Does the seachem ammonia badge work with prime?

Neptune 555 · Dec 22, 2022

I am doing Tank Transfef Method as my QT process on some new fish. I have an ammonia alert badge but was going to dose prime on the 2nd day - today to be safe. Will my ammonia alert badge be effective or not? As in if it goes green or blue after dosing prime my fish should still be OK b/c the ammonia is still in the water just bound up and safe? Or do I need to do an emergency water change if that happens?

vetteguy53081 · Dec 22, 2022

Neptune 555 said:
I am doing Tank Transfef Method as my QT process on some new fish. I have an ammonia alert badge but was going to dose prime on the 2nd day - today to be safe. Will my ammonia alert badge be effective or not? As in if it goes green or blue after dosing prime my fish should still be OK b/c the ammonia is still in the water just bound up and safe? Or do I need to do an emergency water change if that happens?

prime is a great water conditioner but does not necessarily remove ammonia and will likely produce false readings with the badge which too gives false readings in time. When you medicate or treat a tank, the badge is exposed to and absorbing chemicals that make it less than accurate.
You use test strips and the first method is to remove it for accuracy within One minute. The badge is remain precise?
Some have luck with it but I personally will not Depend on a $7 square to sustain hundreds in livestock
For TTM, should be ok but if in doubt, double check with a test kit - Not API brand or take a water sample to a trusted LFS that does not use API and have them test for you

Jay Hemdal · Dec 22, 2022

Neptune 555 said:
I am doing Tank Transfef Method as my QT process on some new fish. I have an ammonia alert badge but was going to dose prime on the 2nd day - today to be safe. Will my ammonia alert badge be effective or not? As in if it goes green or blue after dosing prime my fish should still be OK b/c the ammonia is still in the water just bound up and safe? Or do I need to do an emergency water change if that happens?

IDK for sure - here is something from the Seachem web site:

If the Prime® has not complexed with the ammonia yet it will detect it, but it won't detect it if the Prime® has already complexed it (which makes sense because when Prime® has complexed with the ammonia it is no longer toxic). If you want to know the total ammonia level (free, ionized and complexed) you would need to run a Total Ammonia Test (like with our MultiTest Ammonia.

So - from what that seems to say, the ammonia badge works with Prime, in the sense that if it shows any ammonia, that is free ammonia, not bound in the Prime and therefore could be toxic.

Jay