Can no longer recommend Seachem Stability

[poconogal]

I used to recommend Seachem's Stability because when it first came out, I used it to start the biofilter in a few tanks and it worked perfectly. Never had any ammonia/nitrite readings when used according to Seachem's directions. People did trials of the product and posted their results daily on another forum and on SD too, I think, and it worked very well for them too. I just bought a new bottle to use in QT for the 2 new adult Discus I received yesterday. I added a dose the night before, then yesterday I got the Discus and put them into the tank and added another starter (day 1) dose. Today I tested for ammonia and there it was, 0.25 early this morning, when there shouldn't have been any. Even though its 2 large Discus in the tank, the tank is 30 gals. and they were not even fed yesterday! I checked the expiration date on the bottle and its June of 2012. And its definitely not my water. Obviously, Stability no longer works as it used to, or as Seachem claims it does. Very disappointing...

Someone just told me about a product called TLC. He is a Discus breeder and he said its a bio starter that actually works. Move over, Stability...

[kenhappen2u]

99.99 % are snake oils .. i have yet to hear of any one product that works 100 % of the time , anything less than that is not worth the risk and money out the window , thanks for posting your review hopefully more people will not buy into these snake oils (quick fix) jump starters ,


Ken

[rickztahone]

hey Connie, a member just recently (within the last day or two) said he tried a new bio starter that worked for him. also, do you not have a seeded sponge filter?

[brewmaster15]

99.99 % are snake oils .. i have yet to hear of any one product that works 100 % of the time

Water..pure clean and lots of it works %100 of the time!

Connie, whats the pH of the tank in question?

-al

[Greg Richardson]

First two weeks I just do large daily wc's and never ever had a problem.
After two weeks I start to level off a bit on wc's.

[poconogal]

99.99 % are snake oils .. i have yet to hear of any one product that works 100 % of the time , anything less than that is not worth the risk and money out the window , thanks for posting your review hopefully more people will not buy into these snake oils (quick fix) jump starters ,

Ken

Hmmmm, sounds like Graham here, LOL!!! FWIW, this product did work, very well, when it was first out. But like so many other things, they change formulas or whatever till its just not the same!

[poconogal]

hey Connie, a member just recently (within the last day or two) said he tried a new bio starter that worked for him. also, do you not have a seeded sponge filter?

I think what your talking about is TLC, Rick. I remember seeing someone mention it. Is that it? I did resort to using some media from another tank that I know everything is 100% A-OK in even though I prefer to not do that.

Water..pure clean and lots of it works %100 of the time!

Connie, whats the pH of the tank in question?

-al

Hi Al, PH is 7.6. Now I'll just do daily 50% WCs and use Prime until the media I placed in the filter kicks in. Can't do larger WCs because I have it worked out that 50% will not change my PH or have very little impact, but larger will cause it to shoot up to about 8.2. Mine does rise from the tap after 24 hrs. so this is how I've learned to manage it. Stability used to work 100% for me last time I tried it, which was in Dec. of 2007. Same house, same water, same 30 gal. tank... Oh well...

[Eddie]

Hey Connie, I had similar results with the last bottle of Stability. I am wondering if the test results either give false positives or if the actual ammonia is converted to ammonium and made non-toxic but allowing the bacteria to grow. It is wierd that Stability just dropped the ball. I use it as a maintenance dose weekly.

Eddie

[seanyuki]

Hi Connie.

Several months ago I noticed that www.drsfostersmith.com was no longer carrying the freshwater formula for Bio-spira and when I inquired about it they said it was discontinued. So I contacted Marineland who manufactures it and tried to find another source but they gave me some really interesting information. They were not going to make the Freshwater formula anymore. They were revamping the formula so that it did not have to be refrigerated but would work the same way and would not have the decreased shelf life that the old product had. In conjunction with Tetra, they made this product and it is now available for sale at least through the source above. I have ordered a bottle of it and since it can be shipped without refrigeration now the cost of shipping is about half of the previous cost. The total for the order was $28.51 for the shipping and product. I know that is steep but I am thinking that now that the product does not have to be refrigerated perhaps it will start to be carried by more Fish Stores and vendors Locally and be available to more of you without the cost of shipping at all. Since it does not seem to have a "shelf life" problem they may be willing to stock it over the more volatile products and especially if it works as well as the old product did. I know that I have paid upwards of $45.00 for the cost of the refrigerated product when I ordered it by the time I had to pay for the shipping and handling for overnight delivery and special handling by carriers for refrigerated products. This can be shipped like any other product and from the above vendor I did notice that they ship to Canada too.


http://www.tetra-fish.com/sites/tetr...=1276&cid=3582

I think United Pet Group owns these company too.ie Marineland,Tetra
http://www.unitedpetgroup.com/contents/aquatics.html


Cheers
Francis

[poconogal]

Hey Connie, I had similar results with the last bottle of Stability. I am wondering if the test results either give false positives or if the actual ammonia is converted to ammonium and made non-toxic but allowing the bacteria to grow. It is wierd that Stability just dropped the ball. I use it as a maintenance dose weekly.

