Days That Make You Want to Quit Fishkeeping... A Serious Warning On City Water Sources.

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Опубликовано:

13 апр 2023

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Комментарии : 568

@margan59 Год назад

My dad worked at a larger water treatment plant. Their flush outs where on a schedule. You might contact the water department, explain you're have aquariums, and ask if they have a schedule.

@milekh6681 Год назад

Or just do the FF method , he’s the best I’ve seen

@trenapatzer3631 Год назад

I never even knew that was such a thing. I’m going to call. That’s horrible. Poor fish 🐟 Maybe you could call city hall and place a complaint or a concern. 😮

@wan2shuffle 5 месяцев назад

@@milekh6681how would the FF method have prevented it?

@giftofthewild6665 3 месяца назад

@@wan2shuffle he doesn't do water changes.

@DelkaSable Месяц назад

@@giftofthewild6665 but he adds water :) add he can add poisonous water as well. You can use RO water to cap evaporated

@DolbecAqua Год назад

My heart goes out to you Alex! Here a BAD storm with massive city-wide power outtages happened not long ago here in Montreal while it was still quite cold outside. Lots of club members had entire fishrooms devastated by it, buckets and buckets of dead fish, some members reasonably wanted to quit the hobby afterwards. It was truly devastating to see all the pictures and read the stories. I applaud the resilience of anyone going through this type of situation (outtages, tanks crashing, etc. that aren't their fault) and still deciding to keep fishkeeping. On the positive side, lots of members helped eachother out, providing warm water, spaces to temporarily house fish, providing new pets to those who lost them, etc.

@Fishtory Год назад

Sorry to hear that!

@zacharykunzer2823 Год назад

It would be great if cities could offer a text notification service that sends you a message bulletin when they are flushing the lines. Then you are at least aware of it and can take proper precautions. Maybe contacting the city water department and request they apply this because the water can cost the citizens lots of money and heartache with this sort of problem. I always go through a LOT of Seachem prime this time of year and just dose like 3 or 4 times the dose just to be safe… if I have to do a water change for some reason.

@tic857 Год назад

Many do post a notice on their social media platforms but they just aren't popular with residents. I work in a water filtration lab and every spring the Department posts on all their social media which neighborhoods they are flushing that week and every week for that month complaints are storming in for water tastes different, smells different, their fish died, its slightly off color, etc. And its typically those neighborhoods that are getting flushed that week.

@LadeanaWhite Год назад

So sorry…. RIP little fishies😭🐟🐟🐟🐟🦐🦐🦐 🐌 🐌🐌🐌 I’d be inclined to test my tap water before every water change / top off. Thinking of you and knowing you can come back from this and continue to enlighten our fishy community. As always, thank you for sharing the good the bad and the ugly with us ✌❤🐟

@johnrobertd748 Год назад

Every water change. What about before every drink?

@giftofthewild6665 3 месяца назад

@@johnrobertd748pfft who drinks tap water 😂

@passingwind2681 Год назад

Sorry to hear this, a suggestion might be to create a buffer tank like a couple of garbage cans that you fill with the city water, but they get a chance to sit for a few days before you use them. Good luck.😮

@Fishtory Год назад

Good idea

@ReneesZooTube Год назад

@stephenswain3238 Definitely! Chloramine means you MUST use a water conditioner that neutralizes Chlorine, Chloramine, and Ammonia.

@SamuelDurkin Год назад

I was just going to suggest that myself.

@ashesmandalay1762 Год назад

This does not work if your city is using chloramine instead of chlorine, which more cities are doing because chloramine lasts longer than chlorine, so letting water sit out is increasingly ineffective. Instead you have to use water conditioner that removes chlorine, chloramine, ammonia, and heavy metals from tap water before you put it in an aquarium. Or if you have the money and room for it, an RO water filter, but then you have to remineralize the water. Either way the only solution is to treat your water with something.

@ashesmandalay1762 Год назад

And remember to have clean activated carbon in your filter after water changes to absorb the chemical residue of the water conditioner to avoid it building up over time.

@NewKidWS Год назад

I work in dialysis in Florida. In dialysis, we use city water for patient use and require additional equipment when the city changes their water parameters, so we require the city to send us notice before there is a change. The letter we get does say dialysis unit and fish keepers, so I suggest contacting the city and see if you can get on the list to receive notice. If you are already on the list what we do is we send them a letter to their address or when you call them get an email of the staff In charge of updating the lost and send every year to ensure you're still in the list every year. Flushes and disinfection are usually scheduled every year, sometimes twice a year, and you can kinda get an idea when you have to be extra careful even without a notice. They do sometimes require an extra flush or disinfection of their system due to bacteria and they should send the notice but an extra flush required and city forgetting to send the notice should be a rare occasion since not only fish could get hurt but humans also.

@Fishtory Год назад

Thats fascinating, and gives me some hope as well. Thank you!

