# Water conditioner making my fish sick?



## Indyfishy (May 31, 2010)

I think something is wrong with my water conditioner =/ I've been using Top Fin betta water conditioner for about 3 years, and haven't had a problem until now. My fish's water has been incredibly cloudy and they are all acting sluggish/spazzy. I thought it might have something to do with how the weather has changed here, and it's been very dry in the house, or that there was uneaten food that I was somehow missing, until about a week or two ago. I noticed our old male, Gorton, laying on his side in his tank. He couldn't seem to make himself upright in the water, and he was very lethargic. He lives in a 2 gallon tank, in the warmest room in the house, and I had just changed his water 100% a couple days ago. His water has been very slimey for the last couple months, like he's been shedding alot of slime coat. I immediately changed 50% of his water and dosed the tank for the full volume with stresscoat and epsom salt. The next day he was doing quite a bit better, and I've switched him over to Stress Coat full time. His water has been crystal clear, no slime, and he even had a bubble nest this morning. Sullivan and Daisy, however, haven't been doing so hot. Their water hs been very cloudy, they both have slime on the top of their water, and they both alternate between just lazing about or going completely crazy and running into things in their tanks. They are still on Top Fin betta water conditioner, and had been doing fine until I opened up this last bottle of dechlorinator. They are both acting so strange. As of right now, Sully is trying to bury himself in his gravel (he's getting a 100% percent water change tonight, don't worry). They have no other reason to be acting like this, they are both young, healthy fish. All I can think of is the dechlorinator =/ I always dose their tanks slightly more than the directions say because we have very hard water.

So my questions are,
Is it safe to keep Gorton on stresscoat full time?
Could this be because we have very hard water, am I not using enough dechlorinator?
I feel like I should probably switch dechlorinators, what brand should I switch too?
Until I can get out to purchase dechlorinator, should I use half Top Fin and half Stresscoat? Full Stresscoat? More Top Fin?? Less Top Fin????
Do you think I could return the dechlorinator even though it's been opened and partially used? (I got it from Petsmart, they're usually pretty good about returns but I dunno about this :dunno

Thanks for your help!!!


----------



## Indyfishy (May 31, 2010)

Update: I threw away the bottle that has been causing the trouble. It wasn't supposed to expire until 2014. Does anyone else use Top Fin Betta Water Conditioner, and if so, does yours faintly smell like rotten eggs? Mine does, and I'm not sure if it's normal or not.


----------



## TielBird101 (Sep 15, 2011)

I use Seachem Prime and it says it's normal for it to smell that way.  It stinks! XD


----------



## PrettyLittleLiar (Oct 19, 2011)

I also use Top Fin that also expires in 2014 but doesn't have any odour to it. Don't know which one is suppose to be normal (to smell or not)..... =S


----------



## HatsuneMiku (Jul 29, 2011)

my bottle of prime doesn't smell at all .. the bottle says its suppose to have a slight sulfur smell which is normal .. 

i also had that top fin "sample" sachet that came with one of my tanks .. and that thing reaked really bad like rotten eggs with skunk extract .. so i tossed that

i've also used aqueon water conditioner .. which also didn't smell

so basically if it smells really bad like rotten eggs .. it might have been contaminated by something else causing the smell .. 
water conditioners is not suppose to smell that bad .. a little sulfer-ish smell is suppose to be normal .. but it should not be such a strong enough stench to make u gag


----------



## Indyfishy (May 31, 2010)

Thank you for your responses!!! I have a feeling that this batch of water conditioner might be bad, I don't remember it having such an icky smell to it before. It's not super strong, but if you sniff it you definitely notice it.


----------



## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

My bottle of Prime stinks.


----------



## Behati (Sep 4, 2011)

Aqueon and API stress coat+ does not have a weird or certain smell to it that I noticed. I have a pretty sensitive sniffer so yeah. So if you want something that doesn't smell or waft up your nostrils I would recommend API stress coat+. Then again, I don't exactly sniff everything I come across... especially things I don't intend on eating.


----------



## Indyfishy (May 31, 2010)

haha well i usually don't smell everything either, but it had a noticeable sulfur stench. I cleaned out Sully's tank a few days ago and switched to stress coat instead of the Top Fin, and the old water smelled veryyyy strongly of sulfur. It wasn't even that the water was dirty, since I had done one 100% about a week before and two 50%'s within the week to try and get rid of the cloudy water -_-


----------