Eddie

Hi Eddie, from what I recall, I never had an ammonia reading (and of course no nitrite either) when using it back in '07 and the tests that others ran on www.fishgeeks.com showed no ammonia or nitrite either. They were posting results for day 1, day 2, day 3 and so on. As I understood it, Stability does not convert ammonia, it just adds a different form of bacteria that also utilizes ammonia/nitrite the way that a fully established bio filter does. While a tank is being dosed with Stability, this bacteria grows while the regular bacteria normally found develops as well. Well, at least that's the way it USED TO WORK! I'm going to contact Seachem and complain that their product is not working anymore, or not working as well as it used to! It may still be working somewhat, I honestly don't know how high the ammonia would climb without using it; obviously I don't want to test it on my new Discus!

[Mike_Selley]

I tried the new Tetra product a month or so ago, but it was refrigerated where I bought it.
I put a pair in brand new water except for 10% out of the community tank they came out of. A few spikes but in less than a week the tank was cycled completely and the pair spawned again. I bought another bottle to keep in fridge just for emergencies. I forgot to mention I didn't do any water changes during that time. My luck with Stability a year or so ago was no luck at all as far as readings were concerned, but my discus survived it fine as it was when the same pair were babies. I think Stability may have the ability to make the nitrites and amonia somewhat harmless rather than actually cycling the tank. Just my opinion. I know the Tetra works though! Of course now that I have an extra bottle in the fridge I have all sorts of extra cycled sponges!

[poconogal]

I contacted Seachem about their Stability failure. I also asked them what they've done to their product, as it used to work very well when it came out, but is now like a bottle of water. This was a new bottle with an expiration date a few years from now! Of course I got the usual mumbo jumbo back, how their product has been extensively tested, lab results prove it works, blah blah.

I was actually asked if I was using any BIO MEDIA!!! LOL!!! Asked that question, after I told them I kept Discus for roughly 16 years.

When I tried to reply to their statements and queries, as requested, my email was bounced back to me. It said that my server was blacklisted, LOL!!! Of course, it wasn't blacklisted when I first contacted them, only when I attempted to re-contact them.

Anyway, I won't waste any more money on Stability. Also, after they told me that they don't list, on bottles of Prime, that it detoxifies heavy metals because they have no room, I'll be skipping Seachem products entirely. I have no more faith in their products or the company.

[poconogal]

Hi Connie.

Several months ago I noticed that www.drsfostersmith.com was no longer carrying the freshwater formula for Bio-spira and when I inquired about it they said it was discontinued. So I contacted Marineland who manufactures it and tried to find another source but they gave me some really interesting information. They were not going to make the Freshwater formula anymore. They were revamping the formula so that it did not have to be refrigerated but would work the same way and would not have the decreased shelf life that the old product had. In conjunction with Tetra, they made this product and it is now available for sale at least through the source above. I have ordered a bottle of it and since it can be shipped without refrigeration now the cost of shipping is about half of the previous cost. The total for the order was $28.51 for the shipping and product. I know that is steep but I am thinking that now that the product does not have to be refrigerated perhaps it will start to be carried by more Fish Stores and vendors Locally and be available to more of you without the cost of shipping at all. Since it does not seem to have a "shelf life" problem they may be willing to stock it over the more volatile products and especially if it works as well as the old product did. I know that I have paid upwards of $45.00 for the cost of the refrigerated product when I ordered it by the time I had to pay for the shipping and handling for overnight delivery and special handling by carriers for refrigerated products. This can be shipped like any other product and from the above vendor I did notice that they ship to Canada too.


http://www.tetra-fish.com/sites/tetr...=1276&cid=3582

I think United Pet Group owns these company too.ie Marineland,Tetra
http://www.unitedpetgroup.com/contents/aquatics.html


Cheers
Francis

Hi Francis! So Bio Spira is now called Safe Start? I see you ordered it, have you used it? If so, how has it worked?

[Eddie]

I contacted Seachem about their Stability failure. I also asked them what they've done to their product, as it used to work very well when it came out, but is now like a bottle of water. This was a new bottle with an expiration date a few years from now! Of course I got the usual mumbo jumbo back, how their product has been extensively tested, lab results prove it works, blah blah.

I was actually asked if I was using any BIO MEDIA!!! LOL!!! Asked that question, after I told them I kept Discus for roughly 16 years.

When I tried to reply to their statements and queries, as requested, my email was bounced back to me. It said that my server was blacklisted, LOL!!! Of course, it wasn't blacklisted when I first contacted them, only when I attempted to re-contact them.

Anyway, I won't waste any more money on Stability. Also, after they told me that they don't list, on bottles of Prime, that it detoxifies heavy metals because they have no room, I'll be skipping Seachem products entirely. I have no more faith in their products or the company.

Wow Connie, that does sound shadey.....I think I might have to jump off the old Seachem wagon too. That is really upsetting to hear. The first part about a product should be it's excellent customer service. Thats total BS if you ask me.

Eddie

[poconogal]

Eddie, their response to me WAS total BS. The standard CYA answer! From what I've been hearing/reading, I think there are now better products out there. Stability used to be great, but doesn't seem so, anymore...

After someone posted on SD about Start Smart (Smart Start??), made by TLC, and Tony from Sunrise Tropicals highly recommended TLC as being a bio starter that actually worked, I contacted TLC to find a vendor. Shortly thereafter, a vendor in PA called my home and offered to send me free sample bottles of this new product. I just paid $5 for shipping for 4 bottles of products. Of course, now I have no reason to use it, yet, LOL!