Bio Spira Availability Issues

[Allivymar]

I've heard rumors recently about Bio Spira and the lack thereof. I checked with Bernie, our Bio Spira envoy, and he shared this info:

"the good news and the bad news!!!

Marineland will NOT be releasing any more Freshwater Bio-spira until probably some time in Sept.!!! I am cutting off any further orders of FW
Bio-spira as well. I will be filling those orders taken to date but no more
until Marineland opens it back up.

The Salt Bio-spira is continuing as normal and, in fact, will have a 1oz
package out sometime the first week of April!

The concept of putting out an "open shelf stock" version of Bio-spira
was cancelled (as we figured) because it was generally agreed and admitted that non-refrigerated shelf-life does deteriorate too quickly.

The whole reasoning from Marineland goes like this:

The demand has completely "outstripped" their capability to re-generate
enough growth of the bacteria to meet demands..... and they would
have continued difficulty meeting orders. Their thinking is to use all the
bacteria growth throughout the summer to build a sufficient back-stock
to once again re-release the product with enough on hand to fully meet demands. "

I thought folks should be aware, and not depend on Marineland and BioSpira for a while when cycling their tanks.

 

[TankGirl]

Thanks for getting the full story - I will be moving the first weekend in May and was counting on being able to have it as insurance, but I will just have to be careful and keep my own bacteria alive, LOL!

 

[QTOFFER]

Well, that certainly sucks. :? But thanks for the heads-up, Alli!

I've been thinking of buying a two spare biowheels and somehow floating them in both of my show tanks. 'Twould be nice to have a backup source of bacteria. Hmm...got to give this some more thought...

 

[TankGirl]

I have a biowheel floating in my 55 right now, just for this reason. I plan on putting it in my 5gal whenever I stock it, and am interested to see how well this will seed the tank. It seems like a cup of gravel would be better, but maybe not. I don't think I appreciate how much bacteria can live on those paper wheels.

 

[Guest]

will it ever be in CANADA!

 

[oscarbreeder]

Whis I had some for my 180gal.
waiting on a cycle STINKS!!!!

 

[TankGirl]

Just to update, the rumor is true and there indeed is no Bio-Spira. I checked when I got ready to move my tanks and none to be found. I fortunately had no problems but I definitely would have gotten myself some just in case, if it had been available. Now I am kind of glad I didn't and I got to test the viability of a tank's established bacteria in the absence of filtration and moisture.

About 5 hours with the 55-gal being completely empty and dry, gravel damp but not in water (much, much too heavy to carry) and plants also moved dry and starting to wilt (wet newspaper covering the Rubbermaid bin), and I had no signs of any mini-cycle occurring. This was true for all 4 tanks. I just moved a short distance, but I was ready to sink a few sheckels into some Bio-Spira for the move, and am almost glad it was not available because I don't think it was necessary a'tall. I am starting up a new tank this week and will be going fishless, and it is so nostalgic and old school I am almost enjoying it!

 

[Medusa Head]

A very good substitute (and perhaps replacement) to Bio Spira is FritzZyme TurboStart 700. It contains different bacteria than Nitrospira and Nitrosospira, but it works just as well, has been around longer, and is according to FritzPet a "true" nitrifier. Same as Bio Spira, you put it in a tank with a full fish load on day 1. Same as Bio Spira, it needs constant refridgeration. What I think is better about it is 1) It has an expiration date printed on the bottle, so you know exactly how old the product is. With Bio Spira, there's no expiration date, so you could be getting old product, there's no way to tell, and 2) It comes in sturdy bottles instead of foil envelopes, so there's no danger of them bursting.

http://www.aquaria.info/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=23831&start=30

I was very intrigued with Fritz-Zyme TurboStart and sent them an e-mail. I received a very lenghthy and informative reply from Mike Noce of Fritz-Pet. He has obviously taken a great interest in the forums here! He made a mistake thinking I was a siteop here though! Here are the e-mails (I only added a little formatting)-

My e-mail to them:

Sent: Monday, April 26, 2004 7:36 AM
Subject: Marineland Lab's Bio Spira shortage and Fritz-Zyme TurboStart


Hello,

I am sure you are probably aware of Marineland's bacteria product called Bio
Spira.

