# Pink water???



## mommybritches

I have a 56 gallon tank with an Oscar and a Severum. The tank has been in place for about 2 years. It has a wet dry filter, gravel and one resin pot. There are no plants in the tank...no artificially colored rocks...and the pot is about 2 years old. As of late, every time I change water, the water is pink by the next morning. What causes this????


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## Twistersmom

Hello and welcome to the forum!

I have never heard of this problem. How does the water test for ammonia and nitrites? What kind of pot is in the tank? Any driftwood? Tap water look clear? You say the water is pink after water change days, does it clear up or stay pink? Can you post a picture of the tank? 
That was a lot of questions. ;-)


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## Fishin Pole

This is really odd and am at a loss to even suggest anything for you to remedy the situation.........Have you recently switched foods you feed your fish?...........Have you used any meds in the tank recently?...........Only thing i could offer to try, is running some carbon in your filter for a few days and see if that helps.......


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## Angel079

Don't have any more questions to add for you apart from the above, but welcome to the forum!!!
For inserting carbon in the filter, I'd be careful cause this will also harm your needed, beneficial bacteria.


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## Fishin Pole

in a tank thats 2 years old you will not need to worry about it harming your beneficial bacteria that much


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## fish999

Just a quick guess but it has to be either 1) dye or other coloration leaking from something or 2) some sort of microbial life form that either produces a pink substance or is itself pinkish colored when seen in large numbers. Just a guess.

I remember the "red tide" scare quite a few years ago where some sort of microbial creature was clogging up the shellfish beds, i think it was on the east coast of US. It was poisonous too...


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## molliefan09

here on the east coast, specifically florida, we have a red tide every year.....it is VERY toxic to the marine life as well as humans


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## mommybritches

Twistersmom said:


> Hello and welcome to the forum!
> 
> I have never heard of this problem. How does the water test for ammonia and nitrites? What kind of pot is in the tank? Any driftwood? Tap water look clear? You say the water is pink after water change days, does it clear up or stay pink? Can you post a picture of the tank?
> That was a lot of questions. ;-)


OK....


The pot is resin, or plastic, and has been in this tank for two years. There is no chance the color is coming from the pot.

There is no driftwood or colored gravel in the tank. The gravel in the tank is also two years old, and is natural with no artificial colors.

The water is tinted pink, but not cloudy. There are no plants, real or artificial, in the tank. There are no signs of any algae growth.

This change gradually occurs when we change water. We can see it roughly 12 hours later. It looks like someone took red food coloring and placed a few drops in the tank...just enough to tint the water.

We have had no recent change in food, fish, or anything in the tank.

The only thing I can see that helps is salt. If I add salt, the tint will disappear in a few days. The color will then reappear at the next water change.

Water parameters - pH, hardness, ammonia, nitrates, nitrites are all normal. We do not run carbon in our wet dry. 

The fish do not seem to be affected, I am just curious as to what this is. 

I will try to take a pic tomorrow in natual sunlight )


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## molliefan09

mommybritches.....that is very strange...do you use tap water? if so, maybe you could look into the resent testing the city/county has done on it and compare to previous ones and see if something is different from that aspect....just a though....


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## Angel079

Wow this is some odd stuff....then the only thing it can be from what you're saying is your water source....Do you have some type of larger glass/ clear container you can put 1-2 gallon water in and let that sit over night (like you said takes about 12hrs to appear) and let that very water "settle" so to say and check if it also turns pink over night?
That's the only thing I can think of....


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## fish999

mommybritches said:


> OK....
> 
> This change gradually occurs when we change water. We can see it roughly 12 hours later. It looks like someone took red food coloring and placed a few drops in the tank...just enough to tint the water.
> 
> We have had no recent change in food, fish, or anything in the tank.
> 
> The only thing I can see that helps is salt. If I add salt, the tint will disappear in a few days. The color will then reappear at the next water change.


I would try actually removing the pot you mentioned just to be sure a deeply embedded dye isn't starting to work its way out of the core of the material after it has aged. The pot itself may simply be turning to dust as it ages beyond a certain point. Take it out and see.

12 hours could be about the time a microbe would take to re-populate after being knocked down by an event such as water change. Adding salt might be slowly reducing a microbe population over a few days time so the effect you describe after adding salt would fit that scenario. Do you have a microscope handy? Maybe you could take a look at the water and see if there is a heavy population of small microbes.


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## mommybritches

I do use tap water, but I always have. We have 8 tanks and it doesn't affect them all, so it can't be the water. It only affects the tanks that contain my Oscars. I use the same water conditioner on all of my tanks. 

I have actually "googled" pink aquarium water, and have found a few others who have had a similar experience. However, most of what I have found is others like me posing the question. I haven't found anyone with an explanation. (

I am wondering if it is some type of bacterial bloom, as it comes so close to a water change and leaves soon after. The water doesn't get cloudy, just slightly pink.


