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All tap water
in Alameda County is now being treated with chloramines (not chlorine) which
are toxic to fish, shellfish, reptiles and amphibians. Chloramines are chemicals
which contain chlorine and ammonia, and are being added to tap water to
disinfect it. If you use well water to fill your ponds or troughs, chloramines
are not an issue.
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- What can you
do to protect your fish?
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- Water used for fish must be treated
in a manner appropriate to remove both the chlorine and ammonia components
of the chloramines. In order to do this you must use conditioning chemicals
designed to remove chloramines (such as Amquel ® or ChlorOut ®) available
at pet stores, fish supply stores, and some variety stores.
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- Treatments which
are NOT effective:
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- • letting the untreated
water stand outside for a day or two
• boiling the water first
• using chemicals that remove only chlorine
To be completely safe, always pretreat
your water before adding it to your pond no matter how little you add. Treatment
and test kits are available at most pet and fish supply stores. Chloramine
residuals in treated water should be below 0.1 mg per liter.
For additional information, contact:
- East
Bay Municipal Utilities District 510. 287. 0138
Alameda
County Water District 510. 659. 1970 ext 520
Zone
7 Water Agency 925. 447. 0533 ext 210
San
Francisco Public Utilities Commission (Hetch-Hetchy Water) 650. 652.
3115