Due to a post on fishgeeks.net where someone used the product with a full
fish load on day one, then published his ammonia and nitrite readings for 10
days (all of which were 0), the product's popularity has grown intensely. So
much so, that Marineland's supply has been completely exhausted. They
anticipate it may be as long as September 2004 until they can begin shipping
again.

This has lead many users of the product to seek out alternatives. Your
product, Fritz-Zyme TurboStart, has been brought up.

Marineland Labs claims that they did a study on a freshwater tank that
"naturally cycled," and determined that the specific species of bacteria
that naturally occurred in the tank which eliminates ammonia and nitrite are
Nitrosospira and Nitrospira. They say their product contains these specific
bacteria. They have filed and have been granted a patent which grants them
exclusive rights to sell and package these cultures for use in aquariums.

This brings up a lot of questions surrounding your product. Since it has a 3
month life and needs to be kept refrigerated, it appears to be very much
like Bio Spira. Without giving away any of your trade secrets, the questions
have come up:

• What species of bacteria is specifically in Fritz-Zyme TurboStart?
  
• If it is different than Nitrospira and Nitrosospira, how to you respond to
  Marineland's claim that only their product contains the "correct" species of
  naturally occurring bacteria in aquariums?
  
• If your product does contain Nitrospira and Nitrosospira, aren't you
  violating Marineland's patent? Is your product in danger of being
  discontinued as a result of Marineland being granted the patent?

I know you may find these questions tough, and your time and effort in
replying is greatly appreciated.

Mr. Noce's reply:

Sent: Monday, April 26, 2004 1:49 PM
Subject: RE: Marineland Lab's Bio Spira shortage and Fritz-Zyme TurboStart


Thanks for your interest in Fritz Industries and our FritzZyme Live
Nitrifying Bacteria products. Fritz Industries has been developing and
studying nitrifying bacteria for over 20 years. The original formulation
for FritzZyme was first developed in 1976 and we have been improving the
cultivation and packaging techniques ever since. FritzZyme was originally
developed for the professional aquarium and aquaculture industries. Our
FritzZyme products have been used by Sea World, The new Oklahoma Aquarium in
Tulsa, Dallas World Aquarium, Ripley's Aquarium, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Sea
Worlds to name a few. In fact, Marineland was purchasing bacteria from
Fritz throughout the late nineties and as recently as a few months ago.

Before I answer your questions let me breakdown Fritz's FritzZyme products.

FritzZyme #7 and FritzZyme#9 are bacterial blends with concentrations that
have an un-refrigerated shelf life of 6 months. FritzZyme #7 and #9 will
greatly speed up an aquarium's natural cycle-usually cutting cycling time in
half or less. We recommend be used when the aquarium's bio-filter takes a
hit. For example after medicating, changing filter media, changing gravel,
aggressive cleaning, or adding new livestock loads. FritzZyme #7 contains
freshwater species of true nitrifying bacteria and #9 contains saltwater
species of true nitrifying bacteria.

FritzZyme TurboStart #700 & #900, our concentrated nitrifying bacteria, are
15X concentrated blends of FritzZyme. TurboStart is our premier 5-day or
less cycling product, has a 3-month shelf life and must be refrigerated.

In truth, there are several companies that carry only true nitrifying
bacteria-Marineland is one, I've heard rumors that Novalek is releasing a
new product that contains true nitrifying bacteria. There may be others,
but these are the ones that I'm aware of. Also be aware that there are
about 50 companies that carry spore based bacteria that are actually
non-nitrifiers. These companies usually claim that they are nitrifiers.
You know the ones, they do not carry a lot number or expiration date, they
are never refrigerated, often they are dry blends of bacteria or claim to
work in salt or fresh water...this one kills me-try taking a freshwater
biofilter and placing it on a saltwater system and see what happens!
Nitrifying bacteria are very fragile and cannot last long in a bottle since
they do not have a spore stage like non-nitrifying bacteria. This is why
all FritzZyme products are dated and have a strict shelf life. Most
products that claim to be "cycling aids" actually contain species of
heterotrophic bacteria from the genera Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Escherichia,
and others. These species are very hardy and protect themselves from harsh
conditions (like being in a bottle, frozen, or dried) by forming a spore.
These bacteria are not nitrifiers, they are in fact "sludge eaters" and do a
great job removing organic waste, which clears the way for true nitrifiers.
Fritz's product FritzZyme #360 Gravel Cleaner contains these sludge eating
species.

