HagenKB

Drinking Aquarium water dosed with Cycle or Aqua-Plus

Will the Aquaclear or the Cycle harm my Parrot (Cat - Dog) if she drinks it?

Will the Aquaclear or the Cycle harm my Parrot (Cat - Dog) if she drinks it?
The water in a fish aquarium or bowl is definitely different from the tap. The purpose of any water conditioner is to remove toxic compounds that will kill fish, such as chlorine and chloramine. These are put in the water to kill bacteria and other things that can be dangerous to human health. Cycle contains a harmless bacterial team that is designed to remove ammonia and nitrite from the water and is non-pathogenic as well. When added to the aquarium, the bacteria firmly attach to the substrate or other clean surfaces and do not suspend in the aquarium water.

With chlorine and/or chloramine gone, there is the possibility of pathogenic bacteria entering the aquarium and multiplying to a concentration that they may possibly cause problems. As far as the compounds used for the actual removal of the toxins, these are neutralized in the new water and should cause no problems for any of your land pets that might drink the water. Regular addition of Cycle has the tendency to promote massive colonies of the bacterial strains in Cycle to outcompete any pathogenic bacteria and keep them under control. Weekly addition can actually make the water safer for assorted pets that may drink it than would otherwise be the case.

Thus, it is any actual parasites or pathogens that might grow in the aquarium over time with the fish, that would be the only source that could cause a problem for other pets. This is an extremely rare problem and is normally only associated with a tank that has been seriously neglected to the point where the water itself has become toxic, not from a product like Aqua-Plus or Cycle itself being used on a regular basis in a well maintained aquarium.

As long as water is changed on a regular basis and there are no diseases evident, there should be no danger to any standard pets, like birds, cats or dogs. Assuming the water is changed regularly and new water addition always starts from sterile right after the change, and Cycle is added on a weekly basis to make the beneficial strains of bacterial the dominant in the tank and keeping pathogens under control over time, there shouold be no health issues from animals drinking from the aquarium. The active ingredients, in the concentrations they are found in the aquarium of Aqua-Plus are much too low to cause any distress to the pets. Cycle is a quite harmless solution of beneficial bacterial that, at worst, might cause slight diarrhea if ingested at full strength, but when used in an aquarium correctly would never cause any harm and would be much too diluted to cause any distress.

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