The Puffer Forum

I wonder if it was something in the tap water itself? Maybe there was a break in a pipe somewhere upstream and something nasty got into the system temporarily?

I've noticed lots of literal mud and sediment coming out of my taps about a year ago when a main burst half a mile away. Could have carried oil or diesel into the pipes potentially and just for a few hours.

just an idea...

Sorry about your losses

Discus need 6.5 - 7.0 for ph, and 3 -5GH for hardness which is as important as ph.

how long does it take to do WC in that tank?

bastallard wrote:Discus need 6.5 - 7.0 for ph, and 3 -5GH for hardness which is as important as ph.

All my discus are fine & were bred in Chicago tap water, also without any dechlor of any kind.

Just an idea She had tough fish die and delicate fish live and some specimens of a species lived while the others died. There was no order to the deaths. She had tiny fry live and adult plecos die.

It seems that quite a few people have had this problem in the winter, normally Jan and Feb here. No one is sure why it's happening but it's definitely something in the water at this time of year.

Really sucks that you lost your fish So sorry to hear that.

I only lost an older 7" loach & 3 glass cats (which RTR says are very tough fish & very forgiving to water conditions). No plecos or fry. I also did do a 75%WC on a tank with a very old pleco (maybe even 15 years old) & he is fine, who lives with with my modestus & did a 50% WC on my BW fish. I didn't do a WC on Filbert's tank though--a little too nervous to chance it (plus he was having too much fun eating the loach).

Spring thaw Jeni, you never know what's going to suddenly show up in your water, especially closer to the cities. Anything that's been frozen or buried under snow is thawing out and leeching into the system.

That sucks though.. those fish have been going strong for a long time now.

Maybe just to be safe, grab a RV hose filter before you do your next water change, they are cheap, and might take out just enough bad stuff to prevent it from happening again.

My husband thinks I'm nuts. Says there's absolutely nothing wrong with our water--we have the best water around.

Aren't we all nuts?

From: http://egov.cityofchicago.org/city/webp ... -536892336

Your city puts these things in your water

Chlorine: to disinfect the water.
Aluminum Sulfate or Alum and Polymer: for coagulation to settle out impurities.
Blended Polyphosphate: to coat pipes and prevent lead leaching.
Activated Carbon: to remove unpleasant tastes and odors.
Fluoride: to help fight cavities in children's teeth.

I do not know if any of these could hurt fish..but it is the cold season..I would imagine that frozen pipes could cause these things to concentrate????????

Oh and I do not know were you live, but on some city streets, Chicago recently widened pipes.
http://egov.cityofchicago.org/city/webp ... umValue=43

IDK..Sorry for your losses!

Oh, I forgot to add.

Perhaps the widened pipes created a faster stronger flow..and eventually the faster water picked up sediments or nasties in other pipes near them??? Is that possible???

In the spring, you sometimes get extra chlorine/chloramine. I remember Agnate saying that he doubles his dechlor dose in the spring. Also, you add one drop of Prime per gallon, right? The bottle says two. So maybe if the chlorine/chloramine did jump even a little, you just didn't have enough Prime to handle it.

Or maybe you misdosed dechlorinator?

You might also try monitoring parameters very very carefully - chlorine and chloramine kill the biofilter. Then again, many other things in the water could have the same effect... Just a thought.

Prime changed some time back. The original formulation called for two drops per gallon, the newer ones are one drop per gallon. Same material, different strength

The stuff is pretty stable. If you have an old bottle, keep using it. But the newer stuff uses less volume per gallon.

I buy the Pond Prime. Not sure if it's more concentrated. Where can I get a chlorine/mine test?