It is not lecturing, it is trying to bring a bit of science to the subject. I would be more than happy to pm you with a list of research papers on this topic.
I am curious when folks write they are cycling with fish have done whatever to get through it and that the fish were all fine. The only thing any of us might now in this respect is the fish did not die or that they have no external signs of damage. We have no idea if there was any permanent internal damage done, we have no idea if the exposure has reduced the lifespan of the fish.
No, many bottles of Prime is not how professionals deal with high ammonia or nitrite in mission critical situations in large scale aquaculture. They use chloride. It is cheap easy and effective. There is no reason not to do the same in an aquarium just because it is on a smaller scale. What makes more sense- to be doing a whole lot of big water changes which will extend the cycle and stress the fish or being able to add a small amount of salt to a tank and get the cycle finished in a normal time frame? If you are curious and want to know more regarding this, here is a good read
http
/www.ca.uky.edu/wkrec/NitritePonds.pdf
ally- yes i do know the fastest way to do a fishless cycle and how to do it so there is the least chance to harm fish. the problem is most new fish keepers do not need to learn all the extra things I am trying to explain. The fastest way to get all the bacteria one needs using fish is to do the fewest water changes possible. this does not mean doing no changes nor does it mean risking harm to the fish. But a proper fishless cycle actually starts before the tank is even filled. It begins with selecting those fish which are more ammonia tolerant. Yes not all fish are the same in this respect. Next it involves choosing the proper number of fish. It involves a whole lot of things that make cycling with fish way more complicated than going fishless. But the biggest difference between fish in and fishless cycling is what happens if you make a mistake.
If you spend 4 weeks doing a fishless cycle and are close to done and you do something really wrong and kill off all the bacteria- all you did was lose 4 weeks of your time. If you are cycling with fish and do something wrong the result may be fish that are permanently harmed of even killed. For that reason it is never my suggestion to anybody that they cycle with fish. Even when one is unable to get ammonia for cycling, one can still do a fishless cycle using raw shrimp of fish to make ammonia.
I know how to do a fish in cycle and in all likelyhood have the fish come through unscathed, However I still do them fishlessly because I am not perfect, I make mistakes and if I get distracted or something slips my mind during a fish in cycle, then the fish will suffer and it will be my fault. So I choose not to cycle this way. I used to try to help folks get through fish in cycles as well as fishless ones. Then I realized that all I was really doing was putting fish at risk if anything went wrong. So I now suggest alternatives and try to explain the facts involved in fish in cycling in such a way as to make them clearly as intimidating as they are for a new fish keeper. So here is what I tell people now about fish in cycling:
1. It is complicated, so you will have to learn a whole lot more than you may want to, way more than it takes to do a fishless cycle.
2. It takes a lot longer to get a tank fully stocked. With fishless you can fully stock when done, with fish in you have just begun a multistep process.
3. Mistakes can harm or kill fish.
4. Its a lot more work- you test more, do more math, need more equipment, do more water changes.
Here is part of what I would tell you about your current cycling:
.25 ppm of ammonia in water of a pH of 7.8 at a temp of 75F contains .0081 ppm of the toxic form of ammonia- NH3. Levels of this are considered to be harmful at .05 ppm and virtually nothing in a tank suffers at all when the level is below .02 ppm. Given that the OP has a level of total ammonia that will not harm anything in the tank if it is present for some time, reducing it will stress the fish as well as increase the time it will take to cycle the tank. Bear in mind that this is all relative to cycling and not for the long term.
100% for certain there should be no water changes being done on your tank solely because the level of ammonia is .25 ppm on an API kit. In fact there is likely no need to change water at 1 ppm either. And if your pH is actually 7.6 at 75F, the tank should be OK at pushing towards 2 ppm. All of this is mitigated by how the fish behave. Should they show signs of ammonia stress/poisoning, then one does the water change regardless of the readings. So you need to know the signs of ammonia poisoning- one of those extra things to learn.
Prime is a great thing until you are relying on ammonia tests while using it. Here is a quote from the FAQ pages on Prime:
A salicylate based kit can be used, but with caution. Under the conditions of a salicylate kit the ammonia-Prime complex will be broken down eventually giving a false reading of ammonia (same as with other products like Prime®), so the key with a salicylate kit is to take the reading right away. However, the best solution ;-) is to use our MultiTest: Ammonia™ kit... it uses a gas exchange sensor system which is not affected by the presence of Prime® or other similar products. It also has the added advantage that it can detect the more dangerous free ammonia and distinguish it from total ammonia (which is both the free and ionized forms of ammonia (the ionized form is not toxic)).
from
http/www.seachem.com/support/FAQs/Prime.html
SeaChem is telling you that if you add Prime the only way to get a reliable test result is to test right away. The next day's test is likely going yo give you false readings. Now I do not mind if somebody wants to tell a poster to add Prime to help with an ammonia problem, but if one fails also to mention the potential for false ammonjia readings, you are leading the fish keeper down a blind ally. The next day and they test they are likely to react to an ammonia reading that isn't real. Oh yes, there is SeaChem saying NH3 and NH4 matter relative to total ammonia readings.
My point in all this is not that water changes or other actions are never needed or appropriate, but that it is important they only be used/taken when actually required. And the only way to know when they are really needed is to know about things like NH3 and NH4 and about chloride and nitrite, when kits may be giving incorrect reading, etc.
So I am willing to spend time with folks helping them get their tanks cycled without fish. I am willing to explain to you how to fix a fish in cycle in trouble as long as that fix is not to complete a fish in cycle normally. I will work with you to add bacteria and/or plants to a tank to bail it out and I will suggest how to rehome or park fish to complete your cycle without them, etc. I am also willing to post things as I did above which are intended to make people rethink fish in cycling.
