Stress Coat & Ammonia?

[waterdrop]

Thanks everyone!

OldMan47: You mentioned Prime. I THINK I read somewhere on here (read sooo much I can't keep it straight any longer!) that Prime wasn't a good choice while you were cycling - is that right? I looked at it in the LFS and saw it said that it detoxifies nitrite - does it give you a false negative on the test (API liquid) then? I won't know where I am in the cycle if it "takes it away" if you kwim? Is Prime indeed okay to use while still in cycle or should I just stick with API's regular tap water conditioner until, at least, I'm done?

Rabbut - that does indeed make sense. Once question though - you said you don't even use declorinators anymore. Isn't chlorine supposed to be quite harmful/irritating/whatever to the fish themselves (filter issues aside)?

I didn't know Aloe was irritating to them! Hmm, gotta rethink my use of Stress Coat then.

Quite the opposite. I think Seachem Prime and perhaps Amquel+ are the two very best conditioners to use -during- cycling and the startup year. They are perfectly good to continue with too, but you could also consider then switching to whatever bottles of pond conditioner work out to be the cheapest (you can stand there in the store and scribble your lists of each brand and how much the instrucs tell you to put in and later figure out how far it goes per money amount.)

Reading the big threads on Conditioners at TFF over the years can keep you busy for a long time! Its a great introduction though into how many angles there are on a single topic once you get deeper into the hobby (regardless of whether its really even important sometimes, lol)

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Platygirl11]

A LFS near me adds stress coat to the bag water when they sell you the fish. They don't even measure it, it's in a bottle like hand soap where you push the top, and they just squirt some in. This seems like a really, really bad idea. What do you guys think?

 

[Yanks15]

I've noticed they do that at my LFS also. Not sure why though. They keep the fish in the same tank water when they give it to you in the bag. Strange. I have read at other sites that using the aloe version when you are doing a fish-in cycle helps protect the gills from higher nitrite levels. Same with a little AQ salt. Maybe someone with more experience could verify this.

 

[waterdrop]

A LFS near me adds stress coat to the bag water when they sell you the fish. They don't even measure it, it's in a bottle like hand soap where you push the top, and they just squirt some in. This seems like a really, really bad idea. What do you guys think?

I believe its quite common whether you are a fish store or not to add conditioner to transport water because the tiny water volume will very quickly become polluted with ammonia from the fish respiration. Normally this is being added because of the nearly universal addition of chemicals to conditioners these days that convert ammonia to ammonium, making it safe for fish. In the case of the LFS, the choice of StressCoat is probably because its given to them free and the choice of the manufacturer to provide that is probably precisely to advertise it to you, the new hobbyist, that StressCoat -must- be good because the fish store uses it, right? Of course, it really doesn't matter which ammonia neutralizer you use.

I've noticed they do that at my LFS also. Not sure why though. They keep the fish in the same tank water when they give it to you in the bag. Strange. I have read at other sites that using the aloe version when you are doing a fish-in cycle helps protect the gills from higher nitrite levels. Same with a little AQ salt. Maybe someone with more experience could verify this.

Its my understanding that Aloe Vera will irritate the exterior of the fish, theoretically stimulating it to increase slime coat production. Whether this has any bearing on gills or is good or bad I don't know. I believe salt indeed does have a small amount of protective effect from nitrite (Note that its important for beginners to not then confuse this with nitrite in the tank, as there its far better to remove or not have the nitrite in the first place.. and salt is bad for the vast majority of fresh water species.) Remember that fish transport is meant to be relatively short-lived, which renders all these things basically of minor importance. Get your new fish temperature and water acclimated and pour the bag water through a new and gently release the netted fish into its new home!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[rabbut]

While, on paper, Chlorine/Chloramine is toxic to fish, you must realise that it is so due to it's high oxydising potential (wants to latch onto stuff basically), so it will quickly get "absorbed" by heavy-metals and organics when added to the tank, only a small amount of it lasts long enough to do damage to the fish. Short-term, fish will tolerate about 0.5mg/l of chlorine, and the legal limit is 5mg/l. That allows you to safely do a 10% water change without any harm if the water board uses the legal limit of Chlorine. This assumes none of it gets bonded to other stuff in the tank...

Salt has been shown to reduce Nitrite toxidity. I haven't seen any evidence to surgest that Aloe Vera reduces it's toxidity.

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Winterlily]

Ahh okay - I understand, Rabbut - makes sense.

Boy, I never knew there was so much to the declorinator issue!

Reading the big threads on Conditioners at TFF over the years can keep you busy for a long time!

Ohhhh waterdrop - when I'm not changing huge amounts of water in that cycling tank, or taking care of my quite-a-handful 3 year old, I'm reading reading reading here - mostly about cycles and nitrites and ammonia and and and and. So I know exactly what you mean! There is SO much information here - it's really great!

 

[waterdrop]

gosh, who doesn't love the image of a supermom with a toddler on one hip and and a gravel cleaner in the other hand, its what keeps the world going!

 

[Winterlily]

The image is really more accurate as worn out mom falling asleep in front of computer while reading reading reading forum posts!

 

[waterdrop]

 

[michursky]

I just started using Stress Coat to condition my tap water when doing my daily (sometimes 2 times a day) water changes in my fish-in cycling tank. (Was using API's regular ol tap water conditioner, but it said that in the process of breaking the chloramine <sp?> bond, ammonia could be produced. ?) Now, my ammonia has dropped to either zero (sometimes) or just a slightly greenish ting (API liquid test) others. I just noticed that the bottle of Stress Coat says that it removes ammonia. <sigh> Is this one of those that fools my test kit into thinking there isn't any in there, but there is? What ought I be using to condition the water instead if I shouldn't use Stress Coat? What's do you all feel is the best? (If it matters, we have very hard water here.)

Thanks...!

I know its 8 years later, but last night i used stress coat+ and in the morning i found 2 peppermint and one zebra plecs dead. The smell of the water was off so i checked ammonia levels and they were in the range of 7ppm which is deadly. I did some digging and apparently api stress coat+ causes water not to absorb oxygen and to some people cause huge ammonia spikes. So be wary of that.