Left Coasters: MONITOR YOUR WATER

This is a reminder to keep close tabs on the status of your municipal water supplies. Anyone receiving water from reservoirs close to wildfire areas needs to frequently check their tap water prior to using the water in any aquariums. There are a number of nasty chemicals that can leech into municipal waters that can either cause immediate damage to your fish or build up over time to cause neurological and physiological damage.

I lost 80% of my fish, in San Diego, after wildfires started between SD and Alpine. The fire retardant that was used contained cyanide. The Water District said the levels were tested in terrestrial species and found to be within gov't guidelines. No tests were conducted on local aquatic species so no alerts were sent out. I've since gone to a 5-stage full house filtration system.

What you can do to prevent fish losses:

-Test your water regularly and especially prior to water changes.
-Consider installing a whole home multi-stage water filtration system.
-Keep cases of bottled spring water handy for water changes during wildfire season.
-Employ cisterns to store rainwater (from a metal roof is preferred over shingles).



Here are results from a municipal water test conducted in southern california:

Most chain hardware stores (HomeDepot, etc.) carry basic home water test kits. They run about $20 and you have the choice of a municipal water test kit or a well water test kit.






The basic home kits don't test for cyanide. However, you can save alot of money by buying a cyanide-specific test kit instead of upgrading the basic home kit to an advanced or master kit.

A copper level of 1.5ppm is considered as a safe level for most fish. However, ph and temperature are big factors in how copper can effect fish. Inverts, copper-sensitive fish species, and many plants are sensitive to copper levels above 0.05ppm.

If experiencing issues with copper in a particular species, the use of a product like CupriSorb can be employed to reduce the system's copper level.

In all municipalities where copper piping is largely employed the copper levels can vary throughout the year due to copper leaching increasing along with temperature increases.

In areas with acidic water, the leaching of copper from piping is constant due to continuous contact of copper to water. Again, the level of leaching is dependent on temperature.

In areas with alkaline water, minerals (limestone) continually build up inside copper piping and eventually prevent copper leaching due to isolating contact between copper and water.

We've seen cases on this site where people have experienced copper-related issues in their aquariums after either replacing their clogged copper piping or relocated to a new construction home. These cases used the same municiple water sources. What changed was the age of their copper piping.