Water softener with my Vieja

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FishKing5

FishKing5

Aimara
MFK Member
Oct 24, 2013
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United States
Hey all. So I'm buying and moving to a farm August 31 and it has well water there but has a water softener with it. Since I won't be able to use just straight well water for my fish which are mostly vieja and then some L series plecos, will they do fine with water that comes through the water softener?
 
Or would it be fine to just use the straight well water for the fish and not use the water softener water at all. I've heard water softener treated water isn't always the greatest thing for fish
 
I have all my fish in water that is ran through a softner. Never had any issues. I have wild altums, giraffe catfish, silver dollars, dats, flagtail, clowns and plecos.
 
Most water softeners exchange the calcium ion with a sodium ion.
The calcium ion would be more inline with the type water Vieja come from in nature.
So although I don't think it's critical, if it were me, I'd use unsoftened water for Vieja.
 
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I'm on a well also and have a water softener. I've never had an issue with my fish in it.
 
I have well water run through a whole house softener and kept various veija/paratheraps species without issues, including spawning fenestratus sp. catemaco. I have not had any luck keeping soft water species, and although I don't have any scientific evidence, I attribute it to my water conditions.
 
jonclark96 said:
I have well water run through a whole house softener and kept various veija/paratheraps species without issues, including spawning fenestratus sp. catemaco. I have not had any luck keeping soft water species, and although I don't have any scientific evidence, I attribute it to my water conditions.
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I can see why soft water species are having issues with your "softened" water. It is because is it not truly softened water for fish. All the water softener does is replace the calcium and magnesium ions of your water. It does not lower the total dissolved solid value of your water significantly. Fish from soft water areas require soft water with a lowered TDS value (dgh or gspg).
 
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Thanks for the explanation, Rocksor Rocksor . I knew there was a good reason.

After trying on several occasions a long time ago with soft water fish, I decided the best thing for me is to keep fish that do well in the water that I've got.
 
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