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## molliefan09

well.....with the fact that it is only affecting one tank and it also happens to be the same tank you treated for ich i would almost be inclined to say that it may be due to the ich treatment....i do not have any expierence with the med you used so i do not know first hand how it may affect your tank.....you may have a build up of gunk from it in your filter some where. I would almost say break down the filter and give it a good wash in tank water but i do not know how i would even tell you to go about doing that. What type of filter are you running?? Maybe someone else on here can give you advice on doing so....


or as fish999 stated maybe your pots in the tank are breaking down from age....take them out and see what happens....its worth a try and it wont hurt anything to do it


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## mommybritches

These tanks have not been treated for Ich or anything else....

??????

Can't be the pot.....I have two tanks affected. The other tank has nothing but gravel no pot and an Oscar in it...it turns pink as well.

Just spoke with a Cichlid expert friend of mine. She too has this problem, but has been unsuccessful in diagnosing it. She has tanks that do this and tanks that don't. Our only common thread is no carbon.....but then again we both have tanks that run without carbon that aren't pink.....She says it does not seem to adversely affect her fish, so she just has grown accustomed to the trend. She plans to ask some of the biologists at the college nearest to her. 

Thanks everyone...but the mystery continues.....


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## fish999

I know what it is... the Oscars are making snow-cones and selling them at night while you sleep. Some kid keeps dropping a strawberry/mango one and it's turning the water pink. We're on to your nefarious scheme now Mr Double-O Oscar...


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## Twistersmom

Wish I could have been of more help! I agree with your friend, if your fish do not seem bothered, I would not worry.
If you find out the cause, fill us in. It would be interesting to know.


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## molliefan09

it is a strange phenomenon......especially to just show up after 2 years......but as twistersmom said, if your fish dont seem bothered......in anycase, if you find the source please let us know.


ps...sorry for the confusion with the ich treatment....i had just finished reading another thread....


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## mommybritches

*Take a look...*

It's gone now...I added more salt and it went away within 36 hours...just bizarre....

I am going to attempt to add a pic...hope it attaches...


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## Havoc

ok a few questions for you

how old is your house / plumbing ?

do you know what your pipes are made of ?

can u do a tap water test and leave it in a clear container for 24>36 hours ?

only reason i ask is because i recently had to deal with a similar problem with a tank i was setting up for a family member, 
i set the tank up and go home for the night get a call the next morning saying the tank was blue ended up being due to
'blue water' a condition due to corroding copper pipes in melbourne.

Copper corrosion

for those interested


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## tiny

Hello, I'm a water treatment student and might be able to help you. It sounds like there might be color or dissolved minerals in your cities drinking water. It could be anything from copper( which I doubt, seeing your fish are still alive) to iron. But I would call your city water treatment plant and see if they have anything in their river or lake where they get the water that would cause this color change. All city plants must test for these things by law so they will know. If you are on a private well, then it is dissolved minerials. But fixing this problem will be hard and costly in a home. If it aint that then i dont know, hope this helps. PS. for the copper idea its very unlikely due to fish dont do well with high levels of copper ie they die.


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## Fishin Pole

i have a few thoughts about this since its not all your tanks and only 2...........First, what are the temps of all your tanks?.........Are the 2 affected tanks very near the same temp?.............My thought (and its only a theory)something is now in your tap water that is only showing at a certain temp.........What it is i cant answer..........I would contact your water authority and ask the the questions stated earleir on in the thread, but i would also ask if they recently did ANY type of pipe work in your area............something could be leeching into your supply line coming in, that the water company is unaware of.........I would agree, it hasnt seem to affect your fish (very nice oscar, by the way) and clears from a dose of salt, so it doesnt seem very dangerous, but on a long term basis it might be.........It might be worth checking out, considering you drink the same water..........

I dont know if this helps, but it could be a possibility......I hope im wrong and it was something simple for you.....good luck


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## Havoc

tiny said:


> For the copper idea its very unlikely due to fish dont do well with high levels of copper ie they die.


ya i was just making a sugestion as it could be a contaminat from corrosion, if it were copper the water would be blue, but yea maybe iron or whatever is in your local water sorce


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## stumpy260463

*your pink water*



fish999 said:


> I would try actually removing the pot you mentioned just to be sure a deeply embedded dye isn't starting to work its way out of the core of the material after it has aged. The pot itself may simply be turning to dust as it ages beyond a certain point. Take it out and see.
> 
> 12 hours could be about the time a microbe would take to re-populate after being knocked down by an event such as water change. Adding salt might be slowly reducing a microbe population over a few days time so the effect you describe after adding salt would fit that scenario. Do you have a microscope handy? Maybe you could take a look at the water and see if there is a heavy population of small microbes.



do you have a juwel backing in the tank my water went went pink i had to take the backing out now its fine


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## DeboraBremner

Another thought....sounds like a good idea to let some tap water sit....but maybe also let some tap water sit with your dechlorinator.... if the pink is at all related to the dechlorinator you would know that way.... 
I skipped a page....I can see now your dechlorinator is used in numerous tanks.


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