fairdeal Posted January 21, 2009 Report Share Posted January 21, 2009 I wanted to warn anyone living on the south side and getting their water from the Glenmore reservoir that I suspect the people at waterworks have put a little something extra in the water treatment. I did the regular 25% weekly water change on 6 tanks on Sunday night and everything looked fine. Turned off the lights as usual and still everything looked fine. Mon. was the fasting day so lights were not turned on. Yesterday morning when I turned on the lights to feed the fish I couldn't help but notice the "floaters" and other bodies in 2 of the tanks. I lost all 8 of my F1 adult foai, all 12 of my adult F1 tricolor cyps, my W/C male usisya and half the females, my dominant male electric blue fryeri iceberg and 60% of the females and the remainder of the fish were mostly near the top of the tanks struggling. There was absolutely nothing out of the ordinary going on before or after I did the water changes so as I mentioned this is just a warning to anyone on the south side that has fish sensitive to water disruptions to be careful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Ram Posted January 21, 2009 Report Share Posted January 21, 2009 Thanks for posting. Very sorry to hear about the loss of your beautiful fish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RD. Posted January 21, 2009 Report Share Posted January 21, 2009 What a bummer, so sorry to hear about your fish, Harold. Have you tried calling the water treatment plant to find out what if anything they changed/added over the weekend? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fairdeal Posted January 21, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2009 I tried to find something out years ago after a similar thing happened and got the royal beaurocratic run around, spent a whole lot of time and effort to chase around in circles and ended up more frustrated than when I started trying to get any information. Seems like if they think there is a liability issue brewing you get nowhere. I was even told by one person it was none of my business what they put in the water as whatever it may be it was definitely not harmful to humans. So in other words if it kills your fish they could care less. It really bites to lose fish as a result and as I was told those many years ago unless I could definitley prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was something to do with the water I didn't have a case anyway. I seem to recall that at that time I was also told that extra chemicals added to the water have relatively short term effects so if you waited a week or so the water should be back to normal but because that was so long ago things may have changed in that regard. Having had no problems with the water changes for so long I guess I was due but I didn't want anyone else to run into this "suspicious fish death" situation without at least posting a warning as to the possibility. I'm not looking forward to replacing my fish either - took a long time to get what I wanted and I felt helpless and almost a little bit guilty about their demise even though there was nothing that I could have done as the majority of the damage was already over by the time I discovered it. I 'll do a small water change tonight and see if I can help to save any of the others that are still in stress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burbot Posted January 21, 2009 Report Share Posted January 21, 2009 (edited) Sorry to hear about the loss of fish. Hope this isn't something that they are adding to all Calgary water. I can't believe someone from the city is stupid enough to tell the public "it was none of my business what they put in the water". Considering we drink, cook, and bathe in the water everyday, it pretty much makes it our business. If it contains something leathal to biotic life it is definately potentailly dangeerous to humans Should have told the newspapers about that one... Edited January 21, 2009 by Burbot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fairdeal Posted January 21, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2009 Back in those days there was no such a thing as recording the conversations for "quality control purposes" and if it ever got as far as going to court it would be the classic he said I said and dismissed anyway. The people that do these chemical additions obviously have no concern for the safety of tropical fish or they would take measures to test how it affects them. Believe me if half the dogs and cats on the south side died for no apparent reason and it was determined that it was some chemicals added to the water there would be hell raised and heads would roll. Even if I submitted the loss to my home insurance carrier I have to eat the 1st $500 and get the difference up to a maximum of $2500. I think I'll pass on that option as it will just end up increasing my premium anyway and I actually end up paying for the loss just spread over a number of years instead of sucking it up all at once. I did change the water in one of my frontosa tanks that same day but so far there are a few females hugging the bottom but no losses yet. I'm hoping that because they are so much bigger than the others that they will be alright after a good water change or two. If they start dying on me then I may submit the claim through the home insurance as then it really begins to get expensive. It will also put me over the top as I have had a couple of bad days already without losing any of my fronts. I'm going to do a couple of smallish water changes tonight on the 2 tanks most severely affected and hope that the water is getting better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ishkabod Posted January 21, 2009 Report Share Posted January 21, 2009 I'd let my city council member know and contact the media if you can't get anywhere there. I wish i could help L :cry: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RD. Posted January 21, 2009 Report Share Posted January 21, 2009 That's a crying shame Harold. Here's to hoping that your Fronts don't have any issues. I've contacted the water treatment superintendent here a few times over the years, but that was the key, you have to speak to the top dog. Beyond him nobody else had a clue what I was talking about, they didn't even know what chloramine was, and our city had been on a chloramine system for several yrs at that point. Initially he seemed a bit stand offish with me, but once I explained that I keep fish & just wanted to check a few things at the source, he was very open about the entire process, including faxing me their latest water analysis. Knock on wood, we've never had any situations like yours over the years, at least none that I'm aware of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firestorm Posted January 22, 2009 Report Share Posted January 22, 2009 So sorry to hear that Harold. I would be pretty ticked off if it had happened to me. I