looked in amazon a bit and hadn't really found anything that tests for all those metals and such. The mail in kits to a lab are very expensive it looks like.

 

[StevenF]

 
 
Do you know of any at home tests that I coukd use to test my water for heavy metals?

Home test kit are primarily limited to PH, GH, or TDS measurements.  There is basically one test for each element in the periodic  table and the equipment needed to do all those tests is costly and it is time consuming process.  You get the best results by sending out a sample to a lab.  A nearby water utilitiy should be able to recommend a place.  
 
Note GH primarly measures just calcium and magnesium in the water.  TDS (total dissolved solids) on the other hand measures the concentration of everything in the water using a small hand held electric meter.  
 
Personally I use RO water which removes Chlorine and heavy metals.  So I don't use a water conditioner.  I just periodically test My RO water using a TDS meter and my aquarium test kit.  If the numbers go bad I know my RO system needs maintenance.  Also in my tap water I have never been able to detect any chlorine.  I suspect my utility is using UV or ozone to sterilize the water.  Also if your alkalinity in your tank is good any chlorine that makes it into the tank will be quickly neutralized KH materials in the water.

 

[StevenF]

 
 
(Kh and gh are a bit lower in my tanks than the tap. Ammonia also goes down in tanks and fish have never reacted badly to water changes.)

If you have plants in your tank they will absorb calcium, magnesium, potassium, and some sodium from the water. They will also absorb ammonia and nitrite and will also absorb nitrate if other nutrients are sufficient.    That would account for the lower readings in your tanks verses your tap.

 

[cowgirluntamed]

Thanks for the replies. Sending a sample to a lab is a bit expensive but Culligan does free water tests so I'm seeing what they actually test for. I will probably get some of the api water conditioner soon anyway though.