@chevyfish4028 Год назад

So heartbreaking Alex. A good tip is to always test the source water before putting it in a tank. I know it seems like a hassle but it is so worth it. This is what I do & many in the saltwater hobby do; get a "Brute" trashcan (or two etc) from Menards etc (they are heavy duty & are strong enough to consistently hold large volumes of water). Very Important..."Test source water first" and fill trashcan. I then use Prime dechlorinator & put in a small waterpump (around 13.00 on Amazon). You can also use a heater if needed. (I personally use cold tap water because heated tap water contains more contaminates because of the nature of hot water). Let this treated, aerated water sit for several days.. The pH will change & the water chemistry will stabilize by then. Test trashcan water before using it as a waterchange...this gives your true parameters. After you see the testing differences & get a feel for what the "usual" end results will be, then you can only test the source water at the beginning right out of the tap. I also employ several 5 gallon waterjugs (Walmart or many other stores), that I keep full and ready for waterchanges or topoffs as needed. I use the same method as the trashcan. I dechlorinate after the jug is full of water and for aeration/mixing I use rigid airline tubing (which is my favorite way), or just weigh down some airline tubing (the waterpumps are too large for the jug opening). You can also use 5 gallon "foodgrade" buckets (from Ace Hardware, etc). I have found these methods to be failsafe and I use all these ways of water preparation. I hope this helps.

@pkendlers Год назад

Alex I used to think I was crazy whenever Winter would come and I would suddenly have issues in the fish room with certain fish not doing well. I am on city water too, and although I cannot prove it without chemical analysis, I am pretty sure whatever they do to the water when we transition to winter is not good for the fish. I have moved my fish room to a small community with a community well, I have tested the water and it's good except I had to raise the pH. I'm hoping we'll do better out here. We've been lucky in that when the city flushes The water lines they let us know ahead of time. So I can avoid water changes in such around that. But I do really wish they'd warn us when they're doing massive chemical alterations as well. I feel your pain Alex. It will get better. Perhaps a conversation with the water department where you are can make them aware of the issues you were having and they can work with you and other fish keepers in the area to reduce stock losses.

@Fishtory Год назад

Yeah im gonna mention i was keeping a few extinct in the wild species and see if that would qualify for special info on flushes of the system.

@maxgucciardi4507 Год назад

Some places switch to chloramine instead of chlorine in the winter which is a combination of ammonia and chlorine. Declorinator will remove the chlorine but the ammonia remains. The funny thing is that most of the time its still the chlorine that kills the fish because it takes significantly more declorinator to remove the chlorine than in regular water.

@katesmiles4208 Год назад

So good idea test water before adding it to tank. In my location chlorine levels can vary considerably. This is a great lesson to learn.. Sorry for the harm and losses.

@kinglyzard Год назад

I double the dosage on my water conditioner because I had a similar thing happen. I lost a couple of fish, but I was able to save the tank by adding more conditioner. I am trying my hand at the Walstadt method on my smallest tank.

@jordanwilde9226 Год назад

I am so sorry this happened, Alex. This is a huge tragedy and I honestly wonder if you can contact Seattle's water company regarding providing proper notice for this sort of thing. They shouldn't flood the line with dangerous ammonia levels without properly informing residents. I'm honestly a little scared of this sort of thing happening down in the Tacoma area. We've been okay so far, but yikes, it is very scary to me.

@Fishtory Год назад

They don't seem super helpful. They just say they" meet national testing standards and will put out a notice if it exceeds legal parameters ".. oi

@dakotabrowning5286 Год назад

Yeah sorry sir. I think this issue hits all fishkeepers eventually. I try not to change water after heavy rain fall and only a tank at a time, yall.

@fansiderc9302 Год назад

This is why I always check the tap water before doing a water change. I do it with well water as well.

@istudios225 Год назад

@@Fishtory SUE THEM!!! For ALL the losses they caused you! First, go to your municipal water provider's website and see if they have posted an explanation and detailed schedule of this procedure. If not, take a screenshot to record the lack of info. If they have info, take a screenshot anyway; could be insufficient info. This is to pre-empt them making any changes to the website after the fact. Next thing I would do, contact other fishkeepers in your area who suffered the same fate. Band together, get an attorney and file a lawsuit. Also make a police report. Municipal authorities have the responsibility to serve in the public's best interests. It is their DUTY to do so. They are paid with our tax dollars. Them saying "meet national testing standards" is dismissive, shows a lack of concern and is an attempt to avoid looking into issues, caused by them, which were directly detrimental and damaging to residents' property.

@lovism6590 Год назад

This video came at the perfect time for me. I’m new in the hobby and have had a few setbacks and I’ve been so discouraged and useless. I’m sorry this happened, but I’m very grateful for the message. ❤

@poeticsong725 Год назад

I have been using bottled water from the start. Some people have thought it was silly when there's tap water but I kept doing it anyway. Three months ago when I got my neighbor into aquariums, I tried doing everything with tap and water conditioner just because they didn't want to spend as much money. Those are the only tanks I've ever had problems with. Finally told them that if they want to continue keeping aquariums, they need to just buy the bottled water like I do, tap is not worth the risk.

