Latest theory from an unnamed punter and one for Jennifer to help with
maybe !
Was its ammonia - in Brisbane we have left over ammonia coming out of
the tap left over from chloramine production at water treatment works.
Remember that I treat my drum with Prime - mix it - the leave it for a
few days...
Prime complexes this out but doesn't remove it at a chemcial level ,,,,.
Maybe warm weather dissociates it back .... (remember no nitro bacteria
in the drum) .... ammonia spike kills the fish then dissipates overnight
- broken down by tank bacteria. Also new water raises tank pH over 7.0
where ammonia becomes toxic...
Two other comments - how old is the Prime when I get it - what is shelf
life of the product? Is the Aussie product years old by the time it gets
here.... Mine is down to the end of the bottle and 6 months old ex the
LFS. Why not buy the cheaper and as effective Aussie product from
Aquasonic says the un-named punter who suspects US chemical technology?
A bit of a slag on the great Seachem here so I've emailed them for a
response. Jennifer may be able to comment as I believe she is a purveyor
of both.
And maybe the same for chloramine as well - so do neutralisers complex
up chloramine and ammonia permanently or does the reaction reverse with
temperature and time.
Of course using the old crude method of adding new water and
neutralising as you go would have complexed out the toxins until the
microbes and plants got at them.
Solution if I keep the water tank - neutralise a few hours before adding
water, or add a small box filter to give the tank it's own N-cycle. ???
It starting to sound very weird ....