• The National Research Council devoted considerable attention to the “thyroid effects” of fluoride in its groundbreaking review of Fluoride Toxicity in 2006.  Chapter 8, Effects on Endocrine System, includes a detailed review of the growing scientific evidence linking fluoride consumption to thyroid dysfunction… http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=11571&page=224
• Parents of Fluoride Poisoned Children, an organization founded by Andreas Schuld, a leading advocate of fluoride toxicity awareness, has a wealth of information available on the link between fluoride and “thyroid dysfunction”…h ttp://bruha.com/pfpc/html/thyroid_page.html


What Are The Toxic Levels of Fluoride in Water That Affect Fish and Other Aquatic Life?
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/wat/wq/BCguidelines/fluoride/fluoride.html
"For aquatic life:  In fresh water total fluoride should not exceed 0.2 mg/L when water hardness is less than 50 mg/L as CaCO3, or 0.3 mg/L when water hardness is equal to or greater than 50 mg/L as CaCO3.
This is a tentative, worst case criterion. Higher levels may be tolerated under some combinations of water hardness and temperature, but further carefully controlled research is necessary to determine what these levels should be. Fluoride should not exceed 1.5 mg/L in marine or estuarine waters used by aquatic life."


The Effects of Fluoride on Plants
Fluoride is known to be generally harmful to plants, including some aquatic plants.  Fluoride-treated water is not recommended for keeping aquatic plants in warm-water aquariums and ponds.  For further information see http://www.statesman.usu.edu/story.phtml?p=10-13-2000,1,2 and for its effect on plants, including aquatics see http://www.greenfacts.org/en/fluoride/fluorides-2/06-effects-environment.htm.


What Removes Fluoride From The Water?There can be confusion here, because what may be adequate for reducing fluoride content in the drinking water for humans, is not going to be sufficient for fishes.  For human use see http://waterindustry.org/flouride.htm.  Also see the article "How To Remove Fluoride From Drinking Water" by Dr. Anne Marie Heimenstine http://chemistry.about.com/od/chemistryhowtoguide/a/removefluoride.htm . Keep in mind that their information is primarily aimed at removing fluoride from drinking water for human use, and that may not be sufficient for providing fluoride-free water for aquatic animals, including fishes.



We have not seen where there are claims for water additives that successfully remove fluoride from the water.  Most water filters will not effectively remove fluoride. Filters that will reliably remove 80-90 percent of fluoride are those that use RO reverse-osmosis technology (depending on the quality of the filter).  Home water distillers are also recommended for removing fluoride.  Also recommended for human use are filtration through a special fluoride/arsenic reduction medium called activated alumina, but this is not appropriate for aquatic life. The only other filters that have been recommended for aquarium and pond use are those using activated carbon, but this appears to be misinformation.  Scientific tests have shown that while some activated carbons remove some fluoride, it is not in sufficient amount to be helpful in aquarium and pond keeping when fluoride is added to the drinking water.

For those living in those areas where their local public water utility is adding fluoride to the water, the use of water from other sources, such as natural waters free of fluoride, or from private wells, or use of bottled water with known fluoride-free content, appear to be the answers for those wanting to get fluoride-free water without using RO or water distillers.


See http://dhfs.wisconsin.gov/health/oral_Health/pdf_files/pph4559.pdf for analyses of fluoride in commercial bottled water, which shows that of the 35 kinds tested, none of them was completely free of fluoride.