Robbw

Hello,

I'm a new member here. I've been trying to find articles about the issues associated with using well water for my tanks. I have two tanks. One is a 10 gallon with three blood tetras and a small Cori cat. My other is a 29 gallon tank with three fancy goldfish.

I had a test done on my well a few years ago when I bought the house, other than being a bit on the hard side, I don't know if there is anything unusual about the water.

I ask the question because I just lost three goldfish in the bigger tank and have lost several fish in the smaller tank. I know some of the fish I lost had ich and I tried to treat them using Quick Cure. I've also started using Cycle, and add some during my weekly water changes....but I'm getting off topic.

What are the issues I need to be aware of with well water? What tests should I have done? Is there any use for treatments such as Stresszyme or Cycle or aquarium salt?

Thanks in advance for pointing me in the right direction.

Rob

BJP

The first place to start is with your basic test results. If they come in within the normal ranges for the fish you want to keep they should be fine in it. Well water can change over time in some cases so retesting is always good. Rechlorinating once a year or more often depending on the type of well is also a good idea. After plumbing work is finished wouldn't hurt either. Who knows where the plumbers hands were right before working on your pipes.

Many places including even Sears offer free or low cost water testing. Some tests like PH though are more accurate if taken at the source immediately. If a problem is noted a second set of tests may be needed to determine the source. Say one at the wellhead and one at the house. Sometimes the problems come from the plumbing and not the well.

If you have any problems that aren't covered by the basic tests, there's plenty of labs offering a wide variety of tests, as many as 100-150 different ones for a fee. The basic tests done for free usually cover the most common issues that the testers have equipment to sell you to fix, mostly cosmetic issues like taste, color, smell, hardness, etc. My aquarium test kits duplicate most of those tests although not quite as accurately on some.

The more you know, the better the choices you can make for your family and your fish. Just don't automatically assume that the water is great based on 5 or 10 cosmetic tests. The fish actually serve as a good barometer for that. I've had cases where every fish I put in a ladys tank was dead within a day, even goldfish. Everything tested great with the aquarium kits and the basic cosmetic free tests but obviously something was coming in more elaborate testing would be needed to identify.

Another good trick is to have the tds checked. You should be able to convert your grains of hardness to ppm, add in all the ppm for the iron, manganese and whatever else and come up with a close match. If there's a big difference then more testing may be needed to find out what else is coming in. I'm a bit rusty on the specifics but if you need any help reviewing any test results I can dig out the books.

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terry54

Hi & Welcome to the site !

Your in the right site to get all of your questions answered. The people here are great & with all of there vast amounts of knowledge put together you can rest assured you will find a solution to your probem with your well water. Thats the good news & I wasn't paid to say that .

I say this to you because I understand just what your going through. I went through it myself a few months ago with my well water. It took some time, a lot of patients and many many posts to this site but eventualy things did work out. Listen to the advice your given, testing and re-testing is the key to everything, then and only then can you get into the solution.

Try not to get overwhelmed or discouraged, even people with well water can have healthy fish and functioning tanks.

PROMISE
Terry

Sarah84

Hi Rob!
I don't know much of anything about well water... but you don't mention any sort of dechlorinator, or remover of heavy metals, it might be something to consider to try.. it's only a couple of bucks, and make sure you get one that says 'removal of heavy metals'. Also did you full 'cycle' your tanks? you can find articles in the top right hand side of the website.
But I noticed you saying u were using Quick Cure.. unfortunitly, quick cure is quite hard on tetra species(as told on the back of the label), IME when i've used quick cure i've lost tetra species, even using less than the dose recommended for tetras..
hope this helps a bit, hang in there! Once you get it figured out it's well worth it!
sarah

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34 Gal SW Reef
55 Gal FW

Robbw

Hi Sarah and thank you for the welcome!

I imagine my well water, which is definitely on the hard side, has a fair percentage of heavy metals. That's why I considered using Stresszyme. But I didn't think I had any Chlorine issues and don't use any sort of chemical filters in my home's water system (only particle filter). That's one of the big questions? Will I benefit from using any particular water treatment?

As for testing the water generally, what is it that I should be looking for (besides the obvious flags that these labs will raise (poisons, carcinogens, petroleum products etc).

As for cycling, both tanks have been running for a long enough so that the tanks have been cycled. The smaller tank with what I now understand to be Serpae Tetras, a betta and a Cori Cat maintains essentially no nitrite reading and a low nitrate reading. But I've been using test strips and I am going to get a better test kit to be sure.

Thanks again for an enjoyable and educational forum!

Sarah84

Hi Rob..
I do undestand that wells dont have chlorine treatment, I was more going for the 'heavy metals' remover. I know Top Fin sells it, you just have to make sure you read the bottle, I'm not sure what is commonly avalible in the states
Sarah

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34 Gal SW Reef
55 Gal FW

Robbw

Again, greatly appreciated! I definitely like this place! Someday, maybe I can learn enough to set up an aquarium for a couple of clown fish (not full grown clowns with red noses as have been discussed on other threads! )

dannyLTJ

Hi Rob, just to answer the following question you have asked...
The 'obvious'' things you mention are usually outside the realm of what most fishkeepers can test for. The pH level of your water is the first measurement you should determine, and then the kH (carbonate hardness), these are the main two parameters that will help you determine what type of fish will be most comfortable in your water since your unique source of water may be entirely different to the water in which your fish originate, even if they are farm raised or bred at your local lfs. Other water parameters that are important to eliminate are Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate. Once you have an established tank with a fully functioning filter and a system in place for making water changes you should only really have to test for nitrate on occasion to check that you are keeping this within a realisticly low level. And that is really all we can hope to achieve in terms of water cleanliness for our fish. There are other things that are commonly tested for in aquariums such as iron and phosphate and carbon dioxide but (in freshwater aquariums at least) they usually have more to do with the control of algae and plant growth then the well being of fish.

Poisons, carcinogens and petroleum products are not really tested for, as one would usually not expect any of these to be present at dangerous levels in domestic supply water. This does not mean that you are wrong to be concerned about them in your own water. The use of activated carbon as a chemical removal media in filters is the best way to deal with any nasties such as these in your water.

I am sure you know some of this already but i hope it clarifies things a little more.

dannyLTJ

btw, i forgot to welcome you to the forum, so welcome, and I am glad that you already like it here

Robbw

Again, I thank you for the assistance. I have those 5 test strips. I understand from various posts that they are not as accurate as other tests. But I will post my water parameters in case that is helpful.