Kc0olm
Member
Last night, after a tornado ripped through my town, I put my axolotl back in her tank (she had to be tubbed and come downstairs with us during the storm). I was a little shell shocked, so I accidentally put a capful of Prime in her 20-long tank - my intention was to add a capful of stability, to reduce the slight ammonia spike I saw this week.
I checked the Seachem site, and, apparently I am not the only dope who doesn’t pay attention: https://seachem.zendesk.com/hc/en-u...FAQ-Is-it-possible-to-overdose-Seachem-Prime-
While the article is generally “sunny”, it does warn that such a blunder can cause oxygen deficiency in the water.
Prime® is very safe and quite difficult to overdose to the point of harming tank inhabitants, but a large enough overdose can start to deplete the system of oxygen. This effect is temporary, typically lasting an hour at most, but in case of extreme overdose can be significant enough to harm fish.
Now I have a 20-long tank, which I guess is more than 20 gallons, but I don’t fill it all the way, so I am going with 20 gallons as a measure. If I consider one “ring” on the inside of the cap as 5 ml, a capful is something like 20 ml. The FAQ says
The standard dose of 5 mL per 50 gallons of water is recommended for standard tank setups, and an overdose of up to 5x this amount can be done to detoxify ammonia and nitrite in the water
So, it implies that 25 ml for a 50 gallon tank is within some kind of limit, but still kind of vague. And I added 25 to 20 gallons.
So I stayed up most of the night just staring at her. At times she flapped her gills repeatedly, which is a sign of seeking more oxygen, and she swam to the top of the water for a gulp a couple of times. Of course I was sleepless and paranoid, so this might have been normal.
I have two large sponge filters pumping high in the tank, an HOB filter also on high, and I added a smaller sponge filter for a little more oxygen. I felt constant guilt for not transferring her to the tub or a bucket, but I felt like the earlier “tornado transfer” put her under a lot of stress - she loves her tank.
Any advice?
I checked the Seachem site, and, apparently I am not the only dope who doesn’t pay attention: https://seachem.zendesk.com/hc/en-u...FAQ-Is-it-possible-to-overdose-Seachem-Prime-
While the article is generally “sunny”, it does warn that such a blunder can cause oxygen deficiency in the water.
Prime® is very safe and quite difficult to overdose to the point of harming tank inhabitants, but a large enough overdose can start to deplete the system of oxygen. This effect is temporary, typically lasting an hour at most, but in case of extreme overdose can be significant enough to harm fish.
Now I have a 20-long tank, which I guess is more than 20 gallons, but I don’t fill it all the way, so I am going with 20 gallons as a measure. If I consider one “ring” on the inside of the cap as 5 ml, a capful is something like 20 ml. The FAQ says
The standard dose of 5 mL per 50 gallons of water is recommended for standard tank setups, and an overdose of up to 5x this amount can be done to detoxify ammonia and nitrite in the water
So, it implies that 25 ml for a 50 gallon tank is within some kind of limit, but still kind of vague. And I added 25 to 20 gallons.
So I stayed up most of the night just staring at her. At times she flapped her gills repeatedly, which is a sign of seeking more oxygen, and she swam to the top of the water for a gulp a couple of times. Of course I was sleepless and paranoid, so this might have been normal.
I have two large sponge filters pumping high in the tank, an HOB filter also on high, and I added a smaller sponge filter for a little more oxygen. I felt constant guilt for not transferring her to the tub or a bucket, but I felt like the earlier “tornado transfer” put her under a lot of stress - she loves her tank.
Any advice?
