# well that was awful



## rayray74 (Mar 19, 2013)

We did a 50% water change.
About 20 minutes after new water is in the tank, I look down. Our fish are swimming sideways, laying upside down on the bottom. Gasping for air. 
WTF. I immediately dosed with dechorlinator and stirred the water.
We lost 16 fish so far and I havent yet checked the tank this am. (waiting for wife to wake up)
I filled a bucket with water as safe zone. When I did I could SMELL the chlorine. 
All fish put in the bucket died. Weary fish in the tank fought back and came too.
How is this possible?
Oddly enough the carpintas and mollies were fine. Just my Africans were affected. 
Anyone else here of this?


----------



## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Did you dechlorinate before you noticed your fish behaving oddly?Many municipalities change/increase chlorine during seasonal changes to deal with the additional run off or increased organics in source water.I just tested my source water for chlorine as this was/is a concern of mine as I change lots of water.


----------



## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Yeah I always smell the water even after adding declor. If i can smell chlorine i dose again


----------



## rayray74 (Mar 19, 2013)

i did not dose prior and I typically do. My wife and I are kinda upset. We havent ever lost a fish. GRRRRR


----------



## nate2005 (Apr 24, 2013)

one day a guy from the city came to my work asking to test our water. he said someone accidentally put too much chlorine in the water at the station nearest us. he tested the water and said it was safe. I was curious so I smelled the water. It smelled like swimming pool water. just saying that things like this can happen.


----------



## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Sorry to hear about your fish.I get nervous every spring about how much chlorine my supplier is using.I got a chlorine test kit from Inkmaker(Charles{site member}),but also think any pool place would have chlorine test kit that will list the stregnth of chlorine as most dechlorinators work well up to a certain level.I even test my prepared water every now and then to be sure or to see how quickly my prime has taken effect.


----------



## rayray74 (Mar 19, 2013)

See the odd thing here is we did test for chlorine. (during the disaster)
my neighbor is a pool tech and we have a spa. So we have test kits. Nothing showed up at all. (strip tests not liquid)
I know that doesn't mean anything as there can be not enough to show up but enough to harm the fish. Still really horrible. I passed the word around to my friends here who have fish. Dechlorinate before adding.


----------



## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

I have a pool and just this year switched to chlorine and bought test strips.Blessed to receive info on this site I thought"test strips are inaccurate" and bought a liquid test kit afterwards(possible overkill).But the liquid test shows much different results than the strips! Go figure?I guess when the life of a creature depends on the test as opposed to "cloudy water" and disatisfaction ,you get the straight answer.I like my liquid test kit as it really tells true level and strip goes from 0,1,3.Liquid test kit was $9.


----------



## rayray74 (Mar 19, 2013)

Had the water company test the water. It read 2.3 ppm for chlorine. Gonna look up the levels. It could have been higher last night. Especially with me pulling 200 gallons off.


----------



## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

2.3 is pretty high according to this link if I understand it.http://www.cdc.gov/safewater/publications_pages/chlorineresidual.pdf page 3.
They say that water should not test above 2 within 30 minutes of chlorine being added to water .Chlorine goes lower the longer it is in water so having 2.3 at your tap would indicate pretty high level being initially added.


----------



## tbub1221 (Nov 1, 2012)

coralbandit said:


> 2.3 is pretty high according to this link if I understand it.http://www.cdc.gov/safewater/publications_pages/chlorineresidual.pdf page 3.
> They say that water should not test above 2 within 30 minutes of chlorine being added to water .Chlorine goes lower the longer it is in water so having 2.3 at your tap would indicate pretty high level being initially added.


Imo that is very high chlorine lvls at the tap.
I only did that once and it was only 2G I immediately added dechlorinater , the stuff I use (powder ) treats 40G to one tsp , and dissolves very fast sometimes if its just top off or a small change I add my powder to the tank and then put water in , biut only in small changes.
I'm very surprised so many fish died but mistakes happen (if bet you never do it again)
When in doubt add more dechlorinater you can't usually over doo it.
It's probably because u did such a large volume change and the chlorine was so high.
I wish you the best of luck with this.


