# How often can I use PRIME?



## scheda (Sep 2, 2009)

I seem to have an emergency with ammonia. I've got a relatively new tank. I've had fish in it for about three weeks now.

The ammonia is pretty high, about a 3. I've used about 3 doses of PRIME in the tank, but the ammonia doesn't seem to be dropping!

The bottle says I can use up to 5 doses in an emergency, but I don't want to kill my fish with too many chemicals.

Any idea on getting rid of the ammonia in the water quickly?

Thanks!


----------



## Twistersmom (Dec 9, 2008)

Hello and welcome to the forum!

Prime will not remove ammonia, but detoxifies it. I would suggest water changes to help lower the ammonia and treat the new water with prime. 
I try to keep ammonia and nitrites under .25 ppm when doing a cycle with fish. It can be a lot of hard work, water changes one or two times a day. 
What type of fish are in the tank? A 50-75% water change would be a good start, with ammonia being that high.


----------



## Fishin Pole (Feb 17, 2009)

+1 to everything Twistermom said


----------



## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

Plus, add a biological supplement to jumpstart the bacteria. Seachem's Stability and Nutrafin's Cycle are two I've used. A better one is the Bio... something that Dr. Tim Hovanec developed, if memory serves me correctly; you can get it in the US [can't in Canada because it is frozen bacteria and they won't allow it across the border, so I've never used it, but I hear it is good]. These things work by adding bacteria (somehow) that immediately begin consuming the ammonia and then the nitrite to cycle the tank, provided the fish load is not beyond its capabilities. Or you can seed bacteria from an established tank.


----------



## aunt kymmie (Jun 2, 2008)

To add to what Byron said: The product he is talking about is Bio-Spira and it's not cheap. I used it on the initial set up of my display tank and it dramatically decreased my cycling time. The problem with it, other than the expense, is not knowing if it's been shipped properly. If at any time it was allowed to defrost during transit (there is no way to know this) the bacteria will have been rendered useless. Another product I have used and was happy with was Tropical Science's Nitromax.


----------

