Seachem Prime killing my Plecos!!!

[knifegill]

I've had several plecos and used lots of Prime. I've double dosed with it before going on vacation (as a nervous nelly newbie) and nothing bad came of it. My hypoptopomus gulare is five years old and has always had prime added to his replacement water.

When I have a hose running to my tank with tap water, I pour half the Prime into the tank as I start to fill it, and the other half after it's done filling more or less. I only add enough to treat the new water, not the entire volume. Then I wait just a minute while my powerhead circulates the water and turn the pumps back on. No problemo. I used to add it to each new bucket as a result of not understanding that chlorine is more of a threat to my bacteria than to fish. Now that I have been led to believe that fish are fine in chlorinated tap for a few minutes, I am freed to use a hose. But remember that this could nuke bb in your tank on the walls and decorations, but the filters are safe as long as the water is treated before you turn your pumps on. So be wary of in-tank filters, I do declare!

 

[Yellowcat]

I keep many species of catfish including pleco's, one over 10 years old in a 74 degree tank and another 3 years old in an unheated tank with cool water species catfish and it's thriving as well. I'm no pleco expert and maybe some species may require warmer temps but 84-87 degrees seems a bit extreme. I use Prime too, after draining down 1/3 of the tank I then add the Prime, the appropriate dose to the amount of water to be replaced in the first bucket, dump it in and fill up the rest with tap water and no problems...

 

[knifegill]

Yeah, 84-87 is a fine temp for wild discus or angelfish, but realistically, it's not needed. True, my first angelfish grew larger than any other angelfish I've ever seen in just one year at about 86ºF, but most other fish will suffer from deoxygenation at such temps.

 

[sterlingtjones]

Thanks for all your replies...

I don't think it is prime that is killing them anymore. I should be adding the prime before putting water in, treat for the whole amount. The fish are already under a lot of stress, so I will try 25% water changes.

As for the questions about temp and species... well obviously you didn't read the posts with all that info!

The Temp is that high because of ambient temperature..there has been a heatwave here.. I usually have it at 82F to try to meet a middle ground with species demands according to planetcatfish.com.

 

[I<3fish]

Thanks for all your replies...

I don't think it is prime that is killing them anymore. I should be adding the prime before putting water in, treat for the whole amount. The fish are already under a lot of stress, so I will try 25% water changes.

As for the questions about temp and species... well obviously you didn't read the posts with all that info!

The Temp is that high because of ambient temperature..there has been a heatwave here.. I usually have it at 82F to try to meet a middle ground with species demands according to planetcatfish.com.

The prime never was killing them in the first place.

 

[Sab_Fan]

I think he meant, he doesn't blame Prime for killing them anymore . . . he realizes that was a mistake . . .

 

[I<3fish]

I think he meant, he doesn't blame Prime for killing them anymore . . . he realizes that was a mistake . . .

Ohhh, yeah I just read it differently. That's why talking face to face will always be better than typing messages.

 

[jclyde13]

If you add it to new water first, you don't waste as much prime. You are dosing the actual volume being added, not total volume of tank.

Yeah, I wasn't thinking about that when I made that post, I was just thinking in terms of the actual effectiveness of the dechlorinator. Thanks for the correction.

 

[vaine111]

I always dose the water before adding it to my tank.
If you fill a bucket right next to your tank with the recommended amount of prime for the size of the bucket(little under 2 drops per gallon) the bottle will most likely last you twice as long.
Pythons are a waste unless you are just using it to fill your tank.

 

[greenterra]

I always dose the water before adding it to my tank.
If you fill a bucket right next to your tank with the recommended amount of prime for the size of the bucket(little under 2 drops per gallon) the bottle will most likely last you twice as long.
Pythons are a waste unless you are just using it to fill your tank.

No way am I going to go the bucket method to change out 300+ gallons a week. I'll stick to the hose and dose for the complete aquarium volume all day long. Even if I had a spare container that held 300+ gallons to premix in, I would be using that for fish too so I would still be doing my w/c in tank.