# Shrimp and Seachem Prime



## jmontee

Has anyone had any problems with their shrimp after switching to Prime? I always used API Stresscoat for water changes and a couple of weeks ago I switched to Prime. The only other change that I made is that I am now adding water directly to the tank after adding the prime instead of adding bucket by bucket like I did for sooo long.

In the past few weeks I have been losing amanos and ghost shrimp which were doing very well for months before. One of my Amanos even bred while in this tank.

Thanks for your help.


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## wyeto

I have had no problems keeping my amanos and cherries with prime because I have always added it to my tanks. Just a question if you dont put your water in buckets before you put it in how do you put it in?


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## JAXON777

I use a python to add tap water directly into my tank and use a little more prime than the water I took out. Some people treat the whole tank when doing w/c's. I have done both to no ill effects.


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## Tex Gal

I use prime with my tanks and have no issues. I put enough prime in to treat the entire volume of water even though I only do 40-50% w/c


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## jmontee

Thanks everyone. I also changed the source of water form my kitchen sink to the bathroom sink. I live in a condo so this may make a difference due to the piping in the building being different. Does anyone know of a way to test for Copper or other heavy metals?


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## gnome

Years ago, I tried to switch to AmQuel in my 10-gallon after having used AquaSafe from the time I set up the tank. I don't think that the AmQuel, in and of itself, is harmful, but I could only speculate that the combination of AmQuel with what was left of the AquaSafe already in my tank led to some bad reaction because all of a sudden, my shrimp were turning white and dying (somehow, I did have an Amano shrimp that survived this but wasn't right for weeks) and I lost four of my five Pseudomugil novaeguineae quite suddenly. I know I didn't overdose, either. 

I've heard of other cases in which "switching over" from one conditioner to another led to some disaster. I guess all I can suggest is to do a heavy water change but use one conditioner and stick with it as long as it's working. I like Prime because it's safe and so concentrated (therefore economical). I just add two drops to every gallon of tap water. 

Sorry to hear about what's happening to your shrimp  . It sucks but after I went through it, I learned not to fix what ain't broke. Hope the situation can be remedied before you lose any more.

-Naomi


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## Ebichua

I have never experienced any problems with switching dechlors.

However, I'd like to know how fast you refill that water up in your tank. I used to refill the water into my tank using a python really fast, which in turn, caused me to lose quite a lot of shrimp. When I was telling a friend about it, who is a successful shrimp keeper, he explained to me that I needed to refill the water very slowly. Say... the water refills should take 10-20 minutes long (just to refill!!). 
I've been doing this ever since and have not lost any shrimp from WCs


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## jmontee

I am using EI dosing right now so I change 50% every week in my 55 gallon. So I guess around 10 to 15 minutes to fill between 25 and 30 gallons. I just started doing this so I don't have a lot of experience with fill rates. Is this OK or is slower necessary?


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## Ebichua

Take 20 minutes if it's going to be 25-30 gallons.

I only take out about 10-15 gallons out of my 40breeder and I take about 20-25 minutes to fill it in. Just make sure to keep checking every 5-10 minutes to see if it's full yet. One time, I decided to play a game and forgot about my tank filling up until I heard splashing... It was pretty bad, since I had tank water on the floor. But the good news is, I didn't lose anything


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## foxweed

Hi

I use prime with CRS, they are breeding, does not affect adults or babies.

Many companies make copper test kits. While mostly used for marine tanks, at least one company, Red Sea actually says in their blurb that you can also use it to check your tap water.

Bill


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