Update on huge loss of Fish

[Kim]

Hi,

here is an update on my thread "Help losing lots of fish"

It's appears that when I did my routeen water change, I poisoned my tank and all that live in it.

We have spent the entire day without water, A main water pipe that feeds here has burst though the road. The water board knew there was a problem 10 days ago and have been feeding chemicals into our water to stop us from becoming sick. So instead of giveing my fish nice clean water, I actually gave them poison.

My water levels are now back to normal, but I am still lossing about 5-8 fish per day and will probably loss the lot.

Thanks for all your help in trying to work out with me what was happening.


A very upset KIM x

[SnakeIce]

I am sorry to hear about your fish losses though I wonder how safe for humans that water was with all the added chemicals.
tis one thing I wish the water company would tell us when they make changes... I near about killed an angel under similar circomstances

[WaterBaby]

I also had an "issue" with my local water company when I started reading ammonia in my tap water. This, according to board members, was a sign of chloramines in the water.

When I called my local water company, they told me that they do not "add" chloramines to the water supply. They said that chloramines could not be "added" to water. They said that chloramines are caused by "old piping in the house" and chlorinated water.

I told them that we were restoring our old house and all the pipes were new copper ones.

Amazingly, the following week: no ammonia readings in the tap water............hmmmmmmmmmmmm......... Haven't had a problem since....... ;)

[Tiger15]

Whenever there is piping repair, there is a sanitation requirement to super chlorinate the repaired section of the pipe to sterilize any introduced contaminants during construction. Also, anytime when water is rerouted due to construction or flushing of fire hydrants, a lot of sediments that have been siting in the piping will get flushed out into tap water. So if you are aware of water shut down, do not use the water immediately but wait for a few days before the unusually high concentration of chlorine or sediments get flushed out of the system.

If you find ammonia in your water and the water company does not use chloramine, it cannot be introduced from within your old piping. The likely source of ammonia is from the source, specifically if the source is river water. Under anaerobic condition of stagnant water in the piping during shut down, nitrate can be reduced to ammonia. Your old piping can only introduced metals such as lead, zinc and copper which can be toxic to your fish at high concentration. So if you are away from vacation, the first flush water can be loaded with metals. So you shouldn't drink it or fill up your fish tank right away until the system water can thoroughly flushed out. The new water is clean because it has short contact time with the piping.

[WaterBaby]

Thanks Tiger15. Our Township has been upgrading the water system in town since early this summer. They have indeed been ripping out old pipe or adding new ones to accomodate new "farm field developments" in the area. They have also been flushing hydrants regularly. This I know, because I have one right on my property.

I "hope" the source of our drinking water is not the river.:eek:

[Winnie]

When our municipality flushes hydrants, it puts an advertisement in the newspaper and my fish hobby friends and I never do water changes. About three years ago, a friend lost almost all his stock, except for two bushynose plecos, when he did a badly timed 25% water change. Our water comes from underground wells. We also use a water conditioner which treats for chloramine and ammonia as well as chlorine.

[Ngaio]

I use a water purifier in an attempt to keep some the the nasty stuff out of my fish tank water. They cost about $100 at places like Home Depot and can mount under your sink.

[Katz]

How long do you wait to do a water change after they flush the hydrants, Winnie?