The peptides most certainly could add to the retention, but they are a more resent addition to my protocol within the past 2 months or so. I actually started them in a quest to see if they would help. This water retention issues has existed for years. The only thing that seems to help is a reduction in my testosterone dosage. I was using 500mg + for years then went to 125mg/wk to clean out. After a couple of months, the water retention subsided greatly. However, at that low dosage my test serum level was 305 and I felt very weak, lethargic, etc. so I increased my dosage to 200mg/week and within about 24 hours the water retention returned full blast! Literally overnight!