@MrTheWaterbear Год назад

A cheaper alternative to bottled water, in the long run, is either collecting rainwater, buying a distiller or an RO unit. Yes, cleaning and replacing filters of distillers and RO units when they get filthy is a bit pricy, but it will eventually cost less than bottled water and be way more convenient.

@poeticsong725 Год назад

@Haitaka123 yes I thought of that but I used up all the available space in my house for aquariums (27) and couldn't figure any place to actually PUT an RO system. I do get my jug filled at the LFS anytime I remember though.

@Finkeldinken Год назад

Oh, my goodness, that is heartbreaking! I feel nauseous just hearing about it, I am so sorry for you and your animals. The tap water here is very stable and good, so I have never heard anything like that happening around here, and I clearly didn't know how fortunate I am as a fishkeeper. I see some other people have suggestions; I'll hang back because I have no rl experience with this precise issue. Again, I am so sorry. What a gut punch.

@connie6705 Год назад

So sorry this happened to you and all your beautiful aquatic life Alex. I live in a small town and we get warning when they’re going to flush and tell everyone to boil your water before drinking it. Every city should be following something on the order of this for all life in their community people and pets!

@mercysmith Год назад

It’s real grief to lose pets, which is what our fish are to us. I’m really sorry. It’s easy to see when someone really cares and you are one of those. I admire you so much for your empathy, and your encouragement to others in spite of this loss. God bless you.

@Alhabeeb43 Год назад

Im so sorry bro. its crazy that i was just talking to a friend about this last week. there are many factors out of our control and as a fishkeeper we need to have total control. i learned from you that doing water top offs is fine and have been seeing great results ever since.(not chasing certain parameters). And thank you for uploading this and keeping it real, you dont know how many tanks you are saving by spreading this. Accidents happen, its how you handle it and learn from it is what matters

@jayrauch3940 Год назад

Man, tough blow. I feel for you, it has happened to me in the past as well. I’ve kept fish for 30 years and this issue has become more frequent and to a more dangerous level over the past few years. My solution has been to age water. I can not tell you with enough emphasis how much better this has been. Safe and easy, zero losses and stable parameters. Major kudos for your outlook on it and seeing it has a painful time, but not a show stopper. Cheers buddy.

@Fishtory Год назад

Yeah i need to start too. Thanks

@daniojanet7529 Год назад

My condolences. ❤️ Never give up. I know you are looking to figure out how to prevent this - I don’t know. Checking your water source before every water change is not practical. Heck, the city could change sources in the middle of you doing your water changes. 😕 I’m on a well, which (so far) has eliminated the shifting water source problem. BUT being on a well = I’m in the country, which has its own problems. One year I lost power for 12 days during an ice storm and it was hell trying to keep my fish alive. I lost a lot of my favorites and lost months of progress in my fish room. But I’m glad that I stuck with the hobby and I know that you will, too. Praying and send good vibes your way. Thank you for sharing the hard side of the hobby so that those of us who have been through it don’t feel so alone.

@donnywolf9250 Год назад

My girl works for the water department here in the Boston area.......I actually had this conversation with her about Ammonia in the tanks......and Ammonia the water company adds to the water....But our drinking water never gets affected like what happened to you Alex......so awful that happened

@scotmcpherson Год назад

Sorry to see your loss. I hope you can get some more from Lawrence. As a possible solution. I age my water. I have a couple of aquariums that have nothing in them except a sponge filter, and I let the water age in those tanks for at least several days before I use it in my aquariums. If something starts growing in it, I'll know the water has nutrients that shouldn't be there. EDIT: I should note that the water from my tap smells like pool water. I even age the water I use to feed my potted plants over the winter months to let it off-gas the chlorine.

@dominicflorio5708 Год назад

I have experienced this and it's horrible. Sorry for what happened. The thing that seems to help me is to dose my tanks with Safe, more than what is recommended. I did a water change and was horrified the next day to find 8 out of 9 African Clawed Frogs were dead. I forgot to put the Safe in and I can't believe I did that. I'm in Florida and they use chloramines.

@jerrydease1459 Год назад

Maybe get a large basin sump type setup to cycle water in your fish room before water changes?…☺️ immersed plants & all! That’s what I do. Quarantine your water change water well-beforehand essentially.

@CarolynnMc01 Год назад

Hi Alex, I'm so sorry to hear about your ordeal and the loss you have experienced with your fish and aquarium life in general. I know how you take such great care of your fish, and this unexpected turn of events had to be beyond devastating. I'm glad you let us know what you've gone through in this situation. I'm here to offer care and support, as are many others, I see. I know you can re-establish your tanks, even though you lost some fish who were incredibly dear to your heart. Again, I'm so sorry. I am in Cali near to San Francisco and I've never had this problem but your ordeal has made me think that I ought to check my tap water spring and fall to check for ammonia. Our water treatment plant sis close by, so I may see if I can stop in to their office and ask about particular months I might want to check the tap water before using it in my tanks. It was also very thoughtful of you to give us all the information about the local water supplies getting flushed. I can tell you that sometimes, I can smell excessive chlorine in the water, and at those times, I let water sit for a while in the sun before adding to my tanks. I'm sending you all best wishes and I'll be thinking of you. I hope you can give us updates. I wish you all the best! xoxox take care.

