Agree with everyone. You have to keep the ammonia down below .25, and really you should do water changes big enough and frequent enough to keep the parameters at 0 or as close to it as possible. There will be enough ammonia in the tank to keep the cycle developing.
When nitrites appear - same thing. Keep the parameters at: ammonia 0, nitrites 0 and then when you finally have nitrates they need to be kept at or around 20ppm.
Prime is really good as it helps detoxify ammonia and nitrites for appx twenty-four hours, helping spare your fish stress and suffering, but you still have to do the big water changes within that time frame.
When detectable, ammonia is burning the gills and skin, and nitrites prevent uptake of oxygen so the fish suffocate, and even at .25 they feel like they aren't getting enough O2 and it is stressful, weakens their immune systems, and makes them prone to disease, illness, parasites, and death.
I didn't notice, and forgive me if this was mentioned already, but what kind of testing kit do you use?
If strips, then you are most likely not getting accurate readings. I learned from experience and from the fish gurus here on AC, test strips are not worth a plug nickle. You need a good liquid test kit.
API Master is a good one. It costs more up front, but lasts forever and the strips are expensive in comparison and are junk. They are unreliable and usually wrong.
