Fish water conditioner, is there a point?

E

~Eroborus~

New member
Ok, so i have been keeping tropical fish for a number of years and have always used water conditioner and water that is the right temperature when doing water changes.

However, today i went to someone from a 'aquarist classifieds' site's house and he had lots of tank filled with huge rare discus. he claimed he never used water conditioner and just used cold water from his tap when doing his water changes (twice a day!) and said there was no point.

I'm quite shocked by this having spent hundreds (litterally) on water conditioner over the years having thought chlorine is poisonous to fish.

To prove his point, he did a water change right there and then, water from the cold tap, no conditioner.

I'd like to point out at this point, his fish were very impressive (super red discus/red ghost discus).

My question is therefore...anyone else do this? does it work?

Thanks in advance.
 
It would all depend on the tap water quality, really. The chlorine and chloramine content, the heavy metals, other impurities....

I wouldn't do it. For me, conditioner is a necessity. The chlorine and chloramine where I live is quite high, so yes, I use conditioner. Having said that, my fish are conditioned to live in water that gets changed once a month, at most. I have several generations of Guppies, so that's how they've always lived, and they're stronger for it. I wouldn't do it with fish who haven't been specifically bred for durability, though, because they couldn't handle the conditions my fish do. I could probably build up some resilience to chlorine/chloramine over time, but that's something I'm not going to attempt till I have more space.
His discus have probably been his particular strain for a few generations, and that's why they are that way.

For a small water change to a large tank, say, less than 10% if the tank is larger than 10 gallons, then conditioner isn't as huge a deal, I guess. But I never do that small a water change.

It would depend on you personally, and if you wanted to risk it. Do you want to risk a very well established tank that you have painstakingly maintained for several years on an experiment, or not?

I don't bother with temperature. I see zero benefit in waiting for the temperatures to even out. When I change my tank water, I usually add water that is warmer than the tank water- I alternate hot and cold, and guess. Again, my guppies are very hardy, and used to non perfect conditions. I want pretty guppies that have the withstanding ability of wild guppies, not pretty guppies who have the withstanding ability of a glass sculpture.

Best of luck with your fish!
 
Hello well i did a test i had two fish in each bowl the same age same mother but one bowl was normal water one was the conditiond water. The conditioner is supposed to help the fish breath underwater and clean the water aswell. The bowl with the conditioner was the best they stayed alive for 2years while the other 2 months. I didnt think it was true so i did it again with the same breed of fish and the same result appeard but 1 weeks more. So it depends on what type of fish u have if u have sea water fish deffo get it if u have gold fish then it doesnt really matter!
 
I think that guy is just lucky, I would never risk straight water, or cold water, straight into my tropical tanks. I know my water is heaped with chlorine that would wipe out my bacteria in my filters and full of metals that would kill my shrimp.

How big a water change was he doing? Discus would usually need water 80F plus. Cooling that may immitate rainfall - it will cause spawning behaviour in Corys - but if I had Discus I wouldn't do it.

Just because it works for one doesn't mean it works for all!
 
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