What was I thinking x 2!!!

[Gogi]

The first "What was I thinking" moment happen on Wednesday night. I was doing my weekly 30% water change on my 4 gallon betta tank. Everything was going smoothly up until I plugged the filters back on and I came to the horrible realization that I forgot to add the PRIME!!!!
It took me a good 2 to 3 minutes to realize my fatal mistake. I ran and over dosed the PRIME( thats safe to do). Thursday came and went. I felt like I was in the clear and did not kill my cycle.

I woke up this morning. Walked over to Crimson's(the betta) tank and I see something I have never seen before. My assassins snails where attempting to escape my tank. Oh man I felt like sh*t hit the fan HARD!! I look down to see dead cherry shrimps and empty baby assassins snail shells scattered all over the tank. Luckily some survived. I did a quick water change and added more prime. All the time thinking how rough the next few weeks are going to be with an UN-cycled fully stocked tank. I went to work depressed. I had no where to put these critters to do a fishless cycle.

I came home from work to find some more dead RCS and snails. Crimson did not looked bothered at all. I did another w/c + prime and started feeling very down. I sat down and vented to my girlfriend. This heart to heart lead to my second "WHAT WAS I THINKING" moment.

I could have avoided the ALL of these death if I stop to think the problem through on Wednesday!! All I needed to do was replace the dead filter media from the betta tank with ANY OF THE TONS AND TONS of cycled media in any of my other 5 established tanks..........Moral of the story is to remain calm and use your head when trouble comes your way.

I feel better now. Thanks for listening.

[Goes to 11!]

The Brits had it right in 1939:

Rule #1
12907379-keep-calm-and-carry-on.jpg

[Lady Hobbs]

I just don't know here. You caught your error very quickly and I just can not see assassins dying that fast. I would almost suspect the overdose of Prime, depending on how much you overdosed, of course. But I can't see them dying in that short amount of time that you added the Prime.

[Gogi]

@ 850R- they sure did chap!

@ LadyHobbs- 2 days for them to die. Only a couple of baby ones where dead. 2 adults where trying to escape. I used 10 ml of prime. I thought prime was safe to overdose.

[Lady Hobbs]

OKEY-DOKEY Now I get it. I thought as soon as you filled the tank and turned your filters on, you realized you had forgotten your Prime. Two days is a whole different ball game.

Yes, Prime is safe to overdose depending on how much you overdose. "Up to" 5x is said to be safe but I wouldn't want to lay down any money on more than that.

Good luck and sorry you had some losses.

[Cliff]

It is OK to dose prime up to 5X the normal dose. As 1ml is one dose for 10 gallons, you dosed a lot more than 5X the recommended dose if you added 10 ml to a 4 gallon tank. You might want to do another water change

http://www.seachem.com/Products/prod...ges/Prime.html

[Gogi]

That is good to know LaddyHobbs. On Wednesday I thought I might have added the prime on time, especially when Thursday passed without indecent.

[Honey Badger 1]

It would take a pretty big amount to overdose the tank enough to hurt. According to their website you can safely dose up to 5 x's the recommended amount and it won't hurt the fish and since it only works for 24-48 hours it does not build up in the water.

http://www.seachem.com/support/forum...ead.php?t=2803

Have you tested the parameters yet?

[Gogi]

Before today's water change it was

ammonia 0.25 (very bad for my tank which was 0 since last March and I did not feed in the morning)
nitrite 0 ( I m guessing this is why only some shrimp died and not all of them)
nitrate 10 ( that is high for this tank. It is always >5 because it is heavily planted)

I will test again tomorrow.

[Goes to 11!]

I used 10 ml of prime. I thought prime was safe to overdose.

It is OK to dose prime up to 5X the normal dose. As 1ml is one dose for 10 gallons, you dosed a lot more than 5X the recommended dose if you added 10 ml to a 4 gallon tank.

No kidding.

10ml is what I dose my 100g btw, This overdose equals approximately 25X what 4g requires.

This is 5X the suggested maximum overdose and that could certainly be an issue.