Water conditioner and dechlorinator are a must in fish keeping. Let’s talk about the importance of these tools in your fish keeping kit.

All tap water contains chlorine, chloramine, and heavy metals. For this reason, you need to add water conditioner and dechlorinator to your aquarium water. This can come in liquid form or tablet form. Be sure to add any additives such as this to your aquarium water when your fish are not in the water. Allow the additions to your fishes’ water to dissolve and dissipate throughout the aquarium water before adding your fish so they don’t have to deal with anything harmful to them.

Water conditioners may also contain ingredients to soothe and repair damage to your fish’s fins and body. This can occur during a water change or due to sharp plants or toys or gravel in the tank, for example. Aloe Vera, for example, may be added to the water conditioner to ease stress on your fish since water changes, though necessary, can be stressful to your fish - especially if they are already sick and when you first get them before they are used to the regular, consistent routine that you provide them with in water changes that you do on a regular basis in the way they are used to.

Dechlorination is critical since chlorine is poison to fish. The chlorine that benefits humans in tap water will kill your fish, so before starting a fish tank, you have to have dechlorinator on hand. Chloramine is added also to many water supplies for human use - usually in winter. You can check with your local pet shop or city water to ask, but many dechlorinators come with dechloraminator as well - it’s as simple as reading the label of the bottle.

There are various choices. Some, for example, are:








Check for various conditioners that are labelled as being for specific type of fish that you have. There is quite an extensive array of various water conditioners. Stress Coat is one that I highly recommend from having used it a lot. It’s a good all-around water conditioner that removes everything bad from the water and eases stress on your fish with gentle aloe vera. Peruse various bottles and packages until you feel comfortable with the ingredients and the results promised. The above three are tried and true in my experience.