Does it prime smell?

[devins23]

I bought a new bottle of prime and it has some kind of foul smell. I can't remember if it ever smell before but I don't recall it having a strong odor. Anyway I did a 100% water change and put this prime (before I noticed the smell) and now my fishes are breathing by the surface. Should I change the water? Thanks.

[devins23]

Please mind the spelling, I'm using iPhone and it does autospell by mistake. I meant to say "does your prime smell?"

[Virginia ranchu]

Yes!!

Prime has a sulphur smell (rotten eggs)

[Casper]

That smell is normal. Even Novaqua and Amquel have a smell like that.

[WakinAZ]

I've always used Prime because it is the most cost-effective dechlorinator/ammonia remover I've found, but I'm starting to wonder if it is contributing to a funky smell in my den/fishroom that seems to come around each day in the later hours. Without being too graphic, it smells like a combination of foot odor and flatus. Just to rule out anything that is not aquatic, I recently cleaned the carpet in that room. I am now trying out AmQuel+, with hopes that it won't smell as much, even though it require 5 times as much product as Prime. I just really don't want to get into using carbon in my filters again...

Filters are cleaned and water is changed 50-75% each week with each side of the 1 inch deep gravel vacuumed every other week even though the fish don't let anything much accumulate in there.

I'll note any results here or maybe start my own thread...

Eric

[WakinAZ]

Well, after using ChlorAm-X for a month now, the smell is gone. It was gone after the first water change without Prime.

My theory: the sulfur part of the "complexed hydrosulfite salts" contained in Prime (per the label) was hanging around after the good stuff had done its work.

Funny thing though, I did not have this problem when I kept big cichlids (like Oscars) that excrete as much or more than goldfish. It must be something about the particular combination of my tap water, goldfish and Prime.

I still recommend Prime as the best and most economical of the liquid, brand name water conditioners, if your particular setup has no odor problems with it. Overall, though, my new favorite for no odor and economy is the dry powder ClorAm-X - you just have to be willing to buy in bulk to enjoy the savings.

Eric "more popular with the family now" L.