Should I Add Prime

4 days ago I added tss. I now have 5+ ppm nitrite and 0.5 ppm ammonia . all my fish are hiding ,it’s a group of 7black neon tetras. A lot of posts on difrent forums and web sites say different things. I have a 20 tall aquarium

Iv read that water changes are okay. I’ve also read I shouldn’t do water changes but I want to get the nitrite down. That's what I’ve done in normal cycles because my cycle stalled. I’ve also read not to use prime because the tss bacteria needs ammonia that’s not “locked up”. But people have used prime on tanks and nitrite and nitrate formed.

my fish have read gills and no longer school. I CAN NOT take photos because the light up sets them and there hiding. I don’t want them any more stressed.

This is my first time using bacteria stater and I don’t want to mess this up
Or ruin it as I have no way to treat my fish other than prime and a tetra aquasafe. Can I get some help please.

 

4 days ago I added . I now have 5+ ppm nitrite and 0.5 ppm . all my fish are hiding ,it’s a group of 7black neon tetras. . I have a 20 tall aquarium

Iv read that water changes are okay. I’ve also read I shouldn’t do water changes but I want to get the nitrite down. That's what I’ve done in normal cycles because my cycle stalled. I’ve also read not to use because the tss bacteria needs ammonia that’s not “locked up”. But people have used prime on tanks and nitrite and nitrate formed.

my fish have read gills and no longer school. I CAN NOT take photos because the light up sets them and there hiding. I don’t want them any more stressed.

This is my first time using bacteria stater and I don’t want to mess this up
Or ruin it as I have no way to treat my fish other than prime and a tetra . Can I get some help please.

 

Hi, if your fish have red gills & are stressing out it sounds like the ammonia & nitrites is getting to them, you could do a good water change regularly to reduce the levels but still leave some ammonia for the BB to feed on but if your fish get any worse you may have to use Prime to detoxify the water to save them.

 

Hi, I just answered your previous post, but if your fish are now starting to die you'll have to add the Prime to detox the ammonia & nitrites straight away, I'd go for a 50% water change & add the Prime to the new water going in but dose for the whole tank not just the added water.

 

thank you very much

 

At this point you have to assume something went wrong and do some water changes to get those nitrites down. They should not be that high during a TSS cycle. Once you get the nitrites (and ammonia) down you can decide if you want to just continue with daily water changes with Prime or you want to try using TSS again.

But I will say that it is quite surprising to have 5.0ppm nitrites in a 20 gallon tank with just 7 black neon tetras after just 4 days. That result would seem to indicate that a lot of ammonia has been converted into nitrites, but you wouldn't expect the neons to produce that much ammonia, that quickly.

 

Threads merged, please start just one thread per topic.

 

I finished doing a water change of about 40 percent, I added safe start because it gives a slime coat .
I have lots of ammonia in my tap so that was probly the problem. if I do another water change later today will that kill my bacteria that's left? is there any thing else I can do?

also when I netted out my dead tetra and put him in a little fish bowl of clean water so I could berry him later. I left for about 20 minutes and when I came back he half swiming, half dazed. hes still weak? is there any way I can help him.

 

How long has your tank been up and running? The good news is that if you have nitrite, it means you're getting closer to being completely cycled!

I personally prefer using Prime to detoxify the ammonia and nitrite rather than using TSS, even if the cycle takes longer. The fish are safe this way and as long as you keep ammonia and nitrite under 1 ppm, the fish will be fine. You can' t use the two together though.

You can use Prime and Stability together.

If you do decide to use Prime to detox the ammonia and nitrite, dose every 24 hours. The Prime only detoxifies the ammonia and nitrite for 24-36 hours. And I don't think the Prime detoxifies the new compounds that are created after you dosed with Prime.

And don't overfeed while cycling!