Water issues in Hull?

[beowulf]

I moved to Hull around 2 weeks ago after spending a little over a month in Aylmer and was in Montreal before that all my life.

I noticed when I moved into the apartment 2 weeks ago and moved my 65g tank, the fish where hanging around the top of the tank afterwards.  The temp looked ok, I checked the chemistry and it seemed ok with ammonia and nitrites at 0 and the nitrates around 10.  The only thing I really noticed different was the pH which was around 6.2 which is lower then the 7 I had back in Montreal.  No fish died and around 24 hrs later all the fish where swimming around normal and all looked good.

Fast forward to yesterday when I got a tank from oenology and to speed up cycling, I put for buckets from the 65g into the new 30g which has brevis in it.  The brevis tank was then topped up with tap water.  All is good this morning in the brevis tank and they are swimming around with no problems.  The community tank on the other Hand which was once again topped up with around 4 buckets of tap water is having the same problem as when I moved it.  A lot of the fish are hanging around the top of the tank, even some of the loaches and they rarely go all the way to the top, but their colors are looking fine.  Worst part is this time I lost my dwarf pike cichild who I loved so much, great little fish with tons of personality.  I have not had a chance to check water yet and will do that after work.  Any hear of issues with the water in Hull?  I am also going to test what is comming out of the tap,  I live in an old building and I wonder if it might not be the pipes.

[babblefish1960]

Just a quick question, are you using a water conditioner that does in fact remove chloramines? This stuff is bound more solidly than chlorine and won't go away with evaporation, it needs to be removed.

[beowulf]

Right now I have two, the Big Al's one and SeaChem one (red bottle)  I'll have to check them to make sure.  Always have used these and never had any probems.

[BigDaddy]

babblefish:

Gatineau waterworks doesn't use Chloramine.  We are only on Chlorine 

beowulf:

I just finished up my 50% waterchange on my 75 gallon last night, and everyone is fine this morning, might be your pipe works

[beowulf]

babblefish:

Gatineau waterworks doesn't use Chloramine.  We are only on Chlorine 

beowulf:

I just finished up my 50% waterchange on my 75 gallon last night, and everyone is fine this morning, might be your pipe works

That is what worries me!!!

[PaleoFishGirl]

From the sounds of that place you're living in, it wouldn't surprise me at all

[babblefish1960]

I wasn't sure of chloramines in Hull, now I know, thanks BD.

Beowolf, it sounds remotely like some sort of shock, I may be willing to suggest that the water change may be too large then, as something is swinging too far too quickly for the fish to adapt fast enough. As an example, ph can have an adverse effect on sensitive fish, and you say you are around 6.2, well the tapwater here across the river is nearly 9 pH. Unfortunate about the loss of the pike cichlid, hopefully you can solve this before you lose any others.

[zurus]

Maybe there is not enough current in the tank..meaning not enough oxygen?

[beowulf]

Maybe there is not enough current in the tank..meaning not enough oxygen?

I had thought of that but last time things where fine after a couple of days and no current was added.  That said, I am thinking of adding something for more air just in case.

[UCGrafix]

As BigD says, Chlorine is what you need to deal with.

I have chosen to stay with one brand of water treatment in order not to intermix from other companies offered products, it's my choice, but the only choice.
I buy in bulk containers when they come on special at SP, and use AquaPlus from Nutrafin to deal with Chlorine and stress coat, then Cycle and Control for the rest and everything works well.

What you do need to watch for in Hull are the changing Ph levels, if you do a search on the forum, you will find that there where cases where the Ph went from one end to the other on the scale, so it's always best to check the Ph before you do a tank clean up.

All that said, I did my tank clean up on Saturday, and everything was fine.

There was also a problem this past summer, when a lot of people including me, lost a lot of fish, within a close amount of time, I'm no scientist, but it all pointed to the water being out of balance.
Sylvain who lives about half a kilometer from me, lost a tank full of young Cichlid ( 40 some ) after a water change : (

Hope this helps you out a bit.

Cheers,
Denis

[beowulf]

I was thinking of that, checking the water as it comes out of the tap before every change.  Worst part this time it was not a needed water change as much as being cautious on the new tank.

ps any new on your convicts?  I cannot seem to find the thread anymore.

[beowulf]

Well everything seems to be normal again.  All the fish have nice color, the burmese loach which this morning looked to bad when he was floating at the top, to the point that I could touch him and he would almost not move is zipping around the tank again.  So weird, going to have to make sure I do minimal water changes until I move out of here in April.

[UCGrafix]

ps any new on your convicts?  I cannot seem to find the thread anymore.

If your talking about the Convicts I was offering for free, the bulk of them where picked up on Saturday, I only have 7 or 8 left to cycle the tank, do you want them ?
Let me know, and I can fish them out for you.

Cheers,
Denis