Get Home To Find My Filter Off

[Dorkhedeos]

Well, today i got home and i found that my filter was unplugged by my idiot brother. Apparently, the filter just "stopped spitting out water" and it would restart even though he lifted the tube. Right when i plug it back in, it starts up. Im pretty sure that the bacteria is all dead because he said it was off for 2 days. If i put a small chunk of mature media in there tomorrow night, do you think itll spread fast enough to combat the coming ammonia spike?

 

[dthoffsett]

Sorry to hear about that, I'd agree that most of the bacteria are dead. I'd keep a close eye on the stats, the addition of more mature media will help, but you'll still likely go through a mini-cycle.

 

[Tolak]

Put the mature media in there, and as long as you have healthy adult fish don't feed for a few days. After that feed 1/4 normal for about a week. Less food in means less waste produced, giving you bio filtration a chance to catch up. Add some Ammo-Lock with the water changes if you have any spikes.

Years back my Dad had a 55 in his apartment down the block. At least once a month the filter would come unplugged, stop running, or loose the intake. I wouldn't hear about it for a few days, go down the block, start the filter, and do a water change with a shot of Ammo-Lock. He also got told not to feed them for a few days, I used to put the top on the fish food as tight as I could, and get a phone call in a couple of days.

Due to health reasons he had to relocate to a nursing home a few years back, I have his tank & plecs, they all survived the filter mishaps and are doing fine to this day.