----------



## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Prime is supposed to work on chlorine up to 5ml/l or 5ppm for what it's worth.I just checked as I remembered reading the amount of chlorine it could handle following directions but couldn't remember what the level was!


----------



## L.West (Apr 26, 2013)

When I do any water changes I dose the whole tank volume with prime - will this keep my fish safe in the event the water company messes with the chlorine levels??


----------



## tbub1221 (Nov 1, 2012)

The bottle says safe for 2x I think or more possibly so I think your safe , its a great product I only ever stopped using it because when I went to Spartanburg sc for there first show a guy I met gave me a 2 year or more maybe of a commercial dechlorinater and I don't remember the last time I needed to dose a tank for ammonia , it also gets nitrates and nitrites although its not claimed to .
The safest and easiest thing to do is dose the whole tank volume its harmless from all iv read on it.
I have seen where ppl commonly write its messy to use and they spill it. 
I open all my chemicals the same, take a pocket knife and make 2 small holes on opposite sides of the foil , leav it on it will pore nice n slow making dosing more exact. Prime may not matter much but some chems make a big swing , especially in a smaller aquarium.


----------



## sivakv (Aug 6, 2010)

1. Chlorine dissipates in 24-48 hrs, chloramine does not. So your remover should address both these, now a days most of the water suppliers use chloramine due to its ability to remain active longer. 
2. These are fatal at ppm levels far below our ability to smell them. 
3. Lucky fishes survive, when i restarted aquarium, i totally forgot about chlorine, brought home 4 tiny gouramis, within 2 hrs lost 2, and next day morning had only one surving. Then i realized my folly. The surviving one happened to be beautiful giant gourami.
4. Better to use liquid testing kits from good brands, like API etc.
5. Chlorine remover will have to be added external to the tank, dosed appropriate to the volume and then pour into tank after some time. 
6. Overdosing can affect and better to have good brand products.
7. If the tanks are smaller, you could get bottled water that comes in 10L, 20L capacity. This most likely will be RO water and will not have any harmful stuff.


----------



## rayray74 (Mar 19, 2013)

They all seem to be doing ok now. Total fish loss is 17. Thats about 13% of my total. 
Sigh. I typically add my water to the sump, add dechlorinator, stir it up and wait. Then kick the sump on. I was busy and my wife started adding water. 
We are also getting a bacterial bloom as well. Water is the cloudy/hazy/clear. 
Spread the word ... its summer time and the water company is dispensing pool water in the tap.


----------



## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Likely the bloom is in reaction to the chlorine killing off good bacteria.Go very light on feeding or hold off for 2-3 days and it should clear up.


----------



## rayray74 (Mar 19, 2013)

I know people that work for water company. I asked more questions. ( persistent I am. As you all would be too. Being that we have never lost a fish and all of a sudden a die off) they have substations that dose chlorine. Being I did my change at 8:30pm. I was pulling water when most weren't. And hundreds of gallons at that. So more than likely that night my ppm of chlorine was more in 3-4 range. They said they chlorine average for my area is usually 2.6. This time of year being we get intense rains and heat in SW florida they dose periodically higher. 2.6 is freakn high.


----------



## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Glad to hear they are recovering.


----------



## Arthur7 (Feb 22, 2013)

I have a board over the doors to the kitchen and the bathroom. Up there are 2 plastic tubs a '60 L. This I leave with the water hose down to the water change. Then I press the faucet back up with fresh water. This is then the whole week, assumes temperature and loses chlorine.
Did not you take the time, it is also helpful to inject the discharge of water from the tap with powerful beam on the surface of the vessel. You can smell like chlorine escapes. But it is safer to maintain.


----------



## rayray74 (Mar 19, 2013)

Well.... I called the breeder I get my fish from. Wanting to replace now before tank dynamic changes and size of fish get too different. He is moving 1500 miles away. Close out pricing. I got 19 Africans. And now 8 SA. A new tank, filter, decorations, food. All for $140.00. I made sure to dechlorinate before setup of new tank. Woooo.


----------

