Water Conundrum

[rallysman]

If it is chlorine, that would mean I have to re-grow the whole system, right?

If it killed the entire system, then yes. Another thing you can do is squeeze a bunch of sludge and rinse your other filters in the tank in question. That would give a big boost to the bacteria colony given that the chlorine has dissipated.

 

[akskirmish]

Being spring and all, it could be possible that my city added a bunch of extra chlorine to the water lines. I have noticed a more "chemically" smell when showering, etc.

I've never had any problems with my normal water changes in the past.

Be careful gal-
I just lost some major stock with a water change awhile back.....
Test that tap water again just to be safe...

 

[Miles]

If they add chloramine to the water, it contains ammonia.. Do you use a water conditioner like Prime?

 

[tank125]

What triggered you to test for ammonia? Just routine? If you use a dechlorinator, chlorine will not be an issue. Perhaps you just disturbed the canister filter too much and un-settled some waste build-up. What is your ammonia reading? Are the rays breathing heavy?

 

[rallysman]

What triggered you to test for ammonia? Just routine? If you use a dechlorinator, chlorine will not be an issue. Perhaps you just disturbed the canister filter too much and un-settled some waste build-up. What is your ammonia reading? Are the rays breathing heavy?

Her post mentioned that she didn't use any chemicals. That's what sparked my curiosity.

 

[tank125]

Her post mentioned that she didn't use any chemicals. That's what sparked my curiosity.

Yeah, I remember that now, but c'mon, she must use dechlor, she knows she is on city water!

 

[Dracofish]

I routinely test for ammonia every few days since they're Rays and all. I'm really ocd about that.

I don't use any water treatment...or at least I haven't been which I should have. I have a huge jug of Amquel+ but I just went out and bought some Prime and Stability. I'll do another water change tonight and treat. If a chlorine-nuked water supply were the case, wouldn't the fish be acting weird by now since that's dangerous to them too?

Currently their behavior is completely normal. Tonight is a normal feeding night and they're begging as usual. But, they won't be getting fed til this gets under control.

I have no other tanks (downgraded to just my Ray tank over the past couple years) so I can't go the route of "seeding" with old bio-media.

 

[tank125]

Chlorine would have "burnt" their gills and you would see some pretty heavy breathing.

 

[Dracofish]

Yeah, definately no heavy breathing. All the inhabitants are acting 100% normal...Black Ghost, Silver Aro, and some Silver Dollars.

 

[csx4236]

You dont use any dechlor? If not thats most likely your problem you should always use it no matter what. If the chlorine amount is not to high you wont get the heavy breathing but it will kill all your bacteria at very low amounts. I had a problem with a dosing pump on a 24HR water change system in the middle of last summer right at the same time my water company decided to bump the dose 10X the normal amount and I lost a few rays and all my bacteria.