ammonia-confused

[fishiwish]

Hi all.

I unfortunately have a fish in cycle situation going on. I have 2 platies, 3 or 4 platy babies that seem to be doing fine, and lots of ammonia. (14 gallon tank) Due to lots of unfortunate situations. (babies, for one. Dying plant, which I took out, filter stopped working so had to get a new one, etc.) Anyway, I have read that Prime, which I use every day with a water change, converts the ammonia to a less toxic kind. I have also read not to use products which "bind" ammonia because then the bacteria cannot use it, and it will hinder the cycle. Soooo.... is prime ok to use? Does it bind the ammonia or just convert it? Is converted ammonia still able to feed the bacteria and let it grow? Anything else I can do to speed up the ammonia portion of the cycle? Thanks!

 

[vahluree]

I'm surprised no one has replied to this yet. I have never used Prime, and I don't know what effects it has on ammonia. I know a lot of people here highly recommend it, though.

But possibly replies may be slow due to the holiday weekend. Hang in there, we'll get you some answers soon!

 

[unwritten law]

Seachem. Prime FAQ

"Prime works by removing chlorine from the water and then binds with ammonia until it can be consumed by your biological filtration (chloramine minus chlorine = ammonia). The bond is not reversible and ammonia is still available for your bacteria to consume. Prime will not halt your cycling process."

Not that I work for them or anything (otherwise, I should get free PRIME to use instead of buying it online lol). I've used it for years in both marine and freshwater aquariums. I started using it in the marine tanks since it didn't affect the skimmers.

If you use a test kit for ammonia that can test for both free ammonia (toxic to fish) and total ammonia (includes both the toxic form and inert form), you can see that the ammonia is still THERE, but not in the form that makes it toxic to fish. The biofilter (nitrifying bacteria) can consume BOTH the toxic and inert forms of ammonia.

If you are having a nitrite spike, you need to overdose PRIME by 5x to detoxify the nitrite.

he just posted this somewhere else

 

[fishiwish]

thanks

thanks very much. i am new to all of this and it's good to have a place to come for help! *twirlysmi