Did Funky Smelln' Prime fail My New Blue Face Heckel?

Hi Everybody,

A couple months ago my water company sent me a notice that starting on April 20th they would begin adding chloramine to my tap water instead of chlorine. Since I mix four parts R.O with one part tap, I did my reading here and found that Prime was popular for treating tap. I then went to Petco and bought a bottle which I began using a few weeks ago. I sniffed it and it smelled a little off (a bit like rotten eggs) but since I had never used Prime before, I figured that was normal.

Over the last two months I have been buying Blue Face Heckels from Malone's Monsters on the web, Excellent Vendor, Excellent fish! So last weekend I figured I better buy Heckel 11 and 12 while they were available to top off my group. They arrive packaged and alive in excellent condition on Tuesday morning. Wednesday morning, I lost Heckel 12 (and maybe 2 Uatuma blues last week/two weeks, after beginning use of funky Prime :-(). This morning I began to lose Heckel 11, an amazing electric blue specimen. So for the last two days I have been emailing Kari and the Boss at M&M and we were trying to figure what's up. Their tanks are pristine at M&M and they swear by their suppliers. So after much thought, I remembered the funky Prime. So I cracked open a new bottle of prime which I got via UPS last week and it is ODORLESS!

So, in closing, beware of funky Prime. It might have cost me a Blue Face Heckel and more. Luckily, the other 11 Heckels now are fine after I dosed the tank with odorless Prime. And my remaining 8 Uatuma Blues from Snookn 21 are glowing, literally glowing. Apparently only the weakest or newly arrived fish were effected.

Water parameters are spot on. My daughter is a grown woman and these are my new babies!

Thank You So Much to John at Snookn 21 and Kari and the Boss at Malone's Monster's
Thank You to Anyone Who Ever Posted Here for helping troubleshoot this problem,

"Glide on the Peace Train":)
Andy

Hi Andy. Sorry for your troubles and losses, but I'm not really sure what it is your saying about the funky Prime, but it's not normally odorless...it reeks like rotten eggs as you said. Can you clarify? Are you saying stinky prime caused the issue and orderless Prime solved it? If that's the case, in my experience, something else could have been going on...I have been using rotten egg Prime successfully for 15+ years...

According to Seachem..... Prime® has a very distinct odor that is similar to sulfur which is completely normal.....I never had a problem using Seachem Prime or Seachem Safe.

Yes prime smells like rotten eggs! Fact! Don’t think that’s your problem.

Thanks for all the input guys. I have no idea what happened then. In a way it is comforting to know that Prime is trustworthy.

The second Heckel quit acting up, fingers crossed.

The only other thing I can think of is the filters, Yesterday I swapped out my Tidal 110's for Aquaclear 110's with sponges on the intakes. The Tidal's were a debris magnet with their surface skimming and separate basket. My fish like Tropical Discus Granules and half were ending up in the Tidal. Shutting the filter off at feeding is just not an option. Both the Heckels and the Blues are shy, slow feeders. They feed a lot at night while I sleep. even though half surrounded in cardboard.

I am feeding heavily several times a day and vacuum once (twice if my other work permitting) Certainly with the Tidals and the slow feeders there was ammonia at times. I have gone from 30% water changes to 50-100% daiiy. I remove five gallons at a time and return it via an air tube to minimize fluctuations. I monitor pH with a Tunze digital monitor and fluctuations are limited to .2.

So I humbly Apologise to Prime but maybe not to Tidal. The tidal seems like an engineer tried to reinvent the wheel. It just didn't work for me.


Thank You Again So Much,
Glide on the Peace Train,
Andy

Lol! Luv my tidal! Thing with the granules is to not to shake on top of water but to place in the water so they sink right away :). Put those tidals on market place and you should get some money back. They are in demand. Thing about them is they turn back on after a power outage. The aqua clears don’t and may burn out once the power goes back on. Also isn’t there an adjustment to turn off the skimmer part?

Thanks Iminit,

I didn't know that the skimmer feature could be turned off. I'll hang on to the Tidals. I may yet get good with them. They are just another variable for me at the moment.

I tied to "swirl" the granules but they sink when they are good and ready.

My question is this. If I lost these fish due to ammonia, is it common that the original Heckels never missed a beat (erect fins, no stress bars, light coloration and feeding - even shivering and establishing hierarchy?) My nitrates are 10, 5 after a big water change, 20 if I miss a day due to work or leave too much food on the bottom.

