Are water softeners harmful to fish

[Chiclid addict]

So my family was thinking of getting a water softener installed on our well but I was wondering if this could harm my fish 

[lefty o]

depends largely if your fish require hard or soft water. many people get excited and think a water softener adds a bunch of salt, but they actually only allow some trace amounts of salt into the water supply.

[Chiclid addict]

1 hour ago, lefty o said:

depends largely if your fish require hard or soft water. many people get excited and think a water softener adds a bunch of salt, but they actually only allow some trace amounts of salt into the water supply.

Ok I just didn’t Know sometimes the most random things can hurt them lol

[Kirsten]

Yeah depends entirely on your fish and how hard your water is right now. Some fish prefer hard water, some prefer soft. I don't think softer water will hurt any of them per se (unless they're mollies, who practically need brackish water to do well), but you may need to add more minerals back in for fish, snails, shrimp, and plant health.

[Andy's Fish Den]

I will tell you from my own personal experience, I had a heck of a time keeping fish and plants alive in a previous house that had a water softener. I tried and tried, but nothing would live for longer than a week or so. I had a bypass that fed my outside spigots, so a tapped off of that and would fill a food safe drum with the non softened water and i had an airstone and heater in that, would let sit for a day or two then use that for water changes.