garden hoses and filling your tank

[wild bill]

I recently bought a new rubber garden hose and ran about 80 gallons of cold water through it then I added some hot through the tap and topped of a couple of other tanks. The next mourning I had dead fish in some of the tanks Idid water changes in those tanks using the same hose and stopped the die off the next day I set up afry tank again with the same hose and no problems. MY QUESTION IS THIS IS THERE SOMETHING IN A NEW HOSE THAT the warm water washed into the tanks that the cold water had failed to remove any help please or has anyone else had this happen?

 

[Carch]

My money is on the fish getting shocked by a sudden temperature shift. How big are you tanks and how much water did you add to them?

Also, did you add dechlorinator to the tank water before you began refilling?

 

[Cookie*]

Dechlorinator can be added before or after a water change. Forgetting to add it wouldn't even kill them that quickly. I'd lean more towards shock from a sudden temperature shift. But you also said that you just topped off the tanks....how large/small are the tanks that this happen in? Type of fish that died, and size?

 

[wild bill]

The biggest tank was a 120 with tropheus in it but only added a few gallons I had the water as close as I could to the temp of the tanks have done this before no problems this is what makes me think some thing with the hose the other tanks were all 30s.

 

[Pharaoh]

Very possible that they hose had something to do with it. What type of hose was it exactly? Some of the rubber hoses are coated with powder.

 

[bob965]

It's possible, but you can't know for sure unless you eliminate every other variable as a possible cause. If I were you, I would go pick up one of those potable water hoses intended for use with RV's and whatnot. They look like a regular garden hose, except white. I got a 50ft for $12. I use mine for filling tanks and nothing else, no gravel vacuuming, siphoning, draining, pumping, etc. That way it only ever has clean water in it, so there's less chance of nasty stuff growing in it. Just do a half-decent job of draining it before you put it away, flush it for a minute or two before you use it, and you won't have any problems.

 

[balton777]

I fill all of my tanks with my garden hose without problem. I let the water run for a few minutes though to clear the water out that's already sitting in the hose, a lot of rubber hoses are made with toxic recycled material that I believe can kill fish. That may be what happened, or like mentioned could have been a temperature swing, or you didn't add water conditioner.

Dechlorinator can be added before or after a water change. Forgetting to add it wouldn't even kill them that quickly.

IME it should added before because some fish are more susceptible than others. One time I forgot to add Prime until about 15 minutes after the tank was full and all my Silver Dollars died. It really sucked but at least the cichlids were all fine. I would have cried like a baby if my Festae died.

 

[longislandfish]

I use a garden hose and cold strait from the ground tap water to fill my 240 gallon. I usually empty 3 quarters of my tank and fill it up strait from the hose. I have never had any problems and I have sensitive fish (Stingray, Datnoids, Arowana (maybe not so much the ARO) I also did this for 4 years with African cichlids and never had problems. Tank temp drops about 10 degrees but then all the 3 heaters kick in. Perhaps its the method i fill the tank however. I put the hose on a sprinkle setting and only turn the power on 25% and let it fill very slowly. I never put the hose on full blast. PS/. I always run the hose for a minute before it goes in the tank to get any still water and/r bacteria that may have built up in a stagnant hose/

 

[EvilKid]

+1 fill over a long period of time at 1/4 capacity water flow and clear stagnant water out of hose for about a min before starting i only have about 3 to 4 degree drop after w/c and no swinging temps from hot to cold that just shocks the crap out of your fish

 

[SlyDer]

This happened to me recently, I had several dozen comets in a 120 i was cycling for my Oscar. 20% w/c with prime and tempered water. It was the second time I had used this hose. The first was cold only from the initial fill of the tank. However after the warm fill, every comet had died within 10-15 minutes.
Witht hat being said, the hose is fine now and i use it weekly ?¿