@EarnestJim Год назад

Thanks for sharing and helping us understand better how to protect ourselves from random disaster. Best to you!

@janicelundberg1956 Год назад

I’m so sorry for all that happened to you and your fish. It broke my heart watching. 😢 Thank you so much for sharing ❤

@profeturulz8373 Год назад

Proper filters. Store water in a barrel before using. Use amonia removing solutions. Test the water. Create sturdier aquariums that are hard to imbalance

@B3gonias 8 месяцев назад

Man, coming here after a second goldfish loss this month. I’ve been bedridden so much this past year, and now that I’m back on my feet, I feel like I’m paying the bill for my illness. This helped me feel less alone, thank you.

@Fishtory 8 месяцев назад

I hear you 100%. You are not alone. Many of us have long term injuries or chronic illness and a lot of what i do with my plans for filterless aquariums and no water changes. Is due to my lupus and numerous back surgeries. But not wanting too give up the thing that brings me some amount of joy

@ngshashidhar Год назад

Sorry to hear this. I always use RO water for my fish tanks. Also to break ammonia you require bio media in your filters along with sponge

@drewdan01 Год назад

I’m sorry this happened, it truly is a tragedy. You can and will rebuild better then ever. We appreciate you sharing this learning opportunity with us.

@MandyJane123700 Год назад

I'm sorry this happened :( I do appreciate that you have shared it, because I think everyone needs a reminder about what can happen and to be careful. I am glad I don't have city water, even though my well water is very hard.

@johnmanrow2667 Год назад

The city water is fairly soft in my area. This is the reason why buffers are added to the well water. I also RO/DI water. I mix a 50/50 well water with RO water to bring my pH down to 7.2

@MandyJane123700 Год назад

@@johnmanrow2667 Fortunately, my water is at about 7.2 just as it is. I am a little confused about what GH and KH actually mean, even though I have watched some videos on it! I am afraid to try keeping shrimp because of my lack of understanding.

@Xintril Год назад

So sorry! 😢 you will get through it. You have helped me with your videos tremendously and I thank you for your work, education and persistence.

@CrystalmarieGrz Год назад

I am so very sorry. Such a terrible loss. I’m glad you were able to save some. My heart breaks for you.

@amazonaquatics Год назад

Thanks for the post! I didn't consider this could happen. I am in Miami and definitely will be more careful moving forward! Love your channel!

@racheltillman5787 Год назад

I'm so glad I came across your video. I recently lost an entire colony of fish that were super stable and I had no idea what happened. Unrelatedly, my husband mentioned our city changed water sources and seeing your video made it all click

@Fishtory Год назад

Glad I could help a little. Best of luck

@CourtneyHenslee Год назад

Wow!! Thank you for this. Interestingly, right before we watched this, we happened to test our tap water yesterday because our ammonia levels keep being high. The tank is only 1.5 weeks old, but we felt like this struggle is going on for too long. Also turned out that our water is high from the tap. Yesterday we water changed and are very slowly filtering water through our little Epic nano water filters we use for camping. It’s so good to understand that our intuition was right. Thank you for showing this! So sorry about the beings you lost during this and I hope it all comes back to balance as fast as possible.

@charlesxavier2404 Год назад

I've enjoyed your educational videos a lot, and my heart goes out to you. Not claiming to be an expert, but I don't recycle with the tap water period. I tried tap water and had a lot of issues and chose spring water instead. It's a little on the hardness scale but that's easy to fix.

@yellamach_1 Год назад

Very sad and frustrating when you put all that time and effort into your tanks and that happens, but thank you for taking the time to make a video to let us know about this issue because I definitely use city tap when doing water changes. I never really thought about this happening either but at least I can try to keep my water changes small just in case. But keep your head up because your channel has been so inspirational to me and I'm sure many others, I hope you can figure out a solution :)

@jpgx265 Год назад

Thank you so so much for sharing 🙏 this is a huge help and great knowledge most channels would not share

@maggiefranks6849 Год назад

Ugh! Bummer. I am so lucky to currently be on a well but have been there with city water. It's the worst! One contamination was so bad, they over chemed the water and even sent ppl to the hospital with burns. I burned my eyes, but healed fine. The worst part was I lost hundreds of amazing fish (fancy koi and goldfish) AND dozens of show quality rare foul/pheasants and game birds. I was absolutely gutted. Hang in there man!

@jaydeadore3556 Год назад

Sorry to hear this happened. It really does suck losing pets. 😢. My heart goes out to you. Thank you for bringing light on the subject about tap water and how unexpected things like this can happen, will make sure to test water now when doing water changes. I do love your content here in Australia and how informative it is so keep on fishkeeping even through the hard times . Wishing all the best.

