Why do fish die in my tap water?

D

Dakaroo

Registered Member
Jun 10, 2011
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We bought a plastic pond to set up in the yard. We haven't installed it yet, and I am glad because our well water seems to kill fish. We bought gold fish and put them in a 25 gallon tank. The next morning they were all dead. We took a water sample to the pet store for testing, they said everything looked good. We bought more fish, they died just as quickly as the first, within a few hours. We added prime, didn't matter, fish still died within a few hours. We thought maybe it was the tank we put the fish in, we bought another tank, same thing happened again. So I went to the store, bought two gold fish, put one in a fish bowl with our tap water, put the second in water I got from the fish store. The one in our tap water died in a few hours, the second in the fish store water is still happily swimming. We do not have any water conditioners or anything attached to our water except an electric instant hot water heater. Does anyone have any ideas what the problem is. We want to set up our outdoor pond, but there is not need if the fish can't live in our water. We have tried both gold fish and minnows, and did not overcrowd them. We are getting reluctant to drink the water ourselves.
Thanks so much for any help in this matter!!!
Kathy
 
fshfanatic said:
Did you even bother to read the post??
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I also dont read any where that it is stated the tank is cycled. Dip strips at a fish store with in 24 hrs of the fish being introduced hardly implies that the tank is cycled. That is the same question that came to my mind first....
 
I read it as it was simple tap/well water.
We bought a plastic pond to set up in the yard. We haven't installed it yet, and I am glad because our well water seems to kill fish. We bought gold fish and put them in a 25 gallon tank. The next morning they were all dead. We took a water sample to the pet store for testing, they said everything looked good. We bought more fish, they died just as quickly as the first, within a few hours. We added prime, didn't matter, fish still died within a few hours. We thought maybe it was the tank we put the fish in, we bought another tank, same thing happened again. So I went to the store, bought two gold fish, put one in a fish bowl with our tap water, put the second in water I got from the fish store. The one in our tap water died in a few hours, the second in the fish store water is still happily swimming. We do not have any water conditioners or anything attached to our water except an electric instant hot water heater. Does anyone have any ideas what the problem is. We want to set up our outdoor pond, but there is not need if the fish can't live in our water. We have tried both gold fish and minnows, and did not overcrowd them. We are getting reluctant to drink the water ourselves.
Thanks so much for any help in this matter!!!
Kathy
Click to expand...
If you read the post again it seems to me that they have some sort of contaminant or something going on in their well that is toxic to the fish. Maybe if you filled containers and allowed them to age a day or so with an airstone or something?

an uncycled tank will not kill fish in a matter of hours.
 
fshfanatic said:
I read it as it was simple tap/well water.
If you read the post again it seems to me that they have some sort of contaminant or something going on in their well that is toxic to the fish. Maybe if you filled containers and allowed them to age a day or so with an airstone or something?

an uncycled tank will not kill fish in a matter of hours.
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It will if the ammonia is high enough, and with gold fish that is VERY possible. I would like to know the values from a good liquid test kit.
 
Are all these fish from the same store? If so, I see a common trend...that is not to say that something else isn't wrong though...ie. it would be good to know if these tanks were cycled and how the fish were acclimated to the tanks when you first added them.

I'm not on well water myself but I there should be someone (probably with the city) who you could contact to get the water tested too.
 
petluvr said:
It will if the ammonia is high enough, and with gold fish that is VERY possible. I would like to know the values from a good liquid test kit.
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One would assume a fish store would use a decent test, I know the few around here all do.. Who is to say the store in question didnt use a good test? He stated it was tested at a store and it tested okay.
We took a water sample to the pet store for testing, they said everything looked good.
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Considering he is using well water from his tap and the fish are dying off in a matter or hours, I would venture to guess it isnt elevated ammonia levels either as it was in fact tested. I would guess some sort of contaminate.

I am curious as to whether or not there is any filtration setup between said well and the house. If so, which kind? When was the last time this filter was serviced?
 
On a well, it could be darn near anything and your basic aquarium water testing kits aren't going to show it.

I would try aging the water with an airstone, and, if possible, some kind of carbon filtration. I would suspect some kind of organic pollutant you aren't going to pick up with a test kit.

Other than that, get an idea of what you are pulling on hardness. It could be you are just running literal liquid rock and fish just can't handle it. Especially fish that aren't aclimatized to it.
 
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