Spring water, Filtered water, or distilled?

[Hannah Wilbanks]

We have been using spring water in our WTF bowl, and misting his cage with distilled (to avoid water spots). I was wondering if it would be safe to use water filtered through something like a Brita filter for his bowl?

[Kurt]

Sure as long as the water is dechlorinated. Does the Brita remove chlorine? If not, you will need to use a dechlorinator such as Aqua Safe, found in the tropical fish section of the pet store.

[SludgeMunkey]

Brita filters do dechlorinate, however, it strips the water bare similar to reverse osmosis. These along with deionized water have been linked to kidney issues (bloat) in amphibians, reptiles and fish.

Personally, I use spring water for all of my reptiles and amphibians. (Kirkland Brand from CostCo)

There is an excellent article here on this topic. (Even though it is written with Caudates in mind, it is useful to keepers of Anurans too!)

[Hannah Wilbanks]

Thanks for the help, and the article link. I will definantly stick to spring water.

[Jungle]

What about tap water thats been boiled and left to cool down?, I was told to do that years ago and have never really had any problems with it, Anyone know if this might be a bad idea?

[SludgeMunkey]

It depends on the source of the water and the chemistry of the water out of the tap. With the prevalence of chloramines and fluoride here in the US tap water, this does not work.

In the UK, I am not sure, it appears water differs quite a bit from locale to locale.

The plumbing in your home has quite a bit to do with it too, if you have older plumbing it may be copper (or if it is really old, copper braised with lead at the joints!), which is a really bad idea for most amphibians.

[sepgundamrg]

Brita filters do dechlorinate, however, it strips the water bare similar to reverse osmosis. These along with deionized water have been linked to kidney issues (bloat) in amphibians, reptiles and fish.

I had no idea that ro-di water was bad for amphibians, thankfully I use de-chlorinated tap water for them(seachem prime as my conditioner)

I do know that ro-di(reverse osmosis de-ionized) water does not cause problems with fish, and is actually recommended because the parameters will always be the same. Keeps with more sensitive fish such as discus even have ro-di filters in their homes.

[SludgeMunkey]

I had no idea that ro-di water was bad for amphibians, thankfully I use de-chlorinated tap water for them(seachem prime as my conditioner)

I do know that ro-di(reverse osmosis de-ionized) water does not cause problems with fish, and is actually recommended because the parameters will always be the same. Keeps with more sensitive fish such as discus even have ro-di filters in their homes.

Very true, however, keep in mind that the requirements of fish are very different from amphibians in all aspects. Water chemistry that is appropriate for soft water fish like discus, or hard water fish like cichlids can be very harmful to both anura and caudates alike. Also, in the case of many fish, the substrate used and the method of treating the water is what makes it suitable for the fish.

[sepgundamrg]

Very true, however, keep in mind that the requirements of fish are very different from amphibians in all aspects. Water chemistry that is appropriate for soft water fish like discus, or hard water fish like cichlids can be very harmful to both anura and caudates alike. Also, in the case of many fish, the substrate used and the method of treating the water is what makes it suitable for the fish.

Substrate generally doesn't matter unless you're keeping something like corydoras catfish that requires a sandy substrate. I all acknowledge that water requirements for amphibians is different then that of fish, but I felt that I should add that ro-di water does not adversely affect fish, if anything it is healthier than regular de-chlorinated tap water.

[SludgeMunkey]

Substrate generally doesn't matter unless you're keeping something like corydoras catfish that requires a sandy substrate. I all acknowledge that water requirements for amphibians is different then that of fish, but I felt that I should add that ro-di water does not adversely affect fish, if anything it is healthier than regular de-chlorinated tap water.

I should have been more clear pertaining to the fish and substrates. But, since this is a frog site, I'll focus on the issues of reverse osmosis treated water and deionized water. The issue is how amphibians regulate sodium and chloride ions internally.

Here is a recent article on the topic at Reptile Channel by Margaret A. Wissman, DVM, DABVP.

And thanks to Google Books, here is where I first read about it a while back, in The Ecology and Behavior of Amphibians.

Another good read that covers the topic is Manual of Exotic Pet Practice. Mark Mitchell and Thomas Tully. Elsevier Health Sciences, 2008. (This is a great book for anyone into herps!)