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  1. #1

    Chlorine - how long for it to cause damage?

    Hi all,

    My current water change routine consists of replacing the water that my drum puts to waste each saturday.

    I put a dose of sodium thiosulphate in and then run the dose for a few hours at moderate flow.

    My concern is that 2 of my fish in particular seem to like the fresh water and will sit directly in front of the hose and swim against the gentle current it creates. At this stage the water will not have mixed with the sodium thiosulphate and will therefore still contain chlorine.

    Is this likely to damage the fish - I assume if they were irritated by the chlorine they would not sit in the flow? As it appeard to not be irritating them I wonder if the sodium thiosulphate is really worth the effort?

    Cheers,
    James.



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  3. #2
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Supreme Champion john1's Avatar
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    Maybe right or wrong but I wouldn't worry too much as I have some that do that with no problems,as long as you have put in enough s/t,you cant overdose it.
    John

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  5. #3
    I agree. Chlorine/chloramine isn't the equivalent of cyanide to fish, it's an oxidiser which will damage organic matter depending on concentration and exposure time. As soon as the incoming water hits the pond water it will be simultaneously be diluted and the chlorine/chloramine content will be neutralised. This cannot happen instantly but the dilution and dechlorination process is very fast.

    The short exposure to the undechlorinated water won't cause any harm but, if you want to play safe, reduce the incoming flow to a trickle that won't cause the koi to swim against it. Alternatively, you can put the hose into the skimmer or the filter system so that the return water will be completely dechlorinated and mixed before it gets back to the pond. Even if the only place you can add top up water is into the biological chamber, as long as you don't direct a full flow closely to a static media, it won't instantly wipe out the bugs.

  6. #4
    As an afterthought, anyone who has used Chloramine T has exposed their koi and the biofilter to a much higher level of chloramine than we ever get in a domestic supply and we do that to kill pathogenic bugs not the fish and/or the biofilter.

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  8. #5
    As long as it isn't going to cause any issues long term I'll keep it going at a higher flow as they seem to enjoy it - whether it's the flow, temperature difference or higher aeration I don't know but as soon as I put the hose on these two particular fish make a beeline for it.

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  10. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Jamesvg View Post
    As long as it isn't going to cause any issues long term I'll keep it going at a higher flow as they seem to enjoy it - whether it's the flow, temperature difference or higher aeration I don't know but as soon as I put the hose on these two particular fish make a beeline for it.
    My thoughts about why koi exhibit the behaviour traits that we are familiar with, including the tendency to swim against currents are on this link:
    www.mankysanke.co.uk/html/questions_answered.html#Koibehaviour

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