Nutrafin Etc

[dunika]

Good evening all, I've only just registered, this is my first post.

We had a tropical tank 20 odd years ago, we used nothing but water and flake food, and cleaned everything and changed all the water every six months. It was very rare that we lost a fish.

Now we have set up another tank, and have been advised that we have to change 10% of the water every week, adding Nutrafin, Stress Coat, and Stress Zyme each time. Although we had a tank successfully for several years, we bowed to the experience of the staff at Pets at Home, and have followed their advice. But we are losing far too many fish. I have a theory that we should still be doing things how we did them 20 years ago, that we shouldn't keep interfering with the water, and that the only benefit of these chemical additives is to boost the profits of Pets at Home - killing the fish of chemical poisoning as a side-effect. I was going to look on the internet for any advice, and found this forum first.

We have found at the shop that all the staff give different advice, although they all agree on adding these chemicals. We have a large bi-orb, running at 24 degrees. We used flake food initially, but have now switched to using pellets. The water is absolutely crystal clear, to be fair the remaining fish all seem healthy and happy.

Can anybody offer any comments or advice?

Thank you for reading this,

Duncan

 

[NinjaSmurf]

I'll be honest, I haven't heard many good things about bi-orbs. They sound kinda small, and awkward to clean.

When I do a water change the only thing I add is the dechlorinator.

What fish do you have in there? Not sure how long you've had the tank set up, but it may not be cycled. Check out the pinned topic 'beginners resource' to find out about cycling, it basically sets up the bacteria colony in your filter that will eat a good bit of the ammonia your fish produce (although you still need to do water changes).

I don't think it's so much the chemicals from the stuff you've been adding thats killing the fish as the tank may not be cycled, although I honsetly see no reason to keep using all of the stuff. Just add the dechlorinator when you do a water change.

 

[dunika]

I'll be honest, I haven't heard many good things about bi-orbs. They sound kinda small, and awkward to clean.

When I do a water change the only thing I add is the dechlorinator.

What fish do you have in there? Not sure how long you've had the tank set up, but it may not be cycled. Check out the pinned topic 'beginners resource' to find out about cycling, it basically sets up the bacteria colony in your filter that will eat a good bit of the ammonia your fish produce (although you still need to do water changes).

I don't think it's so much the chemicals from the stuff you've been adding thats killing the fish as the tank may not be cycled, although I honsetly see no reason to keep using all of the stuff. Just add the dechlorinator when you do a water change.

Thank you devils advocate. We have 3 danios, which were actually the first fish we bought, 2 tetras left and a molly. All small stuff. 3 days now without losing any more, we'll leave it a while and see how they go. Thanks for the tip about dechlorinator.

Duncan