Some benefits of FritzZyme are that we ship directly to the dealer. The
product is packaged and shipped as ordered; it does not sit in our warehouse
or a distributor's warehouse as it loses it viability. Every bottle is
dated to ensure fresh viable product. Fritz stands behinds our products.

• What species of bacteria is specifically in Fritz-Zyme TurboStart?

Fritz Industries does not have a patent on our individual nitrifying
bacteria since you can't patent a living organism that has been around for
years and years. Our exact species are company confidential, I can however
tell you that our freshwater formulation contains species of Nitrosomonas
and Nitrobacter and our saltwater formulation contains species of
Nitrosococcus and Nitrococcus. As far as these not being the "correct"
species of bacteria responsible for cycling new aquariums (according to
Hovanek's studies), our original plan was to grow only the best and most
useful nitrifying bacteria obtained for the aquarium community. There are
literally dozens of fresh and saltwater nitrifying bacteria (most discovered
in the early 1900's) and we obtained as many as possible, painstakingly
cultured and evaluated which organisms were a "best fit" for aquarium
enthusiast in and developed production techniques that would allow for
commercial growth of these animals. It took several years but in 1976, we
were ready for commercial release of the nitrifying bacteria formulation
that is still considered by many professionals to be the best formulation
available today. In fact, we have been doing this for so long; several
studies have centered around the use of our nitrifying bacteria cultures.

• If it is different than Nitrospira and Nitrosospira, how to you respond to
  Marineland's claim that only their product contains the "correct" species of
  naturally occurring bacteria in aquariums?

Marineland is a much larger company than Fritz. Because of this they have a
greater advertising and marketing budget. The claim that they are the only
product to contain the "correct" species is simply that, marketing. We
stand behind our products with years of research, independent lab studies
and thousands of satisfied customers. Fritz Pet is a small division of
Fritz Industries, Fritz's products and marketing are primarily aimed at the
aquaculture industry and professional aquariums. This is the reason the
name "Fritz" and "FritzZyme" seem new to individuals in the aquarium hobby.

• If your product does contain Nitrospira and Nitrosospira, aren't you
  violating Marineland's patent? Is your product in danger of being
  discontinued as a result of Marineland being granted the patent?

Nitrospira marina and Nitrospira moscoviensis are not newly discovered
species, possibly reclassified but not new! FritzZyme does not contain
species of Nitrospira and Nitrosospira. Marineland's patents are for
methods of counting and isolating their nitrifying bacteria, not on the
individual organisms. You cannot patent non-genetically modified organisms.
Do a search on the United States Patent and Trademark Office Homepage
(http://www.uspto.gov/) for their patent numbers and read the patent
abstracts.

Again, Fritz has been producing our FritzZyme fresh and saltwater blends for
over 20 years. Fritz was the first nitrifying bacteria sold in the United
States. The species in our bacteria are the same we have been selling for
the past 20 years and work extremely well. We stand behind our
formulations.

As far as Marineland not being able to keep up with production, I personally
feel this is a spin. Larger companies like Marineland need their products
in the large chain stores like PetsMart and PetsCo. to make it worthwhile to
produce. The numbers these stores order and sell annually pay for the full
page ads and fancy packaging. Neither PetsMart nor PetsCo have picked up
BioSpira, more than likely because of the shelf life and need for
refrigeration. If Marineland does begin to ship BioSpira again, do not be
surprised if it suddenly does not need refrigeration and has a year shelf
life so that they can get large quantities of the product in the large
chains. This is the bean counters decision to get the product in the chain
stores.


I recently went and read several posts that involved nitrifying bacteria.

* One poster reported that TurboStart will only work with Fritz brand
carbon, this is not correct. We simply state that carbon is an excellent
choice of media for nitrifying bacteria to colonize one. Activated carbon,
Fritz or any other brand is not a necessary component to cycling an
aquarium.

