Description
API Stress Coat is a water conditioner and dechlorinator for freshwater aquariums, and it does a second job most conditioners do not. It makes tap water safe, and it helps repair the protective slime coat on the fish themselves.
Start with the water. Tap water is treated with chlorine and chloramine to make it safe for people, and both are lethal in an aquarium. They damage fish through the gills and wipe out the beneficial bacteria in your filter, the colony converting toxic ammonia into nitrite and then into far less harmful nitrate. Pour untreated tap water in during a water change and you can knock out the biological filter, then face an ammonia spike days later. Stress Coat works instantly on chlorine, chloramine and heavy metals, so it goes in at every water change and every new setup.
The aloe vera is the other half. A fish's slime coat is its first barrier against infection, and handling, netting, shipping and fighting all strip it. API state the formula reduces fish stress by 40% and helps heal damaged tissue, replacing the slime secretion that stress interrupts. That makes it a sensible choice the day new fish arrive.
- Removes chlorine and chloramine from tap water instantly
- Neutralises heavy metals
- Aloe vera helps replace the fish's protective slime coat
- Helps heal damaged fish tissue after handling or transport
- Use at every water change, new setup and when adding fish
Conditioning is not a substitute for a cycled filter, so pair it with a bacterial starter and a test kit on a new tank, and dose as the label directs. Have a look through the aquarium care range.