***DEADLY STRESS COAT?***

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MoFish78

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 5, 2008
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Bay Area CaliFornia
Can putting too much stress coat kill african cichlids?

I have a 3 week old 55Gal African Cichlid tank. I upgraded from a 28gal to this new one and put all of the 28gal's contents into the new one about 3-4weeks ago and added live bacteria. Transferred the fluval 205 and got a new magnum 350 also for the 55gal. the fish were added 2 weeks ago and were fine, until tonight, I put some stress coat (a little less than 1/4 of the 16oz bottle) without H20 change. 2-3 hours later, my fish were gasping for air (it seems) and i lost about 5 cichlids (small to large).

Test strips came out ok. What could've killed the fish? I transferred all the fish back into the 28 gallon where a flower horn is residing :)

What should I do? Whater change? or keep them in the 28 gal for now till the 55gal stabilizes? Thanks!!!
 
I would guess if you used to much it would block oxygen absorption. They probably died from lack of 02. Forget the stress coat. It's weak as a dechlorinator and your fish don't need that extra junk they put in there. Use Prime.
 
Agreed, no need to use stress coat as a dechlorinator considering superior products like Prime are available.
 
MoFish78;2360589; said:
thanks for the replies! i put the stress coat because my green terror's fins were messed up and i thought stress coat (aloe) helps with healing.
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But why did you use so much? Did you read the instructions? It's only like 1 cap per 10gl.
 
Keep an eye on your PH because last couple time I used stress coat for body injuries, my PH rocketed down to around 6.

I have used "excess" amount of stress coat before in my tropical tank and never had an issue. I don't try to use more than 10ml per 10 gallons.

Make sure you have an air stone and/or the surface of the water being agitated for air.
 
anytime you use any kind of chemical treatment you should raise up your oxygen levels/surface agitation, as all that stuff makes o2 levels low, until the next water change. the fish need the oxygen in the water to breath, hence them gasping at the surface.

i would do a big water change, and move them back before that fh kills em off. it seems the 55 was stable enough for them to live in until the chems were added
 
thanks for all the replies...the rest of my cichlids have been fine...they're back in the 55g...i miss the ones i've lost...now the FH in the 28 g is lonely, i think he prefers it that way...is it possible to put more FH in there? or do they only like to be alone? he beat up my green terror.
 
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