Need Major Advice...

[TC1976]

All my fish are dead. I don't want to add any new fish right now obviously.

Now that the tank is empty fish wise, how long will my bio filter survive without fish? Do I need to replace the bio filter and start over?

If not, should I do a 100% water change, bleach all my decorations and clean the gravel?

I'm sitting here depressed because all these critters that lived in this tank lived in it for over a year.

I had a strange ammonia spike last night and now my Corys are dead. I think because the Mollies sat dead in the tank during the night when I was in bed.

I did a 40% water change, and added Stress Zyme Plus and Ammo Lock once I realized the ammonia was high. Too late. Now I'm screwed and not sure what to do now since my tank is fishless and I've gotta year old bio filter in it waiting for waste to break down and now that there's no fish I'm worried about that.

 

[Athena]

Sorry to hear about this...

So your fish had Ich? How long for? Were you treating with any medications?

If you were in the middle/at the end of treatment I would say continue on with the meds for another couple days because there may be free-swimming parasites in the tank water, although I don't think they survive very long in the water without a host to latch onto (can't remember exactly how long they live at that stage).

As for your filter, the bacteria just need a supply of ammonia to feed off until you replace with new fish. I've been told you can keep this up by either adding ammonia to the tank, just as when you were cycling or continue adding the flake food (which, uneaten, will produce ammonia, although it means the tank will become dirty looking as the food rots but nothing a good gravel vac can't sort out).

I'd finish any ich treatment to the end (it only kills the ich parasite whilst they are in free-swimming stage anyway, not whilst on the fish), wait a couple days (if you do a Google search on Ich it will tell you exactly how long they can live without a fish to latch onto) for any ich parasites to die off and then do a good gravel vac, a large water change and restock with a few hardy fish.

Just my opinion - there might be some who would do it another way.

Regards, Athena

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Did you ever raise the temp to above 84F to kill the spore form of Ich? This temp is needed for about 14 days to kill all Ich, as it quickens the life cycle of the parasite and so the spores emerge into the water, only to die.