Prime for Live Bearers

[Cinnebuns]

I have a feeling this is a bunch of hogwash but I've been researching just in case. I haven't found anything but I wanna see if anyone else knows. Can prime kill live bearers?  

The source is super unreliable. Some dude on Facebook saying some dude told him that's why his fish died. Ok, not trusting that, but I also like to research before I fully discredit something like this. The theory goes like this:  the sulfur in the prime irritates their mucus membranes forcing them to create their own mucus. The claim is that "good" conditioners have built in protection. The sulfur apparently is not good for the fish and some cannot tolerate it at all. 

My thing is this:

1.  Prime is not only recommended as the #1 conditioner by dozens of experts and articles I've read vs "some dude on Facebook heard it from some dude." 

2.  Prime is built in stress coat which should be the "built in protection" he's talking about right?

3.  I have no idea about the effects of sulfur on fish but all I found is that it can interact with some ich meds. 

 

Thoughts?

[PineSong]

I use Prime exclusively and all my tanks have livebearers. That being said, if the risk is shortened lifespan and not instant death, I can’t speak to that as I’ve not tracked individual fish born in my tanks and whose approximate birthdates are known. Also, since the recommended dosing is like 2 drops per gallon (I use an eye dropper to add Prime in gallon jugs of tap water) I would imagine it’s easy to “over dose” although I think  it says on the bottle that it’s safe at up to 5x the normal dose if people need to use it on an emergency basis to detoxify nitrates.

[Katherine]

Dechlorinators do lower the amount of oxygen in the water, so it's possible they were having low oxygen issues already and the Prime pushed it over the edge. Though I imagine any other dechlorinator would have done the same thing.

[modified lung]

On 8/6/2022 at 4:35 AM, Cinnebuns said:

the sulfur in the prime irritates their mucus membranes forcing them to create their own mucus

This how aquarium salt works which is a good thing.

On 8/6/2022 at 4:35 AM, Cinnebuns said:

The sulfur apparently is not good for the fish and some cannot tolerate it at all. 

I think this person is confusing general sulfur with sulfide. At low pH sulfide turns into hydrogen sulfide which can be toxic to fish at 1000x less than the amount of ammonia—some fish can't tolerate it at all.

Rotting stuff will release sulfide. But sulfide usually isn't a problem because it's extremely volatile and leaves the water almost immediately.

In groundwater it can build up to higher levels because it can't leave the water, so sometimes it's a problem with well water.

[TeeJay]

I mean that's all I have been using in my tanks for the past 6 months. That's all I have is live bearers besides a group of corys. And I always do double the base amount when I do water changes and have never had an issue.