did some wc's over the weekend but didn't have anything out of the ordinary happen with my fish. I hope you can get part of this resolved. I would also contact maybe your MLA for your area, they can often be quite helpful. I really hate that these stupid people don't consider fish as being a great loss, instead they shrug their shoulders and say oh well, it was just fish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lana Bollers Posted January 22, 2009 Report Share Posted January 22, 2009 OH my gosh Harold I am so sorry to hear that!!! That is just terrible news!!! I am beginning to wonder if that happened up here, as there were a lot of deaths that were classified as bazaare. I know I did a good 25% water change and 24 hours later had 19 dead fish... of those 19 3 were my F1 Kipili Front's... two were burundi, and two were my deep water haps, and the rest were dolphins... I was not happy that was my favorite tank... the only other thing I did was treat the tank with parasite clear, but it never bothered any of my fish before..... I have used on on three tanks, and that tank in early September when I first obtained the new fish and they were all fine.... this time they died... what the heck! So I was thinking either A) the water the parasite clear they were the only things I added to the tank, and because we haul our tank water from Redwater, we only do the big tank and then a couple days before do the smaller tanks... only the big tank suffered... wonder if it had to do with the bacteria growth so they added something more, I know our well water had some kind of bacteria bug, so we had to treat it with chlorine tablets.... nothing like showering in water that smells like bleach.... ugh... anyway so sorry for your loss Harold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fairdeal Posted January 22, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2009 My nightmare continues - all but 3 fish in one tank dead and 4 in the 2nd tank. Now on top of everything else fish in a 3rd tank I did the water change on were showing signs of stress last night when I got home. They had been acting a little wierd but were still eating up till then. Thanks for the tip Neil on talking to the top dog - left a message with waterworks through the 311 centre but no reply yet. On my way to work today I was retracing events for the 400th time in my mind and in a blinding flash I didn't ckeck the hose. Today I leave early and I buy a new rubber hose and cut the other one open to see if there is anything strange looking in it. Thanks for your help everyone. I'll postpone the order for the bulk pack of tranquilizers for one more day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lana Bollers Posted January 22, 2009 Report Share Posted January 22, 2009 Oh poop Harold that is not good, The tanks that have not gone belly up could you buy some RO water from the store and do a big water change, I know it will be costly, but it might help... no idea... So far the rest of mine are doing okay, I added a ton of carbon to my filter too. Best of luck.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fairdeal Posted January 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 I got a good tip from an AA member that recalled reading an article from the mid 80's from the Calgary Aquarium Society's magazine. He couldn't remember all the details but the gist of it was that chlorine builds up in pockets in the city water pipelines as usage in the winter time slows down and the chlorine can accumulate in the lines. If you are unfortunate enough to have one of these come through your house line when you are doing a water change it basically poisons your fish. It must burn their gills as the ones I lost were all definitely showing signs of breathing problems. The chlorine dissipates in the tank water within a few hours but the damage is done if their gills are affected. This could very likely be the solution as the PH, GH, ammonia and nitrites were all right on. Not many I suspect have test kits for chlorine. The one tank was completely killed off so I did a water change and put some fry in it so I will see what happens by morning. I'm still waiting for the return phone call from Waterworks but I'm not holding my breath on that one. If anyone knows a good solution to counteracting excess chlorine I'm all ears. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krazy_Karma Posted January 23, 2009 Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 OMG Harold, I am so sorry, that would be one heck of a blow, I sure hope that you can get to the bottom of this and with any luck get reimbursed for the loss of all your fish, as we all know fish are no cheap hobby! Hoping all the remaining fish are doing fine. Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RD. Posted January 23, 2009 Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 Harold - to counteract excess chlorine, simply use excess water conditioner. (chlorine is then converted to chloride, which is harmless to fish) If I'm not mistaken, Victor was at one time selling bulk sodium thiosulfate, which is all you should need for Calgary tap water. (and it's dirt cheap!) It can be purchased in Canada at; http://www.fishfarmsupply.ca/fish%20treatments.htm Here's a link to a company in WA. http://www.wchemical.com/SODIUM-THIOSULFATE-P51C9.aspx 50 pounds would be damn near a lifetime supply, even for you. Just be aware that this will only be fully effective for chlorine, not chloramine treated water. To an extent it will still be effective for chloramine, but with larger water changes one could see small ammonia spikes as the ammonia portion of the chloramine would not be rendered safe, such as it is with products such as Seachem Prime. He couldn't remember all the details but the gist of it was that chlorine builds up in pockets in the city water pipelines as usage in the winter time slows down and the chlorine can accumulate in the lines. If you are unfortunate enough to have one of these come through your house line when you are doing a water change it basically poisons your fish. That doesn't sound very probable to me. Chlorine begins to break down the moment that it enters into the cities pipelines and comes into contact with organics/bacteria etc. If one is far enough away from the original source it's possible to have so little residual left that simply spraying the water into ones tank would allow the remaining chlorine to dissipate out of solution. In other words, the likelihood of any "build up" of chlorine in the pipes, would simply not be possible. This is precisely why many municipalities have converted to chloramine, as it does not dissipate out of solution, and can remain active for weeks after entering the water supply. When it reaches ones home chloramine is still 100% full strength, which is almost never the case with chlorine. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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