Dead minnows in treated water

After fishing last Tuesday I had half a scoop of fatheads and half dozen 5” suckers left in my bait cooler. I brought it home and connected my aerator on a timer. All did great in the original water but things were getting cloudy by friday. Saturday grabbed some water conditioner at petco that claims to neutralize the chlorine, detoxify metals, etc. I treated 3 gallons worth of water in a clean 5 gallon bucket, let it sit a while and then scooped the minnows into the treated water. They chilled in there outdoors for a couple hours before making their way back to a freshly cleaned bait cooler, with aerator on overnight.

Sunday night I check on the cooler and all minnows are alive but there was a brownish reddish film all around the cooler and the bubbles were considerably larger than normal. See photo. The film is the same color as the bubble stone, but the stone itself seems fine. It’s only a few weeks old and came with the pump.

So I decide to repeat my water change and cleaning process, just to be safe. I notice while scooping minnows that they too seem to have this bloody reddish tinge to their coloring.

Monday morning, check the cooler and everything is dead. The product I used is from Aqueon and says “makes tap water safe for fish” right on the label. Thoughts?

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What’s wrong with just tap water? It’s all I have ever used

Bearcat89 wrote:

What’s wrong with just tap water? It’s all I have ever used

St. Paul tap water will kill minnows overnight. I would guess their treatment process differs from more rural areas. Citiot problems!

I read some previous threads that recommended getting the treatment stuff from the aquarium section at petco.

I should also note that the bottle says “instant” treatment.

Bearcat89 wrote:

What’s wrong with just tap water? It’s all I have ever used

if i use tapwater from my town………i’ll have dead minnows for sure……same with leeches in the summer……..i think the chlorine kills them.

The only thing I can think is that the inside of the cooler itself was washed and rinsed with city tap water. But I towel dried before adding treated water.

Fill up the 5 gallon bucket with tap water and let it sit for 4-5 days. All of the bad chemicals will evaporate.

-J.

I apologize I did not realize this issues they had with tap water. I guess I’ve taken mine for granted

Jon Jordan wrote:

Fill up the 5 gallon bucket with tap water and let it sit for 4-5 days. All of the bad chemicals will evaporate.

-J.

Interesting… so no treatment at any point? (Thanks)

tangler wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Jon Jordan wrote:</div>
Fill up the 5 gallon bucket with tap water and let it sit for 4-5 days. All of the bad chemicals will evaporate.

-J.

Interesting… so no treatment at any point? (Thanks)

This is what I do as well….use the original water from the bait shop and set another bucket next to it to sit for a few days. I rotate every 3 or 4 days. I’ve left minnows in the original water for up to a couple weeks before, though. Water gets nasty but the minnows don’t mind.

Correct, no treatment needed. I keep tropical fish at home. Always have water “resting” for later use. 4-5 days minimum. Longer the better. (St Paul city water.)

-J.

Nope, I live in St. Paul as well and just let a bucket of water sit for a couple days before putting minnows in it.

Thanks everyone!

Sure I will get heck for this but had a few baby sunnies my daughter wanted in an aquarium in the garage. They lived in tap water just fine for a month. Decided to change the water and found a bottle of that stuff in the garage said makes tap water safe for all fish. Lets just say 3 days later I didn’t have to worry about feeding them anymore.

Jon Jordan wrote:

Fill up the 5 gallon bucket with tap water and let it sit for 4-5 days. All of the bad chemicals will evaporate.

-J.

Do this,and can use an air stone to speed up the process.Just make sure water temp is the same when transferring bait.The Stress coat does work,but some water is more treated than others.

We have tropical fish,and had a few bad water changes in the past.9 awesome Jack Dempseys got that red look from chemicals that were not removed and croaked.

JEREMY wrote:

Sure I will get heck for this…

Why? Perfectly legal in Mn.

-J.

Just figured it was a no-no. Had a frog to hope he wasn’t to big.