@Fishtory Год назад

Thank you

@darksitter22 Год назад

I learned this years ago, that the water company will adjust their water treatment depending on time of year, drought conditions, flooding, etc. When it's 100 degrees out and they're having drought conditions, they increase and/or add chemicals to treat for algae, bacteria, etc. So, stay aware of the conditions in your area and how to treat the water coming into your home.

@bevfrigon7142 Год назад

Wow Alex , this just sucks!! I'll be watching our water here now too because I know they do this here too. I'm so sorry you're going through this!! Thank you for the warning😪❤

@enni_p Год назад

That sucks 😢 Here in Finland similiar things happen, during spring when thawn water can pollute ground water. I usually check local fish Facebook group, people usually warn there if something is up.

@bk2pla Год назад

Oh my sympathies Alex! I’ve had that happen twice that I’m sure of. Just a couple tanks though. Sometimes you can smell the chloramine, but a lot of times you can’t smell it. It’s very frustrating.

@globalist1990 Год назад

That's awful. I would not be prepared for something like that. Hope you're able to go on and improve from this. Thinking ahead, having a tank with lots of plants as reservoir for city water?

@Ann__333 Год назад

Im so sorry foŕyour loss.... This might have saved my fish though. We had our moms house burn down this weekend. So we had to reroute the water line using a temporary hose to the back house where i live. Its not graded as a drinking hose. I wouldnt have even thought to check without this video....

@FoolyLiving Год назад

Ohhh no, I'm so sorry that happened. It is a huge fear of mine. Thank you for sharing, this is really important for people to know. I had one fish die from a water change because it died quickly after, but none other died. I added water directly to the tank and put in water treatment at the same time, but I guess he laid in a pocket that didn't get treated and it affected him quickly. I am now taking a 2 gallon glass drinking jug with a spigot at the bottom (a big lemonade jug) and treating the water for 25 minutes in that jug before I add water.... 2 gallons at a time. Then I put it on a board on top of the tank and let the spigot drip in there until empty. It's a LONG process to change water now but I can't figure out what else to do.

@ofaginzy Год назад

I live a stones throw from where you are and I've had Seattle screw me with pipe flushing a few times. I feel your pain. I only have a few nanos currently but I started filling a five gallon bucket with tap and letting it sit for several days. At the beginning of fall and spring I'll test it as well. I'm sure I'm not telling you anything you don't know though. You're an inspiration man. Keep going.

@donpettit7107 6 месяцев назад

That happens in Portland too. Our cleanest on the planet (practically) water coming from the Cascades foothills reservoirs gets switched out during late summer/fall due to low reservoir levels…or times of high turbidity (landslides into the reservoirs)…and are switched to local groundwater that is somewhat mineralized and much warmer. Sometimes you can see/taste the difference…sometimes it is gradual and you don’t notice it. Good to think about that in light of water replacement. Also, thanks for sharing the occasional upsets along with the times when all goes to plan.

@TaleRavenTarot Год назад

That really sucks. I appreciate you sharing with us so we can learn. I have a whole-house filter and an ROI tap for my personal drinking water because my town has such awful water. I use it for my tanks too now (with good minerals added back in) bc of this.

@spiraleena9237 Год назад

I’m so sorry Alex, truly tragic. Thank u for showing us so we can think to make a plan. Things I can think of doing?: -I keep ammonia lock / prime on hand for any occasion of ammonia spikes( like re planting or starting a new tank or somebody dying etc) Would adding a water conditioner not lick the ammonia up right away in your tanks? -I only use my water filter to do top offs, or I’ll use a 3 gallon bucket and squirt prime in it -I do monthly 10% water changes, (my tanks have lotsa plants so I have to add nitrates) and I add prime -I’ve heard of that happening in other cities too, never heard of that happening here, in Oakland, but one could keep some test strips for a quick check anytime one goes to top off or do a water change … So sorry for your loss buddy :(

@smob0 Год назад

I want to say thanks for this video. I've been dealing with a crash in a tank in my room and I've lost about 10 fish this week and my ammonia is really high. You just got me to measure my tap water, and I'm at a .5ppm -1ppm ammonia so the water changes probably arent helping too mich. I'm going to see about picking up a few 5 gals of distilled water or something from the store.

@ReneesZooTube Год назад

Don't do distilled, that will have zero buffering capacity and will cause other issues. Spring or just regular bottled water, but test it first to see how different thr parameters are from your tanks. In the meantime, you can also dose Seachem Prime daily and use beneficial bacteria like Seachem Stability to help the tank itself. Dose for the entire volume of the aquarium

@heatherperretta911 Год назад

So sorry this is happening and wishing you some clarity in the path forward with the water supply. I’ve been dealing with seasonal fluctuations in our well water here and trying to figure out what the best course of action is.

