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

[Pombe]

Did you use aged water or treat it with a dechlorinator before you set up the tank? I hear that ammonia test kits also measure chloramine, which is added to most city water supplies. This could be the reason why you're showing ammonia and nitrAtes but no nitrItes.

 

[dimsem]

Did you use aged water or treat it with a dechlorinator before you set up the tank? I hear that ammonia test kits also measure chloramine, which is added to most city water supplies. This could be the reason why you're showing ammonia and nitrAtes but no nitrItes.

Edit: I said something that didn't make sense. Hopefully no one caught me. Anyway, I've tried to be careful about treating my water to eliminate chloramines.

 

[Pombe]

Might be something to test though. Check some of your water before you add it to your tank. You just never know. I've always been deeply suspicious of dechlorinators, and tank additives in general, for some reason.

 

[dimsem]

I didn't check my original load of water prior to adding my fish, which I wish I had done. I checked not too long after adding the fish, though, like the day after, and it was pretty low... then it started going up. I have checked water that I added while doing a PWC, and it was fine.

 

[tuvok]

I recently used Stress Coat (by Aquarium Pharmeceuticals) to declorinate a 38g tank. This additive does not "netralize" the ammonia created through the dechlomining process. Shortly after adding the treatment I tested for ammonia which registered at 0.25ppm. Typically when I test water right out of the tap it registers 0ppm. Just a little experiment I tried to see if what I read about water treatments relates to reality. Just something else to keep in mind.

 

[ihatepavelbure]

Regarding this whole thread:

This is obviously long after the fact, but FWIW, I could have written the original post. That was exactly my experience, right down to getting two packs of bio-spira from two separate stores.

Both stores were refrigerating the stuff but they informed me that they both got it from the same distribution and delivery guy, as both stores were within a couple miles of each other. To me this indicates a possible culprit: poor storage during delivery.

I never figured out what the problem was. I had used Bio-Spira successfully in the past, so I'm still not sure. Either way, I bought some cycle fish and some gravel from an established tank, and did it the long way.

 

[ihatepavelbure]

I never figured out what the problem was. I had used Bio-Spira successfully in the past, so I'm still not sure. Either way, I bought some cycle fish and some gravel from an established tank, and did it the long way.

I should also probably clarify so you all don't think I'm an evil human: the black-skirt tetras we used to cycle the tank ended up fine. No harm done to those guys! :thm:

 

[dimsem]

Heh... I am the original poster in this thread. I'm getting out of the hobby and trying to give away my few remaining fish, so I was just popping onto the board to see if anyone answered my message in the classifieds... I was pretty surprised to see a thread I started so long ago right at the top of the forum. One way in which my experience differed from yours is that my sources for Biospira were more spread out; I got a packet from my LFS and another was mail-ordered from out of state (with an ice pack). I hope your tetras are okay. I think that some of my fish were weakened from going through the cycle, so that even though they survived it they weren't in good shape and didn't last all that long. My tetras were the one exception, though; they will seem active and hardy, which is why they are the ones I have left to give away.