My money would be on disease. You ever look at those bait tanks at your local bait store and see a bunch of floating minnows that look like there covered in cotton. Bait tanks are rampant with diseases, and once a tank is contaminated it is a lot of work to rid the system of them.I think if you used the correct dose of treatment for the water then it could not be the treatment . I’ve been using chemicals for years to treat city water with no problems. Actually I use less then recommended dose because I feel the city water actually helps fight off disease. My two cents . Good luck

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I wonder why St. Paul water kills them?? That would make me think twice about drinking it…..

They do just fine in my “city” water right out of the tap (Stacy, MN)

I worked in the aquarium trade for too long and have a pretty good grasp on chemistry and physiology from college and medical practice so I think im qualified to address this.

some municipalities/treatment facilities (including Mpls and I suspect StPaul) use chloramines (chlorine bound with ammonia) which are particularly toxic to fish-be they tropical, native or bait. some of the aquarium products are less effective detoxifying chloramines as opposed to the ubiquitous chlorine, and/or require a much higher dose. I suspect that is what’s at play here. Was the product called stress coat?-that would explain the big bubbles

tap water will off gas (chlorine) if left to sit for a few days. it also stabilizes the ph, and equilibrates temperature if the new water is in the same room/space as the bait tank. aerating water probably expedites this. fish are susceptible to shock if temp or ph are dramatically different. but even smaller differences are a stress on their systems. disease is possible but typically not so swift in fish. good water quality is probably the single most important step to preventing disease.

keeping temps low increases the oxygen carrying capacity of water which is why minnows seem to last so much better in winter/when kept cold.

lower densities of fish (or larger volumes of water) in a given vessel also help by diluting waste. think “the solution to pollution is dilution”

also cloudy water is typically a sign of bacterial bloom. not pathogenic bacteria but denitrifying bacteria which help to detoxify ammonia and nitrite. they bloom when the toxin levels get high. I would always recommend a water change when the water gets cloudy-just make sure its detoxified one way or another, same temp and ideally close in ph (realizing not many are interested in testing this for their bait). a bait tank which is run constantly will over the course of ~1 month develop a “biological filter” of good denitrifying bacteria that help to maintain water quality. the bacteria just need surfaces to adhere to (filter media, gravel but they’ll also form a film on bucket/tank walls).

hth
tg

Thanks Twins Guy!

Twins Guy wrote:

Was the product called stress coat?-that would explain the big bubbles

It wasn’t called stress coat but that is one of the features listed on the label. I’m guessing it wasn’t an adequate dose. I was worried about adding too much — is that a concern or no?

I got some fresh bait yesterday and at the same time filled up the 5-gallon bucket with tap water. That will sit in the same room as the bait bucket until Friday or so and I’ll attempt a water change then. Fingers crossed!

I’m stumped. I’m also worried about our water, which has always tasted great!

On Monday I Bought half scoop minnows, a few suckers, and the guy threw in the last shiner they had for free. They went straight into my aerated cooler at shop. When I got home I filled a 5 gallon bucket of water and set them next to each other in my basement. The aerator is on a timer, 6 hours on and 6 off.

Checked them daily, no problems. Friday night I go to change water, two floaters. No biggie. I scoop all my guys into the 5 gallon bucket which has been sitting for 5 full days. Empty and clean bait cooler. Fill bait cooler with water from 5 gallon bucket, transfer minnows back into bait cooler. Aerator was on all night. Checked on them this morning….

The ironic thing is that the sole survivor was the lonely shiner. I hear more about their fragile nature so that surprised me.

I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, or if my water is just extra full of stuff.

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How warm is it in your basement? I’m guessing too warm.

Dusty Gesinger wrote:

How warm is it in your basement? I’m guessing too warm.

49.5 —- unfinished room with cinder block walls. The Minnows survived in the cooler in that same room all week so I don’t think it was temp shock. The new water was close to same temp.

33 degrees would be better, just change half of the water at a time. Is your softener leavening excess salt in your water? Try a different spigot.