Mackenziem Posted December 4, 2016 Report Share Posted December 4, 2016 Hi, my goldfish isn't doing to well and is just sitting at the bottom of the tank in the same spot all today and yesterday. I am in the cycling process and bought prime to switch to from my old water conditioner as I know it detoxifies ammonia. I thought that there was a chance he was stressed from the ammonia (even though it was only 0.25ppm), so I did a 50% water change yesterday and dosed the whole tank with prime, and left for 24 hours, and dosed the tank again as there was still 0.25ppm present. This, unfortunately, doesn't seem like the problem so it's a bit stressful as I'm new to fish keeping and have no idea what is wrong or how to fix it!! Here's some info I've gathered so far: -he's still eating if I drop a pellet in (don't want to feed him too much yet seeing as he's sick) -he is flashing occasionally, and rubbed himself on the substrate a couple of times -extremely lethargic, not doing anything except grazing the bottom for a minute or two -he's new, and think he may have caught something at the pet shop?? -normal poo, same colour as his pellets and not at all white or bubbly just incase you want to know about my water parameters, ammonia 0.25ppm, nitrite 0ppm, nitrates 5-10ppm. Had him since the 19th of November. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted December 4, 2016 Report Share Posted December 4, 2016 Any ammonia is too much for the fish do a 50% water change at least it will halve the ammonia.I would do a 25% water change every second day untill the ammonia is 0 Shouldn't have a fish in a tank with ammonia present Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shilo Posted December 4, 2016 Report Share Posted December 4, 2016 Prime does detoxify ammonia but it doesn't remove it. It binds ammonia so its in an "inert" (harmless) state which hopefully will give the bacteria in the system a chance of removing it. BUT because the ammonia is still present your test kits will still read the same level in your water which is why you still read 0.25ppm. Problem is that after 24hrs give or take it will "unbind" and the ammonia becomes toxic again. Unless a water change is made within this time the fish will still be effected by the ammonia. Prime is best used to de-chlorinate water or to detoxify ammonia when freighting fish. Livingart's suggestion is a much better way of lowering ammonia levels then using a chemical like Prime. It is also much cheaper livingart and Caryl 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted December 12, 2016 Report Share Posted December 12, 2016 How is your goldfish (and ammonia) now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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