Koi Fish Information Centre

RIGHT ON LENNY!!! Sue In a message dated 4/24/2008 12:03:30 P.M. Central Daylight Time, GoldLenny@gmail.com writes:
In an up and running pond that is in good shape, there is no need to add so-called bacteria in a bottle as the existing nitrifying bacteria colonies will grow as needed to handle the ammonia from a normal pond bioload. The bacteria grow on surface areas of the pond but mostly grow in the filter media since that is where the majority of the water flows through so the ammonia in the water also flows through those colonies. In a brand new pond, it can be fishless cycled to make it ready for the fish. In a water garden, with live plants, the plants will go a long way on utilizing ammonia and other nitrogenous compounds as long as there is a reasonable bioload in the new pond.
The majority of the products that supposedly have live nitrifying bacteria in them simply cannot work as advertised. The only product that did work as advertised was Bio-Spira because it was shipped and stored refrigerated to keep the bacteria in hibernation, but unfortunately, they caved to retail pressure and have given up on the idea of their refrigerated product. I wrote up a recent blog on this subject.
For all of the other so-called bacteria-in-a-bottle products off the shelf, there simply is no way for them to have live bacteria in them. The nitrifying bacteria MUST HAVE ammonia and moisture with a high O2 level to start the nitrogen cycle process of ammonia>nitrite>nitrate. The 8oz or 16oz bottles or 1/2 gallon jug sitting on a shelf for months and months have neither of these necessary life sustaining elements. If they tried to put some of the bacteria in a bottle with an ammonia solution, there wouldn’t be sufficient O2 in the bottle and the bacteria would die. Also, the bacteria are capable of consuming around 5ppm of ammonia per day and the colonies can double in size every 24-48 hours… so even if they started off with a few bacteria in a solution of 5ppm ammonia and water with enough air in the bottle to possibly sustain their life cycle, the colony would double in size every day or two and would quickly consume the little ammonia and O2 that was in the bottle and then they would die off. For example, if they started off with only two nitrifying bacteria, here is what would happen in a couple of weeks… 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 ,64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16,000+, 32,000+. In just 14-28 days, you can see how the initial two nitrifying bacteria grows to a colony of over 32,000 so the 8 oz. or 16 oz. or 32 oz. bottle would not last very long. The science simply doesn’t support it and the only product I ever saw that was actually scientifically peer reviewed was Bio-Spira. NONE of the other products have any peer review articles posted on their websites that I’ve ever seen.
The MSDS for Microbe-Lift PL http://www.microbelift.com/MSDS/Pond/MSDS%20PL.pdf (from this page http://www.microbelift.com/htmls/MSDS.html) does not list anything and they claim their ingredients to be proprietary. If they were nitrifying bacteria, they could list them since nitrifying bacteria are not proprietary since they exist everywhere in nature. Their advertising here http://www.macarthurwatergardens.com/microbe-lift/microbe-lift-PL.shtml claims that it is 100% safe for humans, etc., but below is a copy/paste of what the MSDS says… which doesn’t sound 100% safe… and I know most of our pond/fish products aren’t 100% safe either but most of them don’t say they are in their advertising:
SECTION 6 HEALTH HAZARD ASSESSMENT
Ingestion: Ingestion may result in extreme diarrhea Eye contact: This material may cause eye irritation Skin contact: Contact may cause irritation. Skin absorption: Systemically toxic concentrations will probably not be absorbed through the skin in man Inhalation: Move to fresh air Other effects of overexposure: May cause infection if in contact with open wounds
First aid procedures: Skin: Remove contaminated clothing and footwear. Wash material off the skin with soap and water. Wash clothing and footwear before reuse. Eyes: Immediately flush with water for at least 15 minutes and have eyes examined and treated by medical personnel. Ingestion: Induce vomiting only if advised by physician or poison control center. This product is non-toxic and non-pathogenic
SECTION 7 SPILL OR LEAK PROCEDURES
Steps to be taken in case material is released or spilled: Where possible, flush down drain to waste treatment sewer; otherwise on small spills, use chemical absorbent and sweep up. For large spills, contain and collect for reuse or disposal Disposal method: Disposal of this product or its residues must be in accordance with all local, state, and federal requirements
Lenny Vasbinder Fish Blog - http://GoldLenny.blogspot.com

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