Can Biocoat go bad???

[REDZPONY]

Heeeeelp !!!!!!

Ok...do any of ya'll know if Biocoat can "go bad"? I did my water change this evening, and soon noticed an odd smell coming from the tank ( it didn't smell prior to this ) .... anyway, I thought maybe I had stirred up some much while vacuuming...though it didn't seem any worse than usual. The only thing I did differently was I used Biosafe instead of what I had used previously to treat the tap water. TO add to my horror, when I started doing water tests..the ammonia test turned DARK brown....upon reading the various bottles closer, Biosafe will not test accurately with a "Nessler" based ammonia test ( whatever that is )..soooo...here's the remaining test results....Ph-6.8, Nitrite-0, no Nitrate test drops..sorry...
So, the fishies start to look rather distressed, several neons are at the top with 3 danios...black ghost came out of hiding even...I did yet another water change, likely about 40% or so ( kept the python draining water as I added some for awhile) and all seems fine now (crossing my fingers), 2 dead neons later...any clues??????? Help!!

 

[REDZPONY]

All not not ok...just woke up..tank smells AWFUL !!! FIsh are dying...all tests come up fine ( except ammoinia, which I can not test for still yet, though I doubt that is it ) Could someone pleeeeeeeeze help me !!! :sad

 

[REDZPONY]

Not sure if this info helps, but the ones that are dying :sad are swimming upside down first, and the black ghost have a whitish film look on them. The Biosafe was a new bottle.....could it be bead perhaps????? I am filling the tank now with new water...and the biosafe is all I have on hand.....help!!!!!!!

 

[daveedka]

Is bio-safe a dechlorinator??? I'm not familiar with the product. Also do you have chlorine or chloramines, and what do you normally treat with?
Dave

 

[REDZPONY]

Yes, removes chlorine, ammonia and chloramines. The 3 Black Rubies that were dying, seem much better now....drained the water down to about 6" and refilled. I am very very perplexed here...but thank you very much for at least responding...beginning to think I was pure poison to a post !

 

[REDZPONY]

Well, not that anyone cares..seeing as how I received only one response to my cries for help...but all seems quite a bit better tonight..though I certainly would like to know what happened so as to not relive it again. Is it possible I used too much Biosafe? I measured it out by the teaspoon...but it's always possible I made a mistake, only human. Would that cause all this havoc?? I lost 14 fish today...... :rant: very upset over the Black Ghosts'......

 

[REDZPONY]

Make that 17 fish.......

 

[cohazard]

Wow, really sorry to hear about the disaster. I'm not familiar with biocoat, I've heard of it but I've never used it. I use stess coat (from aquarium pharm.).

I don't know if it has a shelf life, but I don't think you can use too much (well you could, but that's an awful lot. As long as you followed the directions of use, I don't see why you had problems.

I am filling the tank now with new water...and the biosafe is all I have on hand.....help!!!!!!!

You probably shoud've waited till you could've gotten a bottle of something else. Why would you reuse the same thing that possibly caused problems? My advice is that you e-mail or call the company that makes biosafe (marineland I believe) and ask about it's shelf life.

Plus, when you change too much water, sensitive fish (i.e. black ghosts) can't handle the temperature/chemistry shift.



HTH, (and use stress coat! )
Serg

 

[daveedka]

It's unlikely that a little (or even a lot) of extra dechlorinator would cause those problems.

How long has this tank been set-up? My reason for this is the possibility of anaerobic pockets in the substrate. You mentioned stirring up gravel, but not whether that is normal practice. You may have relaeased some nasty gas. you mentioned a smell, what did it smell like?
Assuming that your last water change was done with biosafe and the same tap water, that would rule out chlorine, chloramines etc. Ammonia would have caused rapid breathing and red gills. Nitrite would have caused your fish to act drunk, but not swim in circles.

It may also have been a poison of some kind from an outside source. So here is the list of questions:
Fabreeze?
Air freshener?
Bug spray?
Any soap exposure on hands, buckets, hoses, tank lid, etc. ?
Glass cleaner?
4 year old ?

There is always a cause and someone here will help find it sooner or later.

Lastly and most importantly, never be offended by how fast or how many folks respond. It's always difficult when you want fast answers and things are going wrong, but no one is purposefully ignoring you. The title of your thread is product specific, and many folks won't speak up, or even read the thread unless they are familiar with the product you asked about. The only reason I looked at your thread was because I was curious about a product I didn't have experience with. Everyone here (at least 99.9% of them) is here to help, and the only people we snub are the trolls. I'm a regular, and seem to be fairly well thought of most days ( I think). I posted a thread here last week that no one responded to for several days. In the futre if you are in an emergency situation, title your post accordingly. something to the effect of "help, Fish Dieing after water change" there are folks here who are here specifically to help in emergencies.
Dave

 

[REDZPONY]

You probably shoud've waited till you could've gotten a bottle of something else. Why would you reuse the same thing that possibly caused problems? My advice is that you e-mail or call the company that makes biosafe (marineland I believe) and ask about it's shelf life.


I had no choice but to change the water..fish were dropping like flies!! I just went and recounted...actually lost 20 in all. BioSafe is made by Marineland...same people that make BioSpira. The fish that died acted like they weren't getting any oxygen, then others of the same species were acted like notihng was going on !!!