FW aquariums, tropical fish, and water softeners

[black hills tj]

Hey Everyone,

Most of you have seen my recent threads about losing my fish. I forgot too mention that I'm doing PWC's once a week now and larger changes, than my dad was doing before. He used to PWC once a month and it would be 25% or less. Well...now that I think of it the warm water in our house is run through a water softener. Could the salt from the water softener be too much for the fish since I'm doing more often and larger PWC's?

 

[Zagz]

It shouldn't affect your fish unless it has changed your ph too quickly. Has your ph been the same as before? Are you adding dechlorinator with your pwc's?

 

[black hills tj]

Well...2 weeks ago(before I really started doing PWC's, before we added new fish, and before i added a new light and live plants) my ph was around 6.5. When I tested yesterday before a 50% PWC it was 7.2. No I have not been adding dechlorinator.

 

[LandGhoti]

You should be adding dechlorinator when you do a water change, especially since you've increased the amount of water you're changing. Seachem Prime is a good one. It removes chloramines, detoxifies ammonia and nitrates (should there be any trace amounts), and helps the fish keep their slime coats.

I think you said you've significantly upped the amount of water you change in a PWC (and are doing them more often), so that could have something to do with all of your recent fish deaths, esp since you're not using a dechlorinator with so much new water going in.

 

[black hills tj]

Hmm...I'll do a 10% PWC today and be sure to add some dechlorinator. I know my dad has some Prime lieing around somewhere.

 

[LandGhoti]

If you don't need to do one, I'd leave the tank alone until you're next scheduled PWC. At this point, the water is already pretty much dechlorinated. Just make sure next time you add Prime (or some other dechlorinator) before the new water goes in.

 

[black hills tj]

PWC'd 5 gallons and added Prime this morning. Hopefully things started looking better soon.