Ammonia Levels!

[KellyT1203]

So my ammonia levels have been kind of crazy due to adding fish and my tank not quite finishing its cycle. I have been treating for ich so I took the filter out (only have a biowheel now), now my ammonia levels are back to normal!!! YAY!!!

Will things go a little crazy when I put the new filter back in I am not sure about my pH, nitrite and nitrate levels. I was using a dip stick to check the levels but ran out. I am getting a master kit delivered here in a few days. Last I checked the pH was 7, very little nitrates, and 0 nitrites.

 

[rdd1952]

What filter are you running now? If the filter you have has gotten the ammonia back to 0, then adding the other back should be fine IF you are leaving the current one in the tank. If you take it out and put the other back, you will be back to an uncycled tank again. I'm a little confused on why you removed the filter in the first place unless you are talking about just removing the cartridge with the carbon from the filter.

I wouldn't put the carbon back at all except to remove the meds and even at that, you will need new carbon as what is in the filter now would already be saturated and not do anything. You can also remove the meds with regular water changes as they will be diluted a little more each time.

You so need to be testing for nitrite right now. If you had ammonia and it has dropped, that means you got nitrite. If the tank isn't cycled, you could have high nitrite levels. One ppm of ammonia yields 2.7 ppm of nitrite so it can get high in a hurry.

 

[KellyT1203]

I removed the filter because I am treating for ich. I am not checking nitrite levels because it is a waste to go to the pet store to buy a testing kit for 9 dollars when I have a testing kit coming in a few days.

The fish are doing fine. I am still treating for ich and will be for the next few days, possibly longer so it doesnt come back. I was not planning on putting the old filter CARTRIGE in the tank because it is probably loaded with ich. I didn't remove the filter only the cartrige.

 

[Bignose]

Well... a few things. The ich medication in all likelihood would destroy the bacterial colony -- most ich medication is really harsh. However, the filter does more than just harbor bacteria. In particular, the filter return's splashing is the primary source of causing surface movement which greatly improves gas exchange. This is the primary way oxygen gets into the tank. And, when medicating, oxygen is often a limiting factor because lots of medicines work by oxidizing organic material. The medicine actually works by taking oxygen out of the water -- the oxygen your fish need to live!

Secondly, not that it matters because without ammonia as a food source, the bacteria in the filter are dead anyway, but ich is an obligate fish parasite. If they don't have access to fish during their life cycle, they will die. Any ich that is in your filter haven't had exposure to fish, so they will die.

Finally, what you want to do is water changes -- large ones. That will help keep the ammonia levels down. The other benefit is that by doing large water changes, you have take organic waste out of the tank -- organic waste that the medicine will also oxidize and not be available to kill the ich with. So, doing large water changes actually helps the medicine do its thing against the ich itself. Just be sure to do the water changes before adding the ich medicine.

I'd suggest you take a read through this page: http/www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/health/ich.shtml it is one of the best webpages with information about ich on the Internet. The best thing you can do it arm yourself with knowledge to know thy enemy.