Is my water safe?

[Currently a noob]

A follow up question to my fish having ich. I currently have lake Michigan water coming to my house. My friend told me it could be the reason my fish got ich. So I was wondering if it were possible to have a fish store test my water to confirm if it's safe or not? The reason I ask is because I need to do water changes frequently because I have goldfish and I can't have the carbon filter running when I have cupramine treatment in the 30 gall.

 

[Hydrored]

Ich is not from the fresh water source and no way to test for it. Are you using RODI water? More than likely it came from a fish

 

[TriggerFinger]

The water coming into your house has been treated and sterilized in a water treatment facility before getting to your house. You did not get ich from your tap water. unfortunately ich was on the fish already and is showing up now.

 

[Currently a noob]

The water coming into your house has been treated and sterilized in a water treatment facility before getting to your house. You did not get ich from your tap water. unfortunately ich was on the fish already and is showing up now.

I see, I've had these fish for 2 years and I've never had this happen to me. So your probably right.

 

[fishguy242]

hi ,need to declor"amquel " lake michigan water,fluoride ,chlorine:)

 

[Currently a noob]

Ich is not from the fresh water source and no way to test for it. Are you using RODI water? More than likely it came from a fish

It's just ordinary tap water from lake Michigan.

 

[Hydrored]

It's just ordinary tap water from lake Michigan.

So it’s untreated water not from a municipality? You really should invest in an RODI system for maintaining a reef/FOWLR tank or purchase from an LFS.

 

[Zionas]

Yeah. It’s also for these reasons why I am not a big fan of Natural Seawater unless you really know how to purify it and make sure pathogens don’t remain.
RO / DI Water is the way to go.

 

[Currently a noob]

So it’s untreated water not from a municipality? You really should invest in an RODI system for maintaining a reef/FOWLR tank or purchase from an LFS.

It's treated water from the water facility, that's why I was confused why my friend said it was the reason ich started up my tank.

 

[fishguy242]

ich would not survive in water treated w chlorine,flouride,phosphate,un nutrualized water may have caused stress ,def use a conditioner before adding,jmo :)

 

[Hydrored]

It's treated water from the water facility, that's why I was confused why my friend said it was the reason ich started up my tank.

Are you using any type of conditioner?

 

[Currently a noob]

Are you using any type of conditioner?

I dechlorinate my water using tetra's brand, that's all I condition my water with. Like the other person said, my water goes to a water treatment plant before it comes to my house.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I have lake michigan water and what’s known as the best on the lake (Sheboygan). I do run through a whole house unit into an RO unit.
Having chlorine and chloromines and known cryptosporidian cases, i Would NOT use this water direct to tank
As for ic, can be :
Chilled temperature water
Stress
Velvet, not ick
Flukes

administer freshwater bath and give it a formalin dip and see from there how it looks. May need multiple formalin baths. General cure is a good version of formalin

 

[Currently a noob]

I have lake michigan water and what’s known as the best on the lake (Sheboygan). I do run through a whole house unit into an RO unit.
Having chlorine and chloromines and known cryptosporidian cases, i Would NOT use this water direct to tank
As for ic, can be :
Chilled temperature water
Stress
Velvet, not ick
Flukes

administer freshwater bath and give it a formalin dip and see from there how it looks. May need multiple formalin baths. General cure is a good version of formalin

I'm hoping that just using dechlorinater will work for now before I can even afford a rod

I have lake michigan water and what’s known as the best on the lake (Sheboygan). I do run through a whole house unit into an RO unit.
Having chlorine and chloromines and known cryptosporidian cases, i Would NOT use this water direct to tank
As for ic, can be :
Chilled temperature water
Stress
Velvet, not ick
Flukes

administer freshwater bath and give it a formalin dip and see from there how it looks. May need multiple formalin baths. General cure is a good version of formalin

I'm hoping that just using dechlorinater will work for now before I can even afford a RODI system, I currently only have a single 30 gal fresh water tank with two goldfish that are to
Two different breeds. I only just learned what an RODI system is.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I'm hoping that just using dechlorinater will work for now before I can even afford a rod

I'm hoping that just using dechlorinater will work for now before I can even afford a RODI system, I currently only have a single 30 gal fresh water tank with two goldfish that are to
Two different breeds. I only just learned what an RODI system is.

Many pet stores sell RO WATER. You can also fill jugs at Walmart and use that

 

[Kris 2020]

So it’s untreated water not from a municipality? You really should invest in an RODI system for maintaining a reef/FOWLR tank or purchase from an LFS.

So on the edges of the state, municipal water often comes from the Great Lakes and is treated before going to homes. In the inland parts of the state our water comes from large municipal wells and is treated before it reaches our homes. So most of us are drinking well water, wether we own the well or are on municipal.

 

[Fishbird]

edited: sorry, double post!

 

[Fishbird]

I'm hoping that just using dechlorinater will work for now before I can even afford a RODI system, I currently only have a single 30 gal fresh water tank with two goldfish that are to
Two different breeds. I only just learned what an RODI system is.

Just to clarify, you're talking about a freshwater tank, right?

I honestly don't know if I would use RODI water in a freshwater tank. In a saltwater aquarium the salt mix adds all the "stuff" to the water that the animals need and the RODI water provides a completely blank canvass. It's not good for humans to drink RODI water because there is absolutely nothing other than H2O in it, so it has the potential to really mess us up on the cellular level because of osmosis (cells maintain equilibrium of the number of solutes within cells and outside of them).

I don't know of any product that you could add into RODI for a freshwater tank that would put back the solutes that your goldfish need to keep their cells from bursting.

If this doesn't make sense I can try and explain it more clearly when I'm more awake but basically I would be worried about putting a freshwater fish into 0 TDS RODI water. I would think it might be fatal over time.

(people who keep freshwater tanks, please jump in here because I'm speculating based on human biology, not koi/carp specific biology!)