Wild discus are challenging and I am still honing my skills.. As you might have noticed I am thrilled with the fish I currently have. Things were rough with the suppliers available when I first tried in 2018. I think to have Snookn21, Malone's and Freshwater Exotics is a true blessing. Hee hee, I plug em every chance I get. OOPS, did it again. ;)

I USUALLY always blame myself, maybe too much. CLEAN WATER, CLEAN WATER, CLEAN WATER!!! HEY YOU KIDS GET OFF MY LAWN OR I MIGHT HIT YA WITH MY CANE! :o

Thank You So Much, :)
Andy

Andy I'd love to see some video footage of you wild discus tank!! :D

"HAD TO BE AMMONIA. Had to be! Any other explanation at this point is grasping at straws, Andy!" Oops, talkin' to myself again. Really gotta get another dog. ;)

Hi Dano, that is certainly my goal. My blues are in a planted tank with uncommon Cryptocorynes. Its pretty nice. I gotta fatten up a couple of them though. I have a camera like some of the pros here have but a macro type lens and I don't think they will like me getting close. I will work on it. A wider lens or maybe my daughter's smart phone. But they hide a lot and unless I get up to pee in the middle of the night, I really only get a good look at the bosses. However, I will tease you and say that Snookn sent me a Blue with a solid blue head and thick royal stripes. He/she is fish number 7 of 8 in the peckin order. If not for shy behavior, I would swear it is a domestic and think Sir Snookn pulled a fast one. I have seen Uatumas like this in Bleher's discus but never thought I would own one. I paid seventy five dollars for it and a billionaire in Japan, Germany or Russia I am not. Top notch wilds are available in the US in 2021. ;)

Sorry for the tease.

And sorry but "BOOKEM DANO!" Hee hee, I am so easily amused. I live on a farm and talk to chickens cause no-one else will listen. ;)
Andy

p.s. The chickens think I'm nuts but their crazier than me. They been dodgin' the hawks for two years and the ones that are left are wrapped tighter than the core of a hardball. Oops, I guess I been dodgin' hawks for quite a while.;)

Caution for the inexperienced with Tidal power Filters.

With all due respect to those members who successfully use and love these filters, I wish I had never opened the box. If feeding heavily as in a grow out, they collect food/waste in AT LEAST three places - between the pump housing and the aquarium glass, underneath the inner basket and beneath the bottom sponge.

I was cleaning the sponges EVERY day and discovered the other two areas when I broke the two Tidal 110's down. I do 30 to 100 % water changes every day depending on my work.

The in-tank pump housing is unsightly and my Aquaclears fire up just fine after a power outage. I see no reason for this in-tank housing and surface skimming feature. I have been using hang on tank filters for 50 years. I am 58.

I have thrown 2 Uatuma Blues and 4 Blue Faced Heckels out into my backyard. I believe in "See no evil, Hear no evil, Speak no evil" or as we say in Pittsburgh "What goes around, comes around." I only write as a cautionary post. I wish this fate on no-one.


Thank You So Much to Everyone Who Has Ever Posted Here, :o
Andy

So sorry for your troubles. Just wanted to comment on a couple of things.. I also don't think it's the prime. Some of my bottles of prime are odorless, others smell like rotten eggs - in both instances, prime did the job it's intended to do! As far as the Tidal filters go, I started my 125 gallon with 2 Tidal 110's because I had never used a canister before and was nervous to try something new. That being said, after about 4-5 months after having the 125 gallon all set up (with fish), I decided that they just could not keep the tank as clean as I liked it. The first frustration for me were the skimmers - they'd suck ALL of the food straight in, even on the lowest setting. The skimmers cannot be completely turned off unfortunately. I was unplugging my filters every time I fed the fish (4x per day) and it was SO FRUSTRATING.. especially having to remember to plug them back in (which I forgot to do on several occasions and lost my cycle). The other problem being that the intake tubes just weren't long enough to pick up debris on the bottom of the tank, even fully extended. The impeller would get so nasty and overall, my impression was that these are great filters - but NOT as the main source of filtration for a discus tank!

Can't help with the Tidal sumps, but maybe this can make the situation more manageable.

Attachment 131207

I got this about two years ago and was very impressed with the build quality. (It's not some plasticky throwaway with a tiny cord.) Press a button versus plugging/unplugging devices during water changes and/or feedings. Just the safety improvement alone is worth the spend. I'm thinking about getting another one in reserve in case they stop producing this model.

GENIUS! I'm going to order myself a couple of these!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Willie

Can't help with the Tidal sumps, but maybe this can make the situation more manageable.

Attachment 131207

I got this about two years ago and was very impressed with the build quality. (It's not some plasticky throwaway with a tiny cord.) Press a button versus plugging/unplugging devices during water changes and/or feedings. Just the safety improvement alone is worth the spend. I'm thinking about getting another one in reserve in case they stop producing this model.

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The Prime was never the issue. It was always an ammonia spike.