Fish gasping for air at the surface after water change in new house?
- Thread starter rsanz
- Start date
Carla is right. you want to airate the water for about 24 hours before actual water change. also, because it's well water it doesn't mean you automatocaly know the parameters, you have to have it tested. smaller water changes or not, you need to sit it airated for about 24 hours or you'll lose live stock at some point or another.
This is likely your answer. A quick way to check without having to age your water for 24 hours is to check the Ph of the tap and check the Ph of the tank. If there is a Ph difference of 10 or greater (i.e. tap Ph 6.0 and tank 7.0), you've solved your problem. You will need to age water from here on out.
Bet wishes!
That is a bit scary using well water... what if pesticide or some other foreign elements are in small traces in that water? Our test kits dont normally cover them...
Did you check it with a TDS meter yet ?
Still... the quality of the well water is in question... Have you considered using a filter on the water with carbon before using it to pull out toxins?
I would be a bit scared myself to touch well water....not unless i could get a thorough test on it.
I just noticed this part " I also know that the pipes are copper."
Copper test kit and see if you are leaching copper into the tank..if so time to change Water source...
Did you check it with a TDS meter yet ?
Still... the quality of the well water is in question... Have you considered using a filter on the water with carbon before using it to pull out toxins?
I would be a bit scared myself to touch well water....not unless i could get a thorough test on it.
I just noticed this part " I also know that the pipes are copper."
Copper test kit and see if you are leaching copper into the tank..if so time to change Water source...
I think the majority of homes in the US are on well water and a septic system. I'm willing to bet that well water is cleaner than most city water systems. Did you know that a lot of unused prescription medication ends up in the city drinking water? Whatever medication the body does not use gets put into the water system through urination. The water is then purified by the city but those traces of medication cannot be taken out.
All in all, I wonder how bad well water can actually be. We had a well tested on a house in November that we were going to put an offer on, and everything checked out except bacteria because the house had been sitting for 6+ months without the well being used. The bacteria problem could be remedied with chlorine. The water had no nitrate in it whatsoever.
Lets also try to remember that most people in the US use well water for drinking, bathing, etc., and not just for their tanks. Am I to assume that tanking a drink out of somebody's fish tank would be better for me than taking a drink from somebody's faucet if that faucet gets its water from a well?
As far as copper pipes are concerned, almost all modern homes are made with them. In fact, I cannot remember when copper pipers were not used and I am 38 years old and my father did home remodeling for a living. If you don't have copper pipes in your house, you probably have lead paint on the walls, which didn't go out of existence until 1978. Can it be that the only successful invert keepers in this country live in homes that are over 40 years old?
Have I made my point on wells and copper pipes?
City water systems are what scare me. They are often mostly surface water that may have been anywhere. Streets, backyards, golf courses with heaps of chemicals, then add some treated sewage and the next town downstream takes this water and dumps some chlorine into it to kill the germs and if you have a particularly backward local gov't some flouride (toxic waste) as well and presto, you have tap water.
Well water is likely hard water but I'll take extra minerals any day over car grease and sewage if I have to drink it.
If you have an open well, a time honoured way to keep it clean and test for contaminents at the same time is to keep frogs in there.
I think what was meant by "wells are scary" was that the water has no QA process. It's just water that made it to your well. Who knows what's in it. Nobody checks to make sure it's safe. Just my observation.
