City Water and Bait

I live in St. Paul and the city water kills bait in short order. I recently tried using it again just overnight and wasted about a dozen bullheads. What do you city guys do for a bait water supply? Any tablets you can use? Or easy water filters? I’m keeping bullheads in a cooler in the fridge right now with a bubbler on them. It works great, but I need to change the water ever couple of days. If I don’t get down to the river, I’m stuck saving water up from my brita pitcher or buying it at the store. Any good ideas out there?

I have half a quart of some water treatment for tap water you can have. Once I found the city of Lakelands water didn’t harm my bullies, I never used it again.

One other thing you could try. Chlorine will dissipate from tap water. Fill up a cooler and leave it sit for a day. Make sure it’s cool enough, then try a bullie in it.

U2 might be helpful in your situation, not sure.

BTW- how cold is your water…if it’s too cold the bullys will lay belly up on the bottom…then when warmed, come back to life. If they are floating…they be dead.

With all the little thunder storms that have been going thru the area, a bucket under your down spouts will help with the rain water. There are tablets you can buy but the rain water would be the cheapest. They say if you let the city water stand for a few days that the chlorine will disapate, haven’t ever tried that one out.

Just collect your urine and put them in that. It is already filtered.

Nice one Dave. Go to your local aquarium store and get some water treatment. I only keep bait in the winter. Two cap fulls in a standard cooler and let set for a couple minutes. No more chlorine problem. Fresh start or something like that available at any pet store. While you are there pick up a couple hundred crickets. the perch here just go nuts for a cricket.

Leave a 5 gallon bucket full sit out for 3 days. It will be ok to use after that.

-J.

Collect rain water or let city water set for a few days.

Yeah, like other guys said, the chlorine kills the fish i guess. We have goldfish in winona and just put the water treatment liquid stuff in the tap water. You can buy it at wal-mart. I know it works, cause we had some die, then bought some more and used the treated tap water and the fish are over a year old now.

I use this – works awesome, and is very, very cheap. I bought 3lb bottle(if I recall correctly) 3 yrs ago and have well over half of it left. 1 tbls treats 50 gals of water.

Tim

http://www.landbigfish.com/tacklestore/showcase.cfm?PID=2764

I just buy cheap chlorine remover from the Walmart aquarium section. Works great!

Leaving it out will work for small quantities–not really realistic for a bait tank, though.

If you leave it out, it is the sunlight I believe that converts the Cl-. Even a couple hours in full sun does the trick. Like many others have said, the dechlor aquarium stuff works too and usually has some other additives that are good for the fishies.

hmmm… we must have better water in hastings, cause i have over a dozen bullheads in a cooler right that i’ve been changing the water daily on for two weeks, right out of the garden hose. I’ve only lost one in that time frame.

Stress coat works well,and you do not need much of it.

let me ask this question – If the water is killing baitfish that quickly…do you really feel comfortable drinking it?

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If you leave it out, it is the sunlight I believe that converts the Cl-.

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Not true. Agitation (ie a bubbler or pump) will help, though. Also, some water treatment plants use chloramine instead of chlorine. And chloramine will not dissipate like chlorine does.

I save the condensate from my dehumidifier in my basement. I just dump it into a 5 gallon pail when I empty the dehumudifier and when I need water for bait or my fish tanks in the house, I have free, clean water.

I already paid to make it, I may as well get some use out of it.

A product called Better Bait works well, any good bait shop can order it for you. It removes Chlorine,stimulates a natural slime coat, removes heavy metals and adds electrolytes. You still should change 1/3 of the water daily to keep down any ammonia buildup.

Darn it Ralph! You made me find an old study! I’m pretty sure Hastings is well as opposed to Missi too, may be something there? The first link is a study sunlight vs. aeration, the second is St. Paul’s latest report. I do like the dehumidifier idea!

http://hendryutilities.com/docs/boxes/chlorine_removal_abstract_080512.pdf

http://mn-stpaul.civicplus.com/index.aspx?NID=2652

Time to go home now, and I think I won’t be in Friday as I’m feeling a little ill (cough cough)…

Good advice here guys. I like the dehumidifier idea, and I’ll probably pick up some of the fish tank stuff at the pet store for use in a pinch. Thanks!!

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I’m pretty sure Hastings is well as opposed to Missi too, may be something there?

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our water comes from the Jordan Aquifer.

I use a product called Aqua Safe. I fill my laundry tub with cold city water and add about tablespoon of Aqua Safe. I have a fish tank aerator(dual water fall type) mounted on the edge and works great.