New member here, but have had fish for over 25 years.
New problem I've come across though.
I crashed the cycle in my 75 gallon a few days ago by accidentally adding too many antibiotics and didn't notice right away.
My filter died during the nights, and when I woke up my tank was milky white- I couldn't even see the fish!
I immediately started doing water changes, lowered the temperature, and switch off the lights to keep everyone calm and quiet. It took 6, 50% changes to get it reading at 8ppm! I did one every two hours and added ammonia lock each time.
Took me a day to figure out what the problem was, and immediately went to get used filter from an established tank somewhere.
I just added it this morning, and already levels are down to 0.5ppm after three changes today.
Thank God all fish are still ok. I just fed them this afternoon a tiny tiny bit for the first time in four days, and they all ate ravenously. They seem so happy to be able to see again and are exploring as usual again.
I'm amazed.
How long do I have to keep the water changes up until the culture establishes? I got a HUGE chunk of filter media, and split it between both my filters and added some bioballs so it can grow further.
Is there anything else I can do?
I've never had to deal with a fully stocked tank crashing before
it's understocked atm, which is good, but still enough fishies