Killed my bio

[traco1]

Treating a 10 gallon with Rid-Ich, 1 tsp daily. Day 3 of dosing today and when I went to the tank, it was milky/cloudy. Did a water change and added meds. Guppies are in there for QT, 3 adults, 6 or so fry.

Now what do I do? Daily water changes to keep the milkiness low?

[Katalyst]

What are the water parameters?

[CACAdmin]

Mmmmm... strange... I have never had 'milkiness' occur when treating with RidIch.

Two questions:

Have you used other meds in the tank prior to RidIch?
Are you continuing normal filtration (minus carbon)?

[Katalyst]

Does Rid Ich in fact kill biological bacteria?

[CACAdmin]

The bottle reads:" RicIch+, when used as directed, will not harm biological filters"

[Katalyst]

Thanks, its something I need to pick up for the what if scenario since its apparently clown loach friendly at half dose.

Parasite clear is still my fav though. :smile:

[traco1]

I wonder if more may have been dosed than the 1 tsp. per 10 gallon and this is what happened? The parameters I haven't checked. The fish are not gasping, hiding, abnormal behaviour. There are guppies and a BN pleco in there along with a few shrimp.

I never run carbon, just have sponges in the filter. No other meds have been used.

So I should just do daily water changes for the bio to catch up again? I can also take a seeded sponge from another same size filter and put in there? Or will it also die?

[CACAdmin]

I think the only way used know if the cloudiness is from killing the bacteria or something else entirely is to do a test of water paramenters. Check first before swapping out the sponge.

I could be way off base here but I've never used RidIch with shrimp. Shrimp molt & could become supersensitive to any meds without their shell... could the cloudiness be caused by the death of a number of shrimp (either just molted or babies)???

Also with RidIch it does recommend daily 25% or greater water changes while medicating so the water changes will be needed anyways so I'd continue with that.

[blainep]

Could just a bacterial bloom as well, often happens in new tanks. Things just get a little out of balance.

It's possible that the Rid Ich may not kill off the bacteria that keeps the nitrogen cycle going, but it may kill off other bacteria residing in the tank, causing a bacterial bloom to happen.

Don't know for sure if that's what's going on, but a possibility.

If it's possible, it is best to do small daily water changes in a QT tank. Lots of fresh water helps to get fish healthy.

[traco1]

It is not as bad today. I've been doing daily water changes and also checked ammonia, nitrite which were both zero, thank goodness. So I did something to put it out of whack but the fish are fine (except for the ich). Thanks everyone for the replies, it helps to have others ask questions or check this, check that. Sometimes simple basic things can be forgotten (like checking the parameters! lol)

[hp10BII]

Barb, do you have a nitrate test kit? That's what I use as a spot check to make sure my biofilter is in working order.

[traco1]

Yes, I do have a nitrate test kit but, the tank has come around, no fish died, ich is gone. Yay!!

[CACAdmin]

Glad to hear things have turned around for you.:smile: