seadreamer

I treated my 55g tank with BioSpira 10 days ago. Before adding it I had 7 tiger barbs in for 5 days and had added Cycle. (NOW I know about fishless cycling and why not to use Cycle - since discovering this site.) The ammonia went from .25 to 0 by day 3, and then the nitrite went to .50 on day 3 and 1ppm on day 5. It has been at 1ppm for almost 5 days now. I have been reading advice all over the net about this and I cannot find anything about this happening with BSpira. I read advice from a Marinelands rep that said not to do anything to the water and not to worry, that the bacteria would be reduced too much by changing water. However, the barbs are acting a bit stressed (less active and hanging out at the filter) so I did a 25% change on day 8 and today. Before that they did not act stressed in any way. They are still eating aggressively and interacting well with each other and with us. Any advice from anyone who has used BSpira

lisamorie

hiya! i always use biospira and honestly, you shouldn't even test for the first week or two cause you'll just have chest pains! there are almost always crazy spikes for me in the beginning and it makes me nervous every time... i'd say if it doesn't settle down in a couple days then i would worry that i got a bad packet. where did you buy it? was it kept cold?

seadreamer

I bought it at my LFS and it was kept cold. I thought it was probably a good batch since the ammonia dropped quickly. I sent a message to a rep at Marineland yesterday and will post their reply. My fish seem perfectly normal this morning, so I guess I am the only one stressed here. Thanks for posting - thought no one else had this happen with BSpira!

voiceless_kat

I have had the same problem, and freaked out. Not any more. I don't test the water for 8-10 days after adding Bio Spira....it will make you crazy, just as lisamorie says!

Good luck. Val

COBettaCouple

True, from what I hear.. it's a wild week for the testing, but not hard at all on the fish.. just on anyone testing.

seadreamer

Here is the reply I received from the company that makes BSpira:

"This is not actually uncommon. BIO-Spira will keep ammonia and nitrite levels below 1.5 ppm during the cycle. This is not toxic to the fish. I would guess within a week or so, the nitrite should be close to zero.

Sincerely,

Marineland Consumer Relations"

My question is this: How are ammonia and nitrite less toxic to the fish just because extra bacteria were added? If the readings are there, aren't the fish exposed to the same levels even if the bacteria are speeding up the cycle? Any thoughts on this fellow fishloreans? (BTW, my 7 t.barbs all seem fine and this is day 17 for them in my tank.)