@lorettajackson8759 Год назад

Hello Alex, Thanks for sharing. It's good to be reminded that stuff happens (and not just to me). One idea to help manage this problem (if a bit inconvenient) would be to have a water resevor container - barrel with an ammonia badge, to put the water in first. The badges last a long time, but I'm not sure how they do with repeated wet- dry cycles..... Also, to help with the ammonia burn, if you have any "usnea" lichen around, it is said to be a good treatment. I've heard from people who use it themselves for their lungs. They make a "cold brew" tea with the inner core of the lichen. The guy telling me about it said that the outer part gatherers impurities from the air (conversation at a fish store: ). I will come back and post the link to the fish page that I first learned about it from. Sorry about your losses. Always a bummer: (

@Spacey7 Год назад

That's awful, I'm so sorry Alexander. Here in the UK you can smell the chemicals while running the water, this runs off after a while if you leave the tap running.

@bettazoid Год назад

I've been through it too and it was awful. The water utility here couldn't provide a schedule when I asked, but it's fairly frequent in my area so there's massive fluctuations in the tap water. Best I can do is test my tap at least once a month or if anything seems off, or if I can actually smell chlorine in the water. For my smaller tanks I have about 20 gallons of water in jugs set aside, but for bigger tanks I have to wait to do water changes, which is usually up to a few days here. I'm so sorry that's happening to you, man. It's definitely something that needs far more attention than it gets.

@glee8421 Год назад

Suggest you store a 55 gallon drum(s) or tank(s) to store your water for two weeks, test water before and after water storage before water change, or use rain water.

@MetalheaD_PRIME Год назад

I feel your pain there we are constantly battling city water. It's bad enough I test the tap water every two weeks or so just to see where it's at. Definitely keeps us on our toes.

@buddkhang2183 Год назад

Agree, I've noticed our city water is best during winter and our winters last half a year lol, summer water sucks, I have to age the water for at least 48hr before adding to tanks

@mikeyb5612 Год назад

I'm sorry to hear, I have always had luck with RO & RODI on my well with a booster pump. I run the aqua fx dolphin unit and purely do sump top offs which only takes about 10 minutes if that of running water every 3-5 days. Lots of plants as well, and fairly heavily stocked, bare bottom at the moment so the flow keeps it spotless and lets the bio do the work.

@zoltan303stackin Год назад

So sorry to hear this...I've been testing my tap the last couple months and have had a few lil changes in ammonia but not as high...test test test your tap before using it

@chriswalker2049 Год назад

So sorry to hear about your fish. It took me 6 years going through the same thing before I finally figured it out. I'm lucky because I have a good spring source close to my house that I can collect water from. It's a pain. The best solution for you if that is not available would be to invest in an RO system. You can get inexpensive ones made for hobbyist that can hook to your kitchen sink or garden hose. That should give you consistent stable and safe water. It will remove almost all of the hardness so you might have to add that back in for certain tanks.

@peaoat3608 18 часов назад

I had fish suddenly acting erratic. It turned out that the Ph levels in our tap water suddenly became extremely high. I'm glad my first instinct was to check the Ph. There is always a low concentration of ammonia as a part of the chloramine treatment. Prime takes care of it.

@MP-xd2fn Год назад

That's rough. Always learning. Truly enough your channel!

@williamleidy6713 Год назад

Awesome angel hatch. Seeing the parents posting guard is cool.

@Fishtory Год назад

Yeah theyre great parents until the babies are free swiming lol then these two eat the babies without fail around week 2 lol

@sharonkaczorowski8690 Год назад

So sorry this happened…such a loss. Delaware has the worst water in the country. I’m hoping to collect rain water in a garbage can with some leaves in te bottom. but haven’t figured out how to get help to do it…what a mess for you. I hope everything straightens out quickly.

@jerryhammond2730 5 месяцев назад

Very sorry to hear about this. I had a similar experience when I moved from the country (well water) to the city with treated water. I lost a 125g tank with adult silver dollars and adult bala sharks before I realized what was going on. The water didn't have a strong chlorine smell but it was enough to kill all my fish. So, I feel your pain.

@ReluctantCriticDude Год назад

Wow so sorry. Thanks for sharing. I think I’m going to build a rain water cistern to have safe water for water changes

@andrewc9188 Год назад

I fill two 55gl plastic drums. Treat the water with Fritz complete and a tiny tiny bit of salt. I have a air stone in both and let it sit for a day or two.

@Silver_Creek_Aquatics Год назад

Only thing I can think of is check the tap water every week or 2 before you do the water change. Our here is awful as well. We're on a well that the city gets water from. But, the well has been hit by fracking, so when stuff gets stirred up it even worse. Ive added in-line filters to my water hose to be the first step to help. RV water filters, for hooking up to an RV. They screw right onto your water hose, though, even these sometimes don't help.

@TheNanoAquariumGuy Год назад

So sorry, it also happens here in South Florida, luckily one of our local fish shops keeps track of those and shares with us when it is about to happen.

@monicaharmonica7152 Год назад

Holy moly!!! That is insane!!! I’ve never seen it be so extreme. I had an issue with the water quality here in Portland a few weeks back but it wasn’t anywhere close to what you have going on. I’m so sorry though!

