Stress Coat

[WaterBaby]

I just bought this for bathing my hermit crabs, and it says that it's a water conditioner. Since I bought a large bottle of this stuff, I was going to use it as a water conditioner in my tanks since I ran out of the Marineland Bio-Coat.

I have read some posts on this product adversly affecting their tanks (white slime, cloudiness and such). Does this happen because too much is used? It says it has Aloe Vera in it which in itself is "slimy".

Should I not use it for water conditioning?

 

[ChEeRs_BiG_EaRs]

i dont even use a water conditioner, i fail to see the point. could you pelase tell me why you want to use the conditioner, unless you ahve very sensitive fish..
Justin

 

[WaterBaby]

I age the water to gas off the chlorine, but I have had a problem with chloramines in the past, so it's just a precautionary thing I do. I must admit, I don't always check the ammonia levels of my tap water.

 

[JSchmidt]

A lot of us prefer not to add stuff like aloe to the water because we see no need and because of possible adverse longterm effects. If you have a bottle of StressCoat it won't hurt your fish to use it, especially for the short term (i.e., until the bottle is gone).

Be advised that if your water has chloramines, StressCoat will free the ammonia from the chlorine, but won't neutralize it, like Amquel or Prime will. The ammonia will be freed and can be taken up by the biofilter, but some people don't like to repeatedly expose their fish to even relatively low levels (generally < 1 ppm) of ammonia.

HTH,
Jim

 

[WaterBaby]

So,

You're saying that "if" there are no chloramines in the tap water, there is no need to add "anything" to it before a water change?

Letting it sit for a few days to gas off the chlorine would be good enough?

 

[Slappy*McFish]

yes

 

[golfer]

Doesn't the Stresscoat bottle state that it removes chlorimines????

 

[JSchmidt]

Yes, but if you go to their website and look at the details, they admit that StressCoat breaks the chlorine-ammonia bond and neutralizes the chlorine, but does nothing for the ammonia.

Jim

 

[chefkeith]

Stress Coat doesn't foul up ammonia test kit readings either. Which is why I sometimes use it. I use Ammolock 2 to detoxify Ammonia. Both products are made by the same company and compliment each other quiet well.

Personally, I like the Aloe in Stress Coat. Its another reason why I use it sometimes. I don't see how it can harm fish in such a low concentration. It can only help, IMO. Aloe does help to heal fin damage, which is good to have for fin nipping fish like Tiger Barbs.
I also use Prime, Insto Chlor, and Amquel.

These products all have different benefits. I don't think any one product is perfect or should be used for all occasions.

I do like the idea of aging water, but I have to deal with choramines though. For me, aging water also cause's space and time issue's since I live in a small home. I use a python.

 

[JSchmidt]

StressCoat doesn't affect Nessler ammonia tests because it doesn't do anything for ammonia, just like plain old sodium thiosulfate.

I'd really like to see some proof that aloe has any beneficial effect at all on fish. I've yet to see anything that proves it speeds healing or helps fish develop a better slime coat. (Even worse, it's hard for me to believe that the delicate tissues in the gills benefit from being coated with that stuff.) Maybe it does help, but I've yet to see anything but anecdotal evidence that it actually promotes healing.

I've become extremely skeptical of many of these products that seem more aimed at satisfying needs of the fishkeepers than of the fish...

Jim