(no subject)

[transformergeek.livejournal.com]

During this time of year, in a city with so many colleges, it's not unusual to see houses with a bunch of old household items and busted up furniture outside waiting to be taken away by trash collectors.

I often enjoy briefly going through these piles to see if there are any goodies. (Last year I found a size 14 pair of rollerblades!) I noticed that my neighbors were throwing away a mini-fridge, an old sofa, a book shelf, and a fish tank.

That would be cool and all, if it weren't for the fact that the fish tank still had fish living in it.

I checked the house, and nobody was living there. I left it for a few hours, to see if, perhaps, someone was coming to pick it up. No go. Plus, we live in a neighborhood with plenty of outdoor cats, and the tank had no cover.

So, I took in the fish, but I realized that I don't have any fish food, and that all of the pet stores are closed. I don't know how long they've been out there, and I'm pretty sure that I'd be damn hungry if I were in their position. So, two questions:

What common, household foods can I put in the tank? I have bits of bread, and all sorts of spices, and even some cheese... but I don't know what fish eat!

Secondly, the water level is getting pretty low... is there something that I can do about that? Will tap water kill the fish? Is it ok if I use my Britta?

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, they're not anything special. Just your garden variety cheap pet fish. And one cool black sucker fish.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Comments

[larksdream]

As far as I know, no; it's less "grabbable" than chlorine and the little charcoal filters in a Brita don't really get that much time to filter the water. (They also, for example, don't remove fluoride.)

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

A quick Google for charcoal and chloramine gave snippets like:

- There are three approaches to eliminate chloramines and to prepare water for haemodialysis: (i) activated charcoal; (ii)

- Chloramine Removal from drinking water using activated carbon

- Contrary, water that had passed a charcoal filter or a mixed bed deionizer contained no measureable chloramines

- They say activated charcoal will remove most of the chloramines

Charcoal is good for volatile organics, but I wouldn't expect it to take flourides out any more than I'd expect it to desalinate the water.

[larksdream]

Can you actually find a page where Pur or Brita says that their home filters (tap or pitcher) remove chloramine? I can't, though both list lead and chlorine and Pur lists a bunch of other stuff as well.

I suppose someone who really cared could call them. :)