@MimicNature Год назад

Maybe someone has mentioned this. I'm not going to read 500+ comments to see. If that scenario is a risk, I would just take the 5 minutes to test the tap water before any water changes. I am thankful for the video. I will now look into whether I am at risk of this in my city. Sorry for your troubles.

@DelkaSable Месяц назад

As for now, we know that you have recovered from the damage. Be strong, be well, Alexander

@Fishtory Месяц назад

Thank you

@voluntaryismistheanswer Год назад

😭 I'm sorry, I had a tank crash from planned rolling blackouts this winter they didn't let us know were planned, and absolutely devilish tap water: a few years ago they gave us chunky pink water, told us to use it, and the state sued the city over it, which we the people have been paying for in a lawsuit directed at the city from the state!- I have been so sus over the tap water I've been straining slimy green rainwater from bins all day, and envying those with clean water- mine used to come from a spring. Creator bless duckweed, and may your tanks spring back, and thank you for posting this, so I don't feel like so much crap when everything goes south. Sending positive vibes to your strugglers.

@voluntaryismistheanswer Год назад

When I lived in Alabama the city water department liked on IG my posts exposing the crap in city water- don't give up, people in charge don't want to drink ammonia pee water, either

@Jen.K Год назад

I'm sorry this happened, and for your losses. My first thought was to test the water before doing major water changes, but I know that would end up being very expensive over time. I don't even have an ammonia test kit and use the crossed fingers approach. My 3 tanks are very heavily planted and I only do small water changes Here where I live in Australia, a few years back, they were doing something with the water supply, I can't remember exactly what it was, but I got a letter warning me and with instructions for how to flush the system after it was done. The water was a strange color for a few days.

@bl0pez772 Год назад

I know I may be grasping at straws here and this may involve some work- but what if you were able to find out what specific municipal facility was supplying your water, and contact them? Could you ask if they have some sort of pre-determined maintenance schedule, explain your situation, and possibly give you the date(s)/times of those scheduled events? Also, do people ever get any water quality issues with well water? Are there any things to watch out for? I'm so, so sorry that this happened to you Alex. I can't even begin to imagine the sadness and loss you're feeling right now. I wish we could bring your babies back.

@Fishtory Год назад

Ive tried... it depends on where you live. The new district is useless, unfortunately. But that IS a great idea, my old house and district manager did have a calander online for work being done.

@ReneesZooTube Год назад

I'm so incredibly sorry for your losses. The same thing happened to me years ago. My town changed from Chlorine to chloramine and to RO with zero notice. I did a water change and watched my favorite male guppy breeder die right before my eyes and lost several other fish over the following days. I was using a dechlor-only conditioner. Took me a few days to figure out what happened. I switched to water conditioner that detoxifies Chlorine, Chloramine, and Ammonia. I dose for the entire volume of the tank every time I do a water change to help account for stuff like this. My current tap water in Los Angeles area routinely has enough chemicals to kill ramshorn snails in it if I don't use water conditioner. So I always dose full tank volume of water conditioner and I dose a beneficial bacteria supplement (Seachem Stability) every time I do a water change or top off my tanks. I also found out that system flushing can occur here when it rains, so I don't do water changes for at least 48 hours after it rains here. If this happened to me now I'd be dosing Prime and Stability daily for at least a week, full tank volume doses. Maybe you can do a bucket of water and dose water conditioner and test it 12-24 hours later to see if that neutralizes so you can do some top offs right now as needed.

@Fishtory Год назад

Sorry to hear that!

@heatherdoeswhatttdesues2328 Год назад

sorry for your loss, i use filtered water here in california because our city water is crap and it works for both of my freshwater aquariums.

@AB-xx1lj Год назад

Huge bummer. Hang in there bud and thanks for the tip.

@Whohnelly Год назад

So sad, thank you for the heads up!

@sharonkaczorowski8690 Год назад

When we had fish before hubby out water in open jugs and lit it sit and we used that…neither of us is physically able to do that but we had no problems…

@rikardfriberg9529 Год назад

I´m very happy that I live in Sweden when I see videos like this. Perfect drinkable water straight from the tap. Never used a de-chlorinator ever. And my tanks never had a problem depending on water changes. Very stable. They add a lot of calcium though, to buffer the pH I suppose. So water stains could be a problem. Even better was before I moved from my parents. We had a well at our property. No city water there. The water was a bit on the acidic side. But it was great for aquariums. Some tannins. Not much, but if you filled a tub with it, you could see that it had a certain color to it.

@cliffnorman8153 Год назад

We had the same problem here in Edinburgh, Scotland ..ammonia high ...my friend had a shrimp disaster I had to buy mineral water for changes lesson learned about testing tap for all

@tiffanyapag Год назад

Maybe next time you do a water change, fill a 5 gallon bucket, test for ammonia before adding… I keep 5 gallon buckets of water out 3 days before water changes to aid in chlorine evaporation, and add plants in to start naturally filtering out impurities. Sorry this happened. Wishing you the best 😊

@jpersons-bx9rn Год назад

I'm so sorry Alex. That's really Aweful. Thank you for showing this. I'm on town water too and had no idea this was a thing.

