Sodium Thiosulfate....read this!

Originally posted by famman
Sumpin'fishy,

Any suggestions on how to deal with the 'free ammonia' you mention?
I'd like to find a way to stop killing my otos.

thanks,
:)
Click to expand...
Are you sure you have chloramines? If you only have chlorine, try this:
Get a bucket the size of your water change. Fill the bucket with water the day before your change. Chlorine aerates out quickly, especially with a bit of help from a power head or air stone. Cheap and easy.
 
i'm glad you're getting closer to the right answer. :)

i know that thread was particularly confusing at best, but at least it got you thinking and you have come up with at least a partial solution. :)

it's always hard to lose fish for "no apparent reason" especially when it's more than say one or two.....
 
I am pleased to say that after performing a series of small h2o changes to slowly get the pH back to where it should be things seem to be stabilized. I performed an experiment whereby for the last 3 days since I raised the pH up I performed larger water changes without adding De-chlor. I know the water from the Lewiston Water Dept. is dischaged at 7.5 pH , and with less than 1/2 ppm Chlorine and no Chloramines. I am very happy that the pH has remained stable at 7.5 for the last 4 days and that rank odor has since disappeared from both tanks. I dropped the water level to increase splash and have been running steady aeration to help as well. I had a problem with the sulfur smell back in October when I got back from a work trip and my dad overfed the fish. That seemed to work as per advice I received on here....thanks again for everyone's input and advice, you guys are great!

steve
 
Famman, there are other dechlorinators that break the chloramine/ammonia bond and neutralize the free ammonia. I believe you could also add something like Ammo-Lock to a standard dechlorinator and get better results with your ottos. I am not experienced with these fish, though and I can't say exactly how sensitive they are. All I know is that I don't use the dechlors with ammo removers because I believe it starves my bio colonies for a day or so. I may have a mini cycle if things didn't go right. Personally I've had no problems with my fish simply releasing the ammonia and feeding my colonies. Maybe I don't have as much ammo in my tap water though!:confused:

Next time I test, I'll do a test on my water for ammonia before and after I add my dechlorinator. See how much of a reading I get
 
I treat chloramine with a double dose of plain old sodium thiosulfate and the chlorine is neutralized and the ammonia (about 1 ppm) is released. When adding water directly to an aquarium (not just a fish tank), I tend to use something that neutralizes the ammonia as well as the chlorine. I like Amquel for that purpose.

Jim
 
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