Will a fish die if I used tap water for its bowl ?

Question

I ask this because I was told I should leave the water out for 24 hours before using it . I want to know what would happen if I didn't and just used room temperature tap water .

Answer 1

Yes you should let it sit for 24 hours for the chlorine to evaporate and for the water to get to room temperature.

And yes, the chlorine will kill him.


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Answer 2

Idiots say to let the water sit out for 24 hours because the chlorine that towns put in the water will dissipate in that time. HOWEVER, towns are also adding chloramines which DO NOT dissipate.
You NEED to use a water conditioner that removes both chlorine and chloramines before you add the water. The stuff works instantly.

Now for the other problem. Bowls are for candy or flowers, NOT FISH.
Goldfish have lifespans of 30 yrs and grow to 12-14 inches. They should NEVER be housed in a bowl. Minimum 10 gallons per baby-juvenile fancy goldfish (ryukins, fantails, moors, orandas, bubbleyes), MINIMUM 20 gallons for baby-juvenile long bodied goldfish (comets, commons, shubunkins). They also need alot of filtration aswell as regular partial waterchanges, making sure to not change more then 50 percent of the water at a time because you dont want to kill the nitrifying bacteria.

Bettas, should be housed in a filtered and HEATED tank of atleast 5 gallongs because they dont make reliable heaters for tanks less then 5 gallons. Bettas are tropical fish and do better at warmer temperatures, not to mention they are sensitive to poor water quality and are prone to fin rot from poor water quality. The smaller the tank, the more work it is to keep the water parameters stable.

Answer 3

IT depends on your water if its city water with lots of additive or well water. I have use well water at room temperature and the fish live a happy live. It also depends on the hardness of your fish. They do say to live the water out for 24 hour But i never have. Hope this is of some help Good luck

Answer 4

The fish will breathe in the chlorine used in dechlorination, to keep the water safe for our own consumption and be poisoned to a slow painful death.

By leaving the water to stand for a day or more, the chlorine dessipates into the surrounding air and the chlorine level is reduced to a acceptable level.

I made the mistake of pouring my fishes into a newly bought tank, which had not followed this procedure.Most of the fishes(costly too dammit) sort of had a change in attitude and began going wild about the tank (Thought they were ecstatic over their new home) and finally rested onto the bottom motionless...you know what that means.

However, suprisingly, some really hardy fishes were able to survive the ordeal, boy was I glad there were survivors.At this point, i want to clarify that this does not mean it is acceptable to torture hardy fishes with our ignorance.So leave your WATER TO STAND, the moral of my sad story.

Answer 5

My personal opinion is that people worry too much about the water. I have a 73 gallon tank, and when I do water changes I have a hose that drains the water, and one directly from the faucet filling it back up. I have never had a fish die from using tap water. They are so glad to get clean water, they don't care! I have even completely taken the fish out, cleaned the tank, filled the tank and then put the fish back in. No losses. I just adjust the tap to what feels like the right temp. and go for it.

I suppose it make a difference where you live, and what kind of water is in your area. But our water isn't the greatest but yet it's never killed a fish. Plus I use a good filter.

Answer 6

Minerals in the water are good for fish. If you use distilled, it will pull nutrients out of the fish's body and into the water (it's a process called "osmosis" which is difficult to explain). The problem with tap water is it has chlorine in it to kill microbes and make it safe for humans to drink. Fish are much more sensitive to chlorine than we are and will be killed by it. Letting the water sit out helps because the chlorine loses potency. Still, you should get chlorine neutralizing drops and add that to the tapwater before you add the water to your fishtank. Save a few rinsed-out milk jugs to use for fish water. And it would still be a good idea to let it sit out for a few hours to make sure the drops are working and the water is the right temperature (room temp).

Answer 7

Leaving the water out for 24 hours used to work when municipalities use Chlorine gas to purify water. Nowadays they use Chloramine,a much more stable chemical,which must be removed by adding special de-chlorinating chemicals. And yes tap water of either kind will kill your fish.

Answer 8

Tap water has chlorine in it. Which can kill fish. They say to leave it out for 24 hours to dechloinize the water. They also sell a chemical to add to the water so that you can use it shortly after it comes out of the tap.

Answer 9

Well I take good care of my fish and I use tap water. I put water in a pitcher put about the amount of drops for dechlorinating or over and I wait about 12 feet while walking over to the aquarium and pour it into the aquarium and I guess I am doing something right because I have about 200 fish in my tank. Years ago I had gold fish and they grew to be about 5 inches long and I had them for about 5years and I was even less careful with them. I did have a time raising fish in graham okla. for about 6 months time because the water up there I couldn't keep them alive with the tap water so I used rain water and they lived just fine. So if you have a problem keeping them alive try that. Good luck and happy peaceful times watching your fish. You know that is good for your nerves and blood pressure.

Answer 10

It is safe in a way but there are water conditioners out there (Petco, etc) and you just put a few drops in the bowl and it will "make it safe" for the fish to live in the tap water. Is it a betta fish?

Answer 11

You leave it out for 24 hours to dissipate the chlorine in city tap water. Chlorine is toxic to fish and will kill them. If you don't want to leave it out for 24 hours, simply add dechlorinator to it and you can put it in the tank immediately.