Stress Zyme

[Schmill]

Hi all,

Firstly this isn't a "does it work", "doesn't it work" type post, but more of a "What DOES it do?" post.

The manufacturer API states that it contains bacteria that are BENEFICIAL to the nitrogen cycle of your tank.
Equally many many people on here, (and elsewhere) will point out that niether the bacteria to convert ammonia to nitrIte, or the bacteria to convert nitrIte to nitrAte can survive in the bottle.

So what goes on?

I have linked to a short topic HERE that is just one of many that say similar things once you start to trawl the internet for answers.

In summary it is correct that it does NOT contain the 2 bacteria types that we normally think of. However we need to take a step back.

Where does the ammonia normally come from?
People will always tell you that is it from fish waste, uneaten food, etc in the tank. But hold on, we don't FEED our fish pure ammonia, and they certainly don't 'poo' pure ammonia...

That is where these products seem to come in. The bacteria that they DO contain is what seems to be called the 'mineralising' bacteria. This is the bacteria that is responsible for breaking down the fish waste etc and releasing the ammonia.



Suddenly everything starts to make sense.

- People on this forum say it doesn't work, or doesn't make any difference.
- Most people on this forum will recommend that you do a fishless cycle to start your tank.
- People NOT on this forum will happily buy and use it, completely oblivious to what it is or isn't doing for them.
- People NOT on this forum have usually never heard of a "fishless cycle" on a tank (and tend to look at you like you are crazy when you mention it!)

On a fishless cycle we use bottled ammonia to feed out bacteria, to get the colony going. Therefore we have no NEED for this 'mineralising' bacteria, and in fact adding them to a new clean tank with no waste products in it has no effect on the cycle.

So effectively this bacteria doesn't wave a magic wand and give you a high-speed route to a cycled tank, but it can help, it just starts a step further back in the nitrogen cycle:

Fishless Cycle:
Provide Ammonia --> Bacteria Colony grows to convert Ammonia to nitrIte
... NitrIte --> Bacteria colony grows to convert nitrIte to nitrAte

'Stress Zyme' Cycle:
Provide 'waste products' + Stress Zyme --> Stress Zyme kick starts the bacteria colony required to convert waste into Ammonia
... Ammonia --> Bacteria Colony grows to convert Ammonia to nitrIte
... ... NitrIte --> Bacteria colony grows to convert nitrIte to nitrAte

Based on this (and the other articles on the web) I can really see why the majority of people on here have the impression that the 'Stress Zyme' is snakeoil and doesn't work, because it WON'T on a fishless cycle.

The question it does raise for me though is whether it would be beneficial for a FISH-IN cycle, to speed along the first step of bacterial growth. It seems like it would?

Of course if you are doing a fish in cycle and you already have an ammonia spike then it's not really going to do anything for you, (except perhaps INCREASE the ammonia levels), as you have already reached this stage.

So to round it off I would think that;

- If people come here, with fish in the tank, having problems and haven't cycled the tank then it's probably not going to help them as they likely already have an ammonia spike.
- If people are doing a fishless cycle, feeding the tank with bottle ammonia, it's probably not going to help them either.
- If someone choose to deliberately do a FISH-IN cycle, AND they add the Stress Zyme at the very beginning, (as the bottle directs, day 1, 7 & 14), then I think there is a good chance of it helping speed up the step of changing a 'messy tank' into an 'ammonia' tank.

Phew! Had no idea I was going to type all that, but it was something I had become increasingly curious about, so there it is.

As always comments are of course welcome

 

[Truck]

stress zyme IMO is just a bacteria booster for establishing a new tank. and isnt as effective as ammonia

 

[Schmill]

Yes.... isn't that pretty much what I wrote and explained above?