@pabrown69 Год назад

That’s so gut-wrenching. Very sorry for your loss. What a nightmare.

@KentAJDK Год назад

So sad. Sorry about this lose. Thanks for sharing.

@ak-homegrownroots8185 Год назад

I am very new to this hobby. And I just love your channel and have learned so much. Just thank you!! But I think of water as the most important step. Soo I installed a reverse osmosis system for our well water. We also have a water softener. So I would never use our tap water. I’m too scared!!! And if I had to I would buy water from a box store instead. Also I always let my water sit 24 hours before I add it to my tanks too. And I (test) that water so I know 100% it before I add it to my tanks too. And yes, I do this every water change. Lol I swear keeping fish is a lot of work… but I love this obsession!! Lol Also there’s always prime. I hope this helps. Hugs to all.❤️

@Kaitlin.D Год назад

Oh man, I’m so sorry Alex! Thanks for sharing this even though I’m sure it wasn’t a super easy video to make. I will definitely be changing a few things. I’m sure what a good solution might be but for now I guess I’ll have to make testing my tap water before I even think about removing water a new habit.

@Mittzie Год назад

I had the same issues I stopped using tap water in spring only distilled for top ups and remineralized distilled for any water changes that need done, After I started doing that no issues, another issue with spring water - a lot of places up the chloramines they use when you add dechlorinator it can break the chloramine apart and leave ammonia left and if you don’t up the dechlorinator you may be leaving chloramines in the water being added since they don’t decay like old fashion chlorine does

@Snoochie-Booch Год назад

Thanks for the heads up

@ONEFUNFONE Год назад

Dealt with water issues usually in the spring then again in the fall living in Oregon years ago. Water department would basically laugh at you then hang up and or claimed they never messed with the water or they don't flush the systems out... seemed to.make it worse after I talked to a supervisor and mentioned I had aquariums. April and November- sometimes mid October I'd start testing water before a wc and kept a barrel of ro water handy just in case I had a bad wc and needed to dilute the water. Now living in the Midwest and having bad water year around I'll be adding an ro system once I get the room built and using an IBC tote for storage and probably buffer the water 50/50 or until I find that happy spot- in the long run that system will be cheaper then using chemicals all the time like I currently do.

@Fishtory Год назад

Similar experience to mine. Thanks for the input

@angie504 4 месяца назад

Thanks for sharing! I live in New Orleans and our city water board is notoriously bad. I'm going to start testing for ammonia in the new water before every water change.

@splattered63 Год назад

Wow so sad for you and the fish. I'm no where near experienced as yourself but one thing I've noticed and use as an early indicator that something is wrong is neocardina. If I can't see many and there not moving about then I know something is wrong. As soon as I notice them I add Prime until I can work out what's happening. So sorry for your loss - heartbreaking.

@domesticwoods Год назад

So sorry this has happened to you. 😢 Because of the loss of cherry shrimp I had had purchased, I ended up testing my well water a few months ago to discover I actually have anywhere from 1-2 ppm of ammonia, we have lived in our home for over 20 years and never had this problem. Neither the local health department or the EPA were very helpfull as to an explanation of why we suddenly have this issue. 😕 I have been doing less water changes, added duckweed, and also add Prime everytime I do a change or top off. Heartbreaking and frustrating. Thanks for sharing.❤

@AlpacaMade Год назад

Oh, Alex, that's rough. I can understand being caught off guard on city water. Mine is hard, as you may remember, a friend offered his well water so I tested it. More ammonia than my city water so that was out. I let my tank go swampy and turned off the lights for 3 months now. The hair algae is finally gone but so are most of my new plants. In the meantime, I collected a dozen gallons of distilled water to have in reserve.

@Fishtory Год назад

@Spacey7 Год назад

I always run my tap water for a good long while until the chlorine/ammonia smell goes away.

@paulplantu Год назад

If you can use a rain barrel/trash can to collect rain water it’ll be way better than tap water. That’s what I do to avoid the tap water fluctuations. It also rains a lot out in the PNW so this may be a solution.

@Fishtory 2 месяца назад

Great point. Thank you!

@gregjonesonline Год назад

Hey Alex, sorry to hear this happened. Here are my thoughts: 1. ammonia is more toxic at higher ph, if your large water change also increased your ph it could instantly make the existing ammonia/city ammonia more toxic 2. as you said cities usually flush the water lines in the spring and fall, to combat this you can double dose prime or safe during these time periods to be protected 3. tanks with lots of decor and plants covering the surface makes gravel vac harder to accomplish which can result in a build up of decaying organic matter which could get out of control quickly, especially in your tanks with less plants 4. i use a 3 stage carbon block filter to remove chloramine, you could rig up a water change drum with a float valve high water shut off switch and use that water for water changes 5. as you know, some cheap water conditioners don't detoxify ammonia, stay away from those ---- hope this helps!