What is distilled water?

What can live in distilled water (deionized water) ?

• I have a small aquarium with some triops langicaudatis and some artemia. It contains around 10-12 liters of distilled water ( mixed with deionized water, if the two types of water are not the same ). They are one and a half week old, so I guess the habitat is OK. My question : I would like to put another animal or some plants inside the aquarium : an animal would be nice because it would make everything more interesting, the plants may provide more oxigen for the triops and the artemias. Which animals can live in that water? And which plants? My first ideas: Gold Apple Snail Daphnia Some kind of shellfish or crabs And for the plants : Elodea and amazon sword plant What can you suggest?

• Answer:

  Distilled water isn't 'toxic' to fish, per se. It's just really not recommended to use because the lack of minerals in the water makes your fish's slime coats suffer. Basically they won't have much of a slime coat in distilled water, which in turn, makes them more susceptible to stress and disease. But, feel free to add whatever species you want to your tank. However, as a disclaimer, don't be surprised if any new additions get stressed from the sudden change in water conditions -- because they're not going to be at all used to distilled water -- and die. If you only have 10-12 litres of water in your tank, why not just make it easy on yourself and do a water change to get some tap water or spring water in there? Your fish will appreciate it, believe me.