At Wit's End: Why Isn't Bio-Spira Working??

I wrote to Marineland and after I got a brief reply I followed up with a phone call. Basically their answer was that I don't need to be concerned. They said that their claim is that the product will make water fish safe under 24 hours which means under 2 ppm ammonia, and mine is. They said that for full cycling you have to allow up to 7-10 days. I'm still not 100% convinced, but I don't know what to do at this point but wait and hope.

Edti: Oh, my ammonia test goes from yellow to green. It is not the Nessler test, it is the other one, the one that starts with "S."
 
2 ppm!!!!!! Any measurable amount of ammonia can be bad for fish and they are saying 2 ppm is safe? I cycle my tanks with fish and I never get 2 ppm. Maybe this bio-spira stuff is snake oil after all.
 
Okay, I contacted Bernie at The Fish Store, and he came up with some possibilities.

He never stated what his ammonia reading was at the outset. A reading
of ammonia from day one tells me he has ammonia in his water or his testing is off. Fish just don't pee that fast ...that much... to produce ammonia readings within a 24-48 hr period.
Click to expand...

Test your water straight from the tap to see if you have ammonia present in your water system and let us know.

it is EXTREMELY unlikely to have two batches of Bio-spira from two diff sources be bad.

I think he's got either a false test or chloramines in his water still.
Click to expand...

Can you please test your water again, and post ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates? Please don't think I'm making excuses here. It may just be some small something that was overlooked. You may also want to have your LFS test your water to make sure your home tests are still working properly. I know I would be ticked off to be stressing about this when your home readings were incorrect. :mad2
 
No worries about making excuses for either Marineland or The Fish Store. I'm perfectly willing to go along with the idea that I made a mistake; I'm just mystified about what it was, and I appreciate the help nailing it down. I don't think that I ammonia tested my water before I had had the fish in there for at least a few hours; I didn't know at that time that chloramines contained ammonia. I did dechlor, though, with Amquel+.

Question: Was it a mistake to add the decholr with the aquarium already up and running? Could the carbon filter have filtered it back out?

My initial ammonia tests, which were after I added the fish (the next day or maybe that evening) were low, like under 0.25. So even if I didn't start with zero ammonia, it is definitely going up. As of a couple of hours ago I had nitrates of zero or at most 1 or 2; definitely closer to 1 ppm than 5. Nitrites 0. Ammonia getting very close to 2 ppm! pH 6.6 (was 7 initially).

I have a dechlor product other than Amquel+, one that does not reduce ammonia. I can add that to the whole tank, if you think I still have chloramines. (Should I remove the filter if I do?) Or I can do a PWC, using this other product to dechlor the new water.
 
Last edited:
Not to worry. I used biospira it works very well. Yes the amonia does get into the 3.0 range but it will come down. It will take a few days. I did loose two fish in the process. But my tank is up and running now for three months no new tank syndrom and all paramaters are outstanding. You can do a few water changes to dilute the amonia that might help some.
 
How many days did it take for you. I bet a lot of people here will say that if you lost two fish, it didn't work well. I lost one that may have been due to ammonia, but I'm not sure. Maybe it was something else. I lost one in the first hour; I know that wasn't ammonia.
 
I used bio-spira to start a new 50 gallon tank on January 8, 2005. I had 0 ammonia readings before adding the bio-spira and the fish, and I tested daily for the first four weeks. I didn't get an ammonia spike until January 21, and that was to 1.5ppm. I did 40% water changes three days in a row after that, to get the ammonia back down to zero.

I use Prime to dechlorinate rather than Amquel. (It's much more economical.)

Since then, I haven't had a problem. I have not lost any fish. I thought I might have lost two of the otocinclus I had stocked the tank with, as I wasn't able to count all five of them at once for nearly three weeks, but I was wrong (and relieved) and saw them all chomping on a piece of blanched zucchini a few days ago.

In other experience, however, I have previously had a bum ammonia test kit, one that had me really worried as it never gave me a 0 ammonia reading, no matter what I did. I finally went to the LFS and got a different one, and realized I'd been worrying for nothing. :-) It might be worth double-checking your ammonia readings with a different test kit.
 
Last edited:
I used Bio Spira two weeks ago yesterday and two weeks to the day I put it in w/5 golden platys the tank was cycled. I did lose one fish but the ammonia never got above 1.0 and the nitrite not above .25. No 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and 10 NitrAtes. The fish died of something else, he got real fat and the next morning was gone. I don't like it when they pass.

Anyway I have had great success w/the BS and the store tested my water and she said she has never seen such good results for our water around this area!

I now have 4 golden platys, 2 dwarf neon gourami and 6 pristella tetras. I am thinking of getting a few cardinal tetras and purhaps a couple dwarf spotted cories.

Thanks, be patient it will work!

sorry BTY I have a 20g
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom