Why does my livestock keep dying?

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I will upload pictures as soon as I can. Can't thank everyone enough for their help. I wanna keep everyone posted so this doesn't happen to anyone else. It sucks to throw all this money down the drain! I am def switching to rodi.
 
I can definitely agree with dirty tap water, also tried from a culligan machine. In New Orleans had all types of issues. In Springfield Missouri I ran a saltwater tank for 2 years off of tap water, never any issues. Just have to let it sit for 3 days before using it, let the chlorine die down. Here in Nola my water turned cloudy green with culligan water. Only RODI water from now on in my tank. Haven't had issues since switching. Just my experience.
 
You can contact your local water authority and they should be able to tell you what it is treated with. I was courious about what was in mine and they sent me a spread sheet of what the water was treated with and the source of the water.
Not sure if that might help you but just a thought.
 
The only thing I am having a hard time understanding is that I have been using the same water since the tank was set up. Someone had told me that their water treatment practices are different in summer vs winter, and that they add more chemicals in the summer. My wife is not gonna be happy when I tell her we have to lug 75 gallons if water from the LFS! Lol!
 
You can also get water from some of the larger grocery stores and places like walmart , one where you get it from the machine where you fill your own jugs.

If you are in this for the long haul you might want to consider getting yourself a filter. 75 gallons now and then water changes as needed it would probably pay for itself in the long run not to mention the convience of having it available whenever you need it and not having to travel to do so.
 
Agreed in the long haul ro/di units save you effort and if connected properly you can set up an ato and really save yourself some work in the future.
 
scuba dude said:
You can also get water from some of the larger grocery stores and places like walmart , one where you get it from the machine where you fill your own jugs.

If you are in this for the long haul you might want to consider getting yourself a filter. 75 gallons now and then water changes as needed it would probably pay for itself in the long run not to mention the convience of having it available whenever you need it and not having to travel to do so.
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Do not do this, I had trouble with the two machines I would use. Water turned cloudy and green. Recommend ro/di water.
 
I was under the impression that it was RODI water from those machines. Others here have used it without issue. Maybe your machines did not have filters changed as they should have?

I guess with the machines you never know when it was serviced so no guarantee on what comes out when it is handled by an outside party.
 
scuba dude said:
I was under the impression that it was RODI water from those machines. Others here have used it without issue. Maybe your machines did not have filters changed as they should have?

I guess with the machines you never know when it was serviced so no guarantee on what comes out when it is handled by an outside party.
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Agreed.
 
scuba dude said:
I was under the impression that it was RODI water from those machines. Others here have used it without issue. Maybe your machines did not have filters changed as they should have?

I guess with the machines you never know when it was serviced so no guarantee on what comes out when it is handled by an outside party.
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It is definitely not rodi in those machines, maybe RO. Deionized water is harmful to drink, it saps minerals from your body to my understanding. It could be RO water.

Also it may have taken a while to build up enough to harm your livestock. Each time water evaporates and Is replaced with new water the concentration of contaminated goes up a little. Water changes help but won't remove them completely, over time they will increase in concentration. Water changes with salt water made from DI water will remove them over time.
 
Ericwm said:
It is definitely not rodi in those machines, maybe RO. Deionized water is harmful to drink, it saps minerals from your body to my understanding. It could be RO water.

Also it may have taken a while to build up enough to harm your livestock. Each time water evaporates and Is replaced with new water the concentration of contaminated goes up a little. Water changes help but won't remove them completely, over time they will increase in concentration. Water changes with salt water made from DI water will remove them over time.
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I did a quick google search on DI water and most of what I found says it is not so much being harmful as it does not have any minerals ect. in the DI water as normal water would. So I guess after time if you drank enough it might not be the best for you.
I am certain that others here have used it without incident , personally I have not. Last thing I want to do is pass on information that is incorrect. If thats the case then I apologise for misleading anyone.
 
I have also heard that the machines from supermarkets ect are actually worse than tap water. I heard they are sterilizing the water through evaporation through copper coils and then collect the "purified" water in vats...
 
I have used Glacier water from various machines outside stores, which is RO (no DI) and it usually comes out .003 TDS, so at least in my area, its way better than tap, which is much higher. Based on what I've read here, it sure sounds like bad tap water.

Is there anything in the tank that might be leaking something (plastic decoration or anything like that)?

I don't know more than what I've read about stray voltage, but could that be it, as suggested earlier? Others could probably answer with some authority.

I've dealt with MV before (just getting my tank back in order after an MV battle) and while it is very deadly, I can't imagine it could kill a healthy fish overnight. My fish started acting strange and it took about two days to kill everything but my two Chromis. It works fast, just not that fast.

If its none of the above, then I like the idea of starting from scratch and using RODI. Its no fun, but if it solves the problem, its worth it.
 
Tim_G said:
The only thing I am having a hard time understanding is that I have been using the same water since the tank was set up. Someone had told me that their water treatment practices are different in summer vs winter, and that they add more chemicals in the summer. My wife is not gonna be happy when I tell her we have to lug 75 gallons if water from the LFS! Lol!
Click to expand...
To eliminate the possibility of tap water causing fish dying, I would suggest to get a TDS meter and see how bad your tap water is. I still can't believe that the corals and inverts are healthy if water is suspected to be contaminated. They are supposed to be more sensitive to water quality than fish.

http://www.marinedepot.com/HM_Digit...iums-HM_Digital_Inc.-HB00017-FITEMOMI-vi.html

If you had pwc and then all the fish died then yes I would suspect the tap water. Like you said you have been using same water for 9 months. It would take days and you would have noticed fish to be stressed out before they died and not just overnight. I still strongly believe you have MV.
 
willbratz said:
It hasn't harmed us and my wife and I use it for drinking water.
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Here is a link no this. It isn't harmful just not ideal for the majority of your water intake. RO water is not bad to my knowledge, that is commonly used as drinking water.

As for the fish, testing your water would be a good idea but I think the money would be better spent on an rodi filter than a tester.
 
Yeah I agree, although I found a zero water filter with a Tds meter included. Picked up for $7 total.
 
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