Are fish sensitive to high iron levels??

Electricat · June 28th, 2009

I am in the process of moving to a new house, and will probably move the fish tanks sometime this week. My new place has a well, rather than city supply. I'm glad that chlorine will no longer be an issue, but I'm pretty sure that my new water has significant iron in it. I haven't tested for it, and don't know if you even can...I am basing my belief on seeing that the toilet tank has some rust staining, and the water has a slight "rusty nail" taste. I have no water softener or other treatment device in the system.

My concern is the effect of high iron on fish in general, and my species in particular. In my 29g tank I have a common pleco, platys, and pearl gouramis. Also have a betta, who of course has a tank all to himself.

If necessary, I can obtain water elsewhere, but obviously it is simplest by far to just use my own, straight from the tap. Also, besides pH, is there anything else I should be concerned about with transitioning to my new water source? Thanks in advance!!

Angela_96 · June 28th, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Electricat

I am in the process of moving to a new house, and will probably move the fish tanks sometime this week. My new place has a well, rather than city supply. I'm glad that chlorine will no longer be an issue, but I'm pretty sure that my new water has significant iron in it. I haven't tested for it, and don't know if you even can...I am basing my belief on seeing that the toilet tank has some rust staining, and the water has a slight "rusty nail" taste. I have no water softener or other treatment device in the system.

My concern is the effect of high iron on fish in general, and my species in particular. In my 29g tank I have a common pleco, platys, and pearl gouramis. Also have a betta, who of course has a tank all to himself.

If necessary, I can obtain water elsewhere, but obviously it is simplest by far to just use my own, straight from the tap. Also, besides pH, is there anything else I should be concerned about with transitioning to my new water source? Thanks in advance!!

I would test the water for chorine (even well water), ph, alkalinity, ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, and phosphates to see where you stand. I am not sure on the iron, as I do know that some plant substrates contain iron but thats a different post im sure.

mathas · June 28th, 2009

Pesticideinfo.org lists fish as "not accutely toxic" to iron (http://www.pesticideinfo.org/Detail_...Rec_Id=PC35156).

SkepticalAquarist.com states:

Quote:

Iron is another essential nutrient for plants and animals, one that can become toxic in excess, partly because there's no natural mechanism for eliminating it. Most of the iron in fish is represented in the hemoglobin of their blood. The fish prefer to get their iron ready bound in an organic "heme group" that is derived from their carnivorous diet of blood and tissue. Ultimately, down the food web, the iron has been derived from photosynthesizers. In plants on the other hand, iron is used in molecular traces only as part of metabolic pathways, not to build structure. Aquarists who are trying to achieve "optimal" fertilizer concentrations may become fixated on iron. You'll often get the mis-impression that iron is a macronutrient of aquatic plants. In fact, iron retards plant growth at levels higher than 2.0 mg/l, and it's toxic to plants at levels greater than 5.0 mg/l, several agricultural extension websites will tell you.

http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/doc...ent/iron.shtml

The impression I get is that some iron is fine, a lot of iron (whatever quantities may constitute "a lot") could potentially be bad.

If you want to try and treat your current water, this site has some suggestions: http://www.water-research.net/iron.htm

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