I feel so bad - I'm just stressing my poor little fellow out by trying to get him better. After his third dose of bacti-bath, I noticed him swimming rapidly and flashing, and he was twitchy and scared and had no appetite. He was due a massive (50 to 75 percent) water change, anyway, so I did that and tested the water. No nitrites, nitrates, I think, pretty low, but his ammonia was sky high at 2 ppm. The poor little guy - no wonder he was so unhappy. It was down below 1ppm after the change, and he's getting about another 30-40 percent change today. I also added two tablespooons of salt, and will add another two today in case the nitrite spikes, and I added a double dose of prime because it's supposed to neutralize ammonia.

So here's the question. *Does* prime actually prevent damage from ammonia? If so, how much per gallon should I use? And will it allow the tank to recycle normally? If not, what should I use instead?

I feel awful that I've hurt Gilbert by trying to cure him. His symptoms always improve on the antibiotics and get worse again once they've left the water, but at this point, it seems the antibiotics are poisoning him and may be worse than the disease.

Anyway, he was calmer this morning, and hungry again, which was a relief. But I hate to think I may have damaged him permanently. Please advise - what can I do to neutralize the ammonia and still let the tank cycle again.

The best way to make ammonia/nitrites less harmful is daily water changes of about 30%. This wont stop your tank cycling but it may make it take a bit longer. If it makes things more comfortable for the fish though I think it's worth it!

Mary, I don't use Prime, but yes it does bind ammonia and the directions for how much to add should be on the bottle (it may be the same as the amount needed to treat the water). The ammonia will still be available for your biofilter to use, but won't be so damaging to Gilbert. Frequent water changes are still a good idea, esp. if you don't have a 2 bottle test kit that differentiates the "safe" ammonia from the "harmful" ammonia. Nitrite is difficult to lower through water changes, so I would suggest you use something to detoxify it or add (at least) 1.5 T of salt per 5 gallons to keep it from harming Gilbert.

my tank is being cycled and I'm at a similar situation as you. I use CYCLE to help speed up and I do 25% water changes. The one thing I do is I feed the fish once in 3 days to lower the amount of poop in the water to avoid spikes. Correct me if I'm wrong, it might just be me who starve their fish... <_<

Hey, thanks, everybody! It's good to know the prime will work, though I also rushed out and got ammo - lock today, just in case. In the meantime, I gave him a 25 percent water change, and he is a much happier fish - acting perfectly normal now, and he was hungry this morning. Crossbone, I am feeding him nearly normally, but I intend to keep up the testing daily for at least a week or two. Right now his water is perfect (no ammonia, no nitrite yet, nitrates about 5 ppm). Unfortunately, the antibiotic - in addition to disrupting the cycle - didn't quite fix his problems. As always happens, his eyes are clearer and aren't wobbling so much, and the white stuff is largely gone - but not entirely. And I'm afraid it'll make a comeback in a week or two. Whatever he's got, I wish I could kill it without killing him! Anyway, the plan now is to take care of his water and hope for the best. Thanks again!

Hi,
I have always controlled ammonia in the cycling of the tank by water changes.

I was wondering, though, if when you destroy the good bacteria with antibiotics and the like, could you use a product like Amrid in your filter.
Valerie