A woman says she found her fish tank full of dead fish just days after she had just cleaned and changed the water. Chrissy, from Preston, says she couldn't understand why her beloved guppies had mysteriously died.
Guppies are also known as million fish and rainbow fish and are the most commonly kept tropical fish in households. The typical lifespan of a guppy is between two and five years - Chrissy has had her fish for four years now. However, when she found several fish in the tank had died, she knew something was seriously wrong reports LancsLive.
She said: "I did a partial water change which you have to do, but I used Safe Water which is a biological enhancer and you put it in when you've got new water to cancel out the harmful chemicals. I put it in, everything was okay and then three days later and I thought, one of my fish has died, oh there's another and another.
"Three had died but I didn't think anything of it at the time, except that maybe it was a bit odd because I never lose my guppies. I got a few guppies about four years ago and they've always lived their full life cycle. I looked again and thought that tank smelled a bit and then there were two more dead at the bottom.
"Just this morning I had to scoop another out, a pregnant female. I just don't know what to do- It's just not normal for my tank to go like that with fish dying daily."
Chrissy says she noticed the ones still in the tank seemed to be struggling to swim up to the surface and kept "drifting back down". Taking to Facebook for advice, Chrissy came across a post from another fish owner who had experienced a similar problem.
The post was written by a woman in Warrington named Paula and suggested it was a change of tap water supplied by United Utilities that was causing the deaths. The claims made by the pet owner state "the new water is very high in ph" which lead to her own fish dying too.
Paula explained why she believes the water change has resulted in the death of her and other pet owners' fish. In an email shown to LancsLive, Paula was notified of water changes in her area, it states: "Your water supply will be blended with other drinking water sources in your area and we’re planning to make the change gradually, beginning in early May.
"Don’t worry, you can carry on using the water as you normally would. It will continue to meet all the same high-quality standards as always - it may just be a little different from what you’re used to."
Paula said: "I noticed the water was different last week but I thought it was just my fish tank and then when I did a water change all the fish died within a few hours. I went to the aquatics centre and they said it might be the decorations in the tank but they hope it's not the water - the first thing I did when I got home was test the water and that's where the high ph results came up.
"I've never had a problem with the water or the tanks. I called United Utilities who said they were doing pipe changes earlier in May and that they're changing supplies. They said they added plenty of minerals to make it better quality for human consumption. Seeing the water results I made the post on Facebook.
"Because I had serval people saying their fish died I tried to spread the post and awareness in the North West area (including Preston). Without counting there were at least 30 people on the posts said their fish died within the last week after having them for years. I've lost a full tank of fish and I've seen that other people's fish are dying and they don't know why."
When she saw the post, Chrissy says she finally put two and two together and was "shocked" to find that this could have been the cause of her pets dying. She added: "I'm extremely angry and upset- I don't know whether to use natural bottled water from the supermarkets or to use rainwater. I don't what the company has put in the water because I only saw the post yesterday but then I put two and two together."
A United Utilities spokesperson, said: “We work around the clock to provide customers throughout the North West with a high quality reliable supply of water. To do this, we sometimes have to take water from various different sources around the region. Whatever the source, drinking water must meet very strict quality standards before it reaches our customers’ taps. We always advise anyone who keeps fish to follow expert advice regarding specific requirements their fish may have.”
