On Prime Versus Stess Coat- It sounds like Stress Coat helps with the ammonia. I don't know for sure, but that blurb states it "Nuetralizes Chloramines and detoxifies heavy metals"- And that's what we want.
On aloe vera- I have no idea if it actually helps the slime coat, etc. If you use it and have healthy fish, by all means use it. If you use it and continue to have bacterial bloom issues, consider switching to Prime or a similiar product.
On "creating ammonia in your tank"... Not quite. The water company adds something to your water to kills germs and make it safe to drink. That something is either chlorine or chloramine. When you add stress coat or prime or other "dechlorinator", that eliminates the chlorine and chlormine. When you eliminate the chlorine, you get a small amount of chlorine gas- This is poisonous, but it's a small amount and disappates rapidly.
When you eliminate the chloramine, you get a small amount of chlorine gas AND a small amount of ammonia- Chloramine contains Nitrogen, when the nitrogen is released from the chloramine it bonds with hydrogen and produces NH3 and NH4- Which is ammonia. So, If you have Chloramine in your tap water, you already have the ammonia. The alternative is to keep the chloramine, which is just as bad or worse for your fish.
On using Prime and Stress Coat- Not needed. Use one or the other. It sounds like they do similiar things.
On test strips- I also recommend using a liquid test kit instead. I use the Aquarium Pharmcutials (AP) Freshwater Master Test Kit for those kinds of tests.
On the root problem of it all- If you have ammonia in your tank, I would ignore the bacteria bloom for now. Ammonia kills fishs, generally speaking bacteria blooms do not. If, after you get the ammonia back to zero, you still have a bacteria bloom, then we can look for causes of that.
Zeolite is a option for helping combat high ammonia levels until your biological filter gets back up and running. You don't NEED it, but it may help. It would be a temporary mearsure if, as I think, your biological filter currently has problems. I like to outline lots of options that help, that way you can choose the ones easiest for you, or all of them. Maybe you have a box of Ammo-Carb in your fish supplies. Maybe you have no place to add it in your filter, and instead need to use more PWC's and Prime.
You may have a false positive on the ammonia from the test strips- If so, I may be barking up the wrong tree. I've been wrong before, I'll be wrong again, and there is a chance I'm wrong now. But this is what I would do if I had a fish death, a bacteria bloom, and high ammonia levels.
1. Check for something dead in the tank. A fish, a snail, a plant, uneaten food... something.
2. Think real hard about if I may have accidently killed my bio filter. Algaecide and cleaning the filter are both possible items, but not certain. You don't have to have killed everything on the filter, just cleaning some of the "slime" might have reduced its effectiveness.
3. Large PWC, use Prime or similiar product. I would also add Zeolite to the filter.
4. Test daily for ammonia. If *any* is detected, PWC.
5. Look for causes of the Bacteria Bloom. The bacteria is eating something, and chances are that something isn't something we want in the tank. Am I overfeeding? Did I add some chemical that I don't know for sure what does? (That excludes Prime and Zeolite- But for me, includes Aloe Vera. I'm not saying it's bad, or good, just that I am unfamiliar with it).
If the bacteria bloom isn't gone within a few days, then they still have food. That means they are eating something I am adding often, or there is a large food source- Again, hidden dead fish, or maybe a fertilizer stick or tab I put in the substrate, or chemicals I recently added, or maybe my fish food has gone off or gotten contaimenated with something.
I hope I am answering your questions, and not making you more confused. If there is anything I can clear up, please don't hesitate to ask.
On aloe vera- I have no idea if it actually helps the slime coat, etc. If you use it and have healthy fish, by all means use it. If you use it and continue to have bacterial bloom issues, consider switching to Prime or a similiar product.
On "creating ammonia in your tank"... Not quite. The water company adds something to your water to kills germs and make it safe to drink. That something is either chlorine or chloramine. When you add stress coat or prime or other "dechlorinator", that eliminates the chlorine and chlormine. When you eliminate the chlorine, you get a small amount of chlorine gas- This is poisonous, but it's a small amount and disappates rapidly.
When you eliminate the chloramine, you get a small amount of chlorine gas AND a small amount of ammonia- Chloramine contains Nitrogen, when the nitrogen is released from the chloramine it bonds with hydrogen and produces NH3 and NH4- Which is ammonia. So, If you have Chloramine in your tap water, you already have the ammonia. The alternative is to keep the chloramine, which is just as bad or worse for your fish.
On using Prime and Stress Coat- Not needed. Use one or the other. It sounds like they do similiar things.
On test strips- I also recommend using a liquid test kit instead. I use the Aquarium Pharmcutials (AP) Freshwater Master Test Kit for those kinds of tests.
On the root problem of it all- If you have ammonia in your tank, I would ignore the bacteria bloom for now. Ammonia kills fishs, generally speaking bacteria blooms do not. If, after you get the ammonia back to zero, you still have a bacteria bloom, then we can look for causes of that.
Zeolite is a option for helping combat high ammonia levels until your biological filter gets back up and running. You don't NEED it, but it may help. It would be a temporary mearsure if, as I think, your biological filter currently has problems. I like to outline lots of options that help, that way you can choose the ones easiest for you, or all of them. Maybe you have a box of Ammo-Carb in your fish supplies. Maybe you have no place to add it in your filter, and instead need to use more PWC's and Prime.
You may have a false positive on the ammonia from the test strips- If so, I may be barking up the wrong tree. I've been wrong before, I'll be wrong again, and there is a chance I'm wrong now. But this is what I would do if I had a fish death, a bacteria bloom, and high ammonia levels.
1. Check for something dead in the tank. A fish, a snail, a plant, uneaten food... something.
2. Think real hard about if I may have accidently killed my bio filter. Algaecide and cleaning the filter are both possible items, but not certain. You don't have to have killed everything on the filter, just cleaning some of the "slime" might have reduced its effectiveness.
3. Large PWC, use Prime or similiar product. I would also add Zeolite to the filter.
4. Test daily for ammonia. If *any* is detected, PWC.
5. Look for causes of the Bacteria Bloom. The bacteria is eating something, and chances are that something isn't something we want in the tank. Am I overfeeding? Did I add some chemical that I don't know for sure what does? (That excludes Prime and Zeolite- But for me, includes Aloe Vera. I'm not saying it's bad, or good, just that I am unfamiliar with it).
If the bacteria bloom isn't gone within a few days, then they still have food. That means they are eating something I am adding often, or there is a large food source- Again, hidden dead fish, or maybe a fertilizer stick or tab I put in the substrate, or chemicals I recently added, or maybe my fish food has gone off or gotten contaimenated with something.
I hope I am answering your questions, and not making you more confused. If there is anything I can clear up, please don't hesitate to ask.