 

[Truck]

yes i thought you where leaving it as an open question, so i put my opinion

 

[Schmill]

Yeah, no worries
I just wanted to make sure that I had written it clearly. I tried to keep it 'unbiased' and I wasn't sure if I'd managed that when I read your comment.
Thanks for confirming my thoughts on the Stress Zyme then

 

[tenohfive]

I was always under the impression it does sweet #### all from peoples experiences on here.

If it does break stuff down from waste into ammonia then its still pointless - you're either using pure ammonia and doing a fishless cycle or using the fish and their waste to cycle, and in those circumstances you want the amount of ammonia in the water at any one time to be minimal, so in such circumstances it could even be detrimental to your fishes health. Better a messy (but less harmful) tank then a tank with an ammonia spike. If you speed up the process it means more ammonia in the water and potentially a greater risk to your fish.

Either way, unless I'd heard reliable opinions on product I wouldn't recommend using it that way.

 

[Corleone]

It isn't just fish poop. Fish do release ammonia directly via respiration, so it's always present where there are fish and not nitrifying bacteria, you don't need help releasing it.

Mineralizing bacteria reproduce very quickly either way - even without adding a culture of them, they can reproduce from the trace amounts present almost everwhere to the levels seen in a bacteria bloom within a few days to a couple weeks of a new tank setup, and at that point can reproduce fast enough that even large water changes have minimal effect in clearing the water.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yes as above, the 'mineralising' bacteria will turn up anyway so you don't need the stress zyme to do that so for a fish-in cycle it makes no tangible difference.

 

[jonnyf84]

oooh my favorite subject

As far as cycling with SZ I have had nothing but good results with it, i recently started a thread and got serverely beaten back by scepticism, i can understand this as i have no recorded proof but regardless i stand by it as it has always given me good results, just dont follow the bottle instructions. Here is the thread if you would like a read:

[URL="http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=258122&hl="]http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=258122&hl=[/URL]

 

[pippoodle]

i know quite a few people who wont admit it in public but have used urine to speed up the cycling of their tanks - my hubby being one with his old 500ltr but he dont come on here so thats ok lol
He used one dose of urine (didnt do it directly it was added as a measured does ) and stress zyme and cycle for the fish less cycling for that tank also feeding the tank every other day and got on well it took him 5-7 weeks for a complete cycle ( i wasn't married to him at the time he did that )

now when i cycled my tank i didnt even use ammonia or a fish in cycle i just filled the tank added " cycle " and kept feeding the tank some sinking pellets every other day and it took 3-4 weeks to complete the cyling
That was the elite 12 lol and was 2 years ago from then on i've just been slopwly updating the tanks and have always just added a new filter to run in conjuntion with the current one to get that cycled then added the 2 filters to the new larger tank until i just needed 1 filter

SO we have had good results with stress zyme and cycle with feeding the tank sinking pellets -- dont agree with fish in cycling - just a personal thing

Sorry if i warbled brain not good today

Sarah xx

 

[jonnyf84]

so sarah you are now married to a guy that pisses in fish tanks!!! just messin', don't go telling the in laws though

 

[Miss Wiggle]

the urine method can work, but it's important to be aware that we do not pee pure ammonia! as such you do risk putting some nasties into your tank.

again adding fish food also works as it breaks down and produces ammonia, it's just not as accurate as adding pure ammonia as you don't get the ammonia in one burst it's slowly spread over the day so you can't really monitor it very easily.

 

[andywg]

It isn't just fish poop. Fish do release ammonia directly via respiration, so it's always present where there are fish and not nitrifying bacteria, you don't need help releasing it.

This is a very important point here. Fish do indeed release ammonium into the water as part of their osmoregulation. Ammonium (NH4+) and a Bicarbonate ion (HCO3-) are given up at the gills to allow active absorption of Sodium and Chloride (Na+ and Cl-).

I seem to recall reading somewhere that anywhere up to 80% of ammonia/ammonium in a fish tank is excreted by the fish at its gills, but cannot remember for the life of me where I read it, so treat that number with caution.