Using prime ?

[InfernoST]

Hi Gang
I have my fish in QT for ICH going thru HYPO and wanted to know if it is OK to use prime to bring down the ammonia along with PWC's?

 

[Innovator]

How often are you performing water changes and at what %? Prime just binds the NH3, but there shouldn't be much present anyways.

 

[InfernoST]

How often are you performing water changes and at what %? Prime just binds the NH3, but there shouldn't be much present anyways.

I'm doing 30% (20 Gallon QT) every other day when NH3 reaches .50ppm.

 

[Innovator]

Not good enough. Ideally you should be performing 50% water changes daily or at the very least 50% every other day. You should have next to nil NH3 readings.

 

[InfernoST]

Not good enough. Ideally you should be performing 50% water changes daily or at the very least 50% every other day. You should have next to nil NH3 readings.

OK, not a problem 50% it is. On the other part of the question you answered what exactly is meant by Binding the NH3?

 

[mfdrookie516]

unless im badly mistaken, hes meaning that prime doesnt get rid of ammonia, it just kind of locks it like ammo-lok or something like that...

 

[InfernoST]

unless im badly mistaken, hes meaning that prime doesnt get rid of ammonia, it just kind of locks it like ammo-lok or something like that...

Do you mean something like encapsulating the ammonia molecules so they don't affect the fish but still remain in the aquarium until a PWC?

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Not physically encapsulating... but that's probably an OK way to think of it. Not sure of the actual chemistry, but all the ammonia "removers" just convert the ammonia (NH3) to something that is not toxic to fish - it binds the ammonia chemically to other molecules.

Prime is good stuff, but the problem (in my opinion, at least) with using it is that the ammonia that's been bound up and deemed safe will still show up with your ammonia test kit. So even using Prime, the ammonia won't go to zero as shown in your testing - but it is supposedly safe because it's in a different form. So basically... you have to keep using the Prime because you don't know if the ammonia you're measuring is the safe stuff, or new untreated ammonia. Hope that makes sense.

 

[InfernoST]

Not physically encapsulating... but that's probably an OK way to think of it. Not sure of the actual chemistry, but all the ammonia "removers" just convert the ammonia (NH3) to something that is not toxic to fish - it binds the ammonia chemically to other molecules.

Prime is good stuff, but the problem (in my opinion, at least) with using it is that the ammonia that's been bound up and deemed safe will still show up with your ammonia test kit. So even using Prime, the ammonia won't go to zero as shown in your testing - but it is supposedly safe because it's in a different form. So basically... you have to keep using the Prime because you don't know if the ammonia you're measuring is the safe stuff, or new untreated ammonia. Hope that makes sense.

What your saying makes complete sense. Basically there is no way to measure what's safe and what's not so it's best to just increase the pwc's and forget that prime has anything to do with ammonia control because there is no way to measure what prime is doing correctly. Thanks for all of your help Kurt.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

What your saying makes complete sense. Basically there is no way to measure what's safe and what's not so it's best to just increase the pwc's and forget that prime has anything to do with ammonia control because there is no way to measure what prime is doing correctly. Thanks for all of your help Kurt.

Yeah... I guess that's what I was trying to say!

 

[stratmaster]

I use Prime all the time, it is the greatest stuff! What happens is just what you said it sort of converts the ammonia or nitrite into a non toxic form and your biological filtration removes it. (I can say this is a fact because I have the bottle right in front of me)