I know this is beardie forum not fish forum but emergency

My daughter has a blue veil tail betta named bingo and his tank needs too be cleaned and water replaced desperately he’s showing no signs of illness yet but I’d rather be proactive than reactive so I have a new filter but due too this pandemic going on and mandatory quarantine not only can I not leave my house too go get distilled water but the grocery stores are out of it anyway and I am out of his fish water conditioner to treat the tap water however I do have reptisafe water conditioner does anyone know if that would work in the meantime until this mass hysteria subsided and I’m allowed too leave my home too purchase what he really needs get what he really needs or will it kill him quicker than a past due filthy tank would please help my four year old would be devastated if bingo died sorry this topic isn’t about beardies as well

Hi there, sorry to hear how the quarantine is affecting you . Can you order some online ? Can you post a few pics of Bingo's tank ? My sis had a betta in a bowl for several years , she didn't clean it very often and algae even grew but that fish lived quite a long time so I think they are pretty hardy. My sis used to let tap water sit out for a day before using for her fish. You could always read the ingredients on line to see if there's any difference in those 2 products though.

+1 to AHBD's advice. You should be able to order water conditioner online, even from Amazon; in the meantime, a half- or one-third water change with tap water that's left out overnight to let the chlorine evaporate should be just fine. I don't have a Betta at the moment, but I've had many over the years, and none of them got distilled water. The fact that you've got a filter for him is a good step ahead from most betta owners!

As far as Reptisafe goes... I'm not sure. I'd compare the ingredients with your fish water conditioner, but when in doubt, don't.

Hope you're safe and well, and out from quarantine soon!

UV is actually what breaks down the Cl in the water when you leave it out. Ideally you'd leave it out in the sun.

Leaving it out to just offgas won't get rid of residual Cl assuming there is nothing in the water to oxidize the Cl out. For example, pools won't lose any chlorine overnight if the water is proper and there are no contaminants. It's actually one way pool owners can tell if their water is free of contaminants. If there are contaminants, the chlorine drops only because it's being used up to oxidize out those contaminants.

I assume you have a UV bulb, you can set it up over your water to break down the Cl quicker. Otherwise, you will want to leave it out in the sun.

As far as the conditioner you have, it states it removes chlorine. However it doesn't say what ingredient it has. Sodium thiosulfate is what is typically used to chlorine removal. Reptisafe just says "dechlorinating agent"

There should be nothing wrong with it, but I'd just stick with letting UV remove the Cl instead.
Your tap water will likely have very low levels of chlorine and chloramines, so it won't take long in the sun or under a lamp.

-Brandon

All that being said also,

Tap water is usually quite low on Chlorine. Doing only partial water changes with tap water usually doesn't cause any issues because what little chlorine is in the water, instantly gets used up fighting the good bacteria of the tank. But, since the Cl amount is so low, only a small percentage of the good bacteria die. A well established tank will easily handle the small doses of Cl introduced from tap water. The Cl will be instantly used up and oxidized out.

Hope things are going well for you during this time.

-Brandon