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Tap water is usually treated with chlorine to remove toxins. Of course, chlorine is toxic to fish, so we aquarists use a chemical to neutralize the chlorine. For decades, the so called dechlorinators worked just fine. Then water suppliers discovered that the chlorine tends to evaporate in long supply lines, so they added chloramines to make sure the chlorine stays in the tap water. Chloramines, I read, can harm fish AND change water chemistry. If you're going to treat tap water, you should, therefore, treat it for both chlorine and chloramines. Just adding dechlorinating drops may not be enough.
Most water conditioners treat for chlorine and chloramine plus some heavy metals and a few other things. It's a good idea to read the label. During partial water changes, I usually add enough conditioner to treat the replacement water, then let the replacement water stream do all the mixing. Some water conditioners are more potent than things like Stress Coat, so it may be a good idea to limit their use to special circumstances.
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