Water Chemistry: Are you Giving your Fish the Water They Deserve?

Finally you bought you fish tank, have it freshly cleaned. Then you placed it at the desirable position before you add in your gravel and plants. Adjust whatever you need to adjust before you haul in buckets of water.

Most would simply use tap water. It’s fairly cheap and best of all, readily available.

Unfortunately, additives in the water that are beneficial to humans can kill fish.

Fish possess a slimy protective coating to guard themselves against harmful bacteria and other pathogenic organisms. This, however, does not protect them from chemical treatments that ensure the safely of domestic tap water fro human consumption.

Exposure to some elements in raw tap water will result in most fish spreading their fins and breathing rapidly, and in some cases, may induce a fatal shock.

The most obvious example of tap water treating agent is chlorine, which is used to kill bacteria. If left to stand or aerated for 24 hours, this disinfectant will disappear. At high concentrations, it stresses fish by damaging their gills.

Tips on Treating Tap Water

Tap water should therefore be specially treated before it can safely be used in aquariums.

Fortunately, chlorine can easily be removed from water using the chemical sodium thiosulfate, readily available at aquarium stores under various brands. Sodium thiosulfate neutralizes chlorine instantly. You usually need to add a small drop or so.

Many aquarists may find that if they perform partial water changes regularly, they can make do without ever treating their tap water to remove chlorine.

Keep in mind that even though your fish show no apparent ill effects from untreated water, it doesn’t mean that the chlorine isn’t stressing them.

Tap water is usually treated to become slightly alkaline (pH 7.5 to 8.0) to help prevent corrosion of mains pipes. This is suitable for most fish but plants fare better when pH drops below 7.0.

Chlorine also reacts with ammonia in the water to form chloramines, which are also toxic to fish. Again, commercial products are available to remove chloramines or they can be dispersed by aerating for up to five days, or by using carbon filtration.

Another common additive is fluoride, which does not dissipate like chlorine. But the level of fluoride concentration normally found in water is not harmful to fish, fry or plants.

There are plenty of commercial preparations to treat your tap water, but perhaps a wise thing to do is to seek the advice of a pet fish specialist for specific advice on what you may need to correct.

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