* FritzZyme TurboStart is expensive if you purchase 1 bottle from an
online vendor. This is because you ate tacking on overnight shipping (must
be shipped overnight on ice). FritzZyme's MSRP is currently less per ounce
that Marineland's BioSpira (and is more concentrated). Fritz offers free
shipping to dealers who order cases. To get TurboStart at an affordable
price convince you local dealer to carry the product.


Feel free to post this response on your website. I would also like to offer
a free sample of TurboStart (fresh or salt) to the first 5-requests I get
from your forum to try out our product out. Make the request directly to
me. Please try and find folks that will actually keep track of their
individual chemical results so that those results can be shared amongst
others. I will also be happy to answer any questions the participants of
your forum may have about nitrifying bacteria or any Fritz Pet Products.

Thanks,
Mike Noce'

Mike Noce
Fritz Industries, Inc.
230 Sam Houston Road
Mesquite, TX 75149

I replied thanking him for the info and also let him know that he would probably want to talk to Bernie regarding the 5 free samples to board members. I let him know your e-mail address Bernie so he knows who you are if you deceide to mail him with 5 names and addresses.

Hi all, I am new to the boards here but I've always used Fritz Zyme Turbostart and a friend of mine pointed me to this thread.

I did try Bio Spira twice in the past. Since shipping was so much I ordered 4x the amount I needed. It was for a brand new tank I hadn't set up yet so I did use it on day one with a full fish load. It didn't do squat. Ammonia and Nitrite spiked way up and tank took about 6 weeks to cycle. I ended up adding all of it and it still had no effect.

Probably around 6-8 months later I saw it in my local pet shop with a "just in" sign under it. Since I was setting up a new tank for a friend I decided to give it a whirl again. This time, ammonia and nitrite did spike up slightly for 2 or 3 days but then the tank cycled fully.

I guess the first time the cultures were dead.

I don't use it at all anymore. Turbo Start has never failed me. Sometimes I get a slight nitrite spike but they never last for more than a day. I've probably set up around 30 tanks or so with it in the past several years.

I have two problems with Bio Spira:

- No expiration date on package. The bacteria cultures are not nearly has hardy as the spore based products, and they have a life of around 3 months. I believe Marineland is seriously stretching it when they say 6 months, let alone 12 months. Anyway, with no expiration date, you have NO idea how old the product is that you are getting. This says to me that Marineland cares more about selling as much of their product as they can to more vendors in bigger quantities than they do about the end customer.

- Product is in weakly sealed foil packages. It is VERY easy for these packages to burst. In both times when I used Bio Spira I had burst envelopes. The first time two envelopes burst open and leaked during shipping and the dealer sent me two replacements with extra padding in between them. The second time it happened to the pouch on the way back from the pet store, I'm not even sure what I did but I must have rough handled the bag somehow. Anyway, it was extra and I didn't need it, but since I concluded it was my fault for not being extra careful (especially after the first time) I didn't ask the pet store for a refund.

Turbo Start has expiration dates and ships in sturdy bottles. Again, it has never failed me!!

Search on google, froogle, etc. for places that sell it.

 

[jaysono]

I tried searching on Google under 'Bio-spira' and the most I got back was Marineland and a few forum pages, but never anything 'for sale'. I even tried eBay (0 items found) and the tried the follwoing of Google: 'Bio-Spira for sale', 'Bio-Spira for purchase', and came up with nothing.

One thing though is that Marineland.com needs to update it store dealer/locator page. Living in Orange County, CA, I typed in my zip code and search criteria for 35 miles from my location. I got quite a few stores, but when I tried calling them, I'd literally say that 75% of them were either disconnected, or another company (not a fish store).

I even tried whitepages.com, and yellowpages.com for my area too. Very disapointing results. Even though I had again, like 20 stores to call in a 35 mile radius, I only got through to 15 stores (other 15 were eitehr disconnected or different business as well), and out of those 15, only 2 people knew what I was talking about. That's pretty bad.

Can anyone share websites that even though they may be currently out of stock today, know that they have in the past and plan on selling again in the future? I fear my local stores have no clue.

 

[TankGirl]

Go to the sponsors section here at this site and try The Fish Store. There is a Bio-Spira thread there, too. Bernie ships nationwide, and for me it was no more expensive than at the LFS, even with shipping.

 

[frshwaterfinatc]

Wow, thanks for the heads up on all of this, Allivymar... now I can tell my customers what's up

 

[starlifter2]

No more Bio-Spira!?!?!! The world is coming to an end!!! NOOOOOOOO!!!

 

[oscarbreeder]

They just had to make more thats all.
It will be back on shelves in September.

 

[Bernie]

I have to apologize for being absent so much this summer....as my store and website traffic has been really busy and taken alot of time.
Gunnie was kind enough to alert me to some questions?? over here re: Bio-spira
availability.
After re-reading this thread; I'm not sure what was left out since when I came to Page 2 here it looked as if someone was talking about Bio-spira not being available any more???
The latest word from Marineland is still later this summer......(hopefully soon), but
no definate date as yet. I have a large outstanding order on the books with them;
and have been promised to told the release date as soon as it is decided.
I have 8 customers who still have outstanding orders on the books as well.

As far as the "rumor" of Marineland putting out a non-refrigerated/open-shelf
version...... it is not true and is not being pursued.

A small footnote in some of my discussions regarding Bio-Spira alternatives on
another forum/site, we examined a number of products such as the Fritz Turbo
Start 700 which failed my own test, but others have been trying to verfiy with their
own testing with no success as yet either. Apparently Fritz had had a prob with one of their batches of product being sent to the "testors"??
In any case, the "jury seems to still be out" on that product. I personally have
pretty well "let the jurors go home".

I also find it interesting that those companies who profess to have comparable products refuse to list their exact bacteria strains as does Marineland on theirs.
The others only make reference to the encompassing genera or family of bacterias
which are responsible for nitrification (of which the nitrospira and nitrosospira of the Bio-Spira product belong).

Also, it is worth mentioning again that it is virtually impossible to guarantee an
expiration date on "live bacteria" since so much of its viability depends on how the
product is handled thru out its duration. Marineland has logically only recommended a 6-month "GUIDE" for retailers to move the product and to advise
customers accordingly as to how long they've held the stock in inventory.
Again, its the proper handling and storage of the product that will dictate its true
long-term viability.

Again, sorry to be away so much; but hope this helps to answer some doubts or questions.

Bernie

 

[TankGirl]

Thanks for the update, Bernie. I am interested in hearing more about the Fritz Turbo Start myself but have yet to try it - the shipping charges for online purchases are prohibitive, since it is apparently only shipped Fed-Ex. Nobody can beat your Bio-Spira prices, so I'll just patiently wait. It's kinda nostalgic seeding and pouring ammonia, though

 

[Bernie]

Yeah, I understand Tankgirl!!

As far as shipping TurboStart 700...there's no reason it can't be shipped USPS or
any other two-day service as I do Bio-spira. If it had worked for me....I was planning to put it on my site as an "alternative" and ship it the same way.
Nevertheless, as I mentioned, I just haven't been "sold" on the product yet and
won't put my endorsement on it as it stands now. But I've always got an "open
mind" and am willing to be convinced. I have been "overwhelmed" with requests
for Bio-Spira and would just as soon have a "legitmate" alternative to offer my
customers.

Later

Bernie

 

[Voodoo Chilli]

Geez... I keep thinking about those three packages of Bio-Spira I had in the fridge a few months ago: I bet I could get top dollar on the BS black market right now!

 

[TankGirl]

"Psst. Hey buddy, got any *glances around* Bio-Spira?"

 

[ploughking]

"Psst. Hey buddy, got any *glances around* Bio-Spira?"

"you wish... *eyes roll and guy looks around* it'll be 400 dollars. If that aint good enough - THE NEXT BIT CENSORED". I mean "tough."

 

[Madame_X]

I hope they get it out soon--I could really use some right now. I've had a ram in a hospital tank for about ten days now and I'm having a heck of a time keeping up with the water changes with my school schedule and all... poor little thing is trying to recover from columnaris and the tank is cycling.

He's a little fighter but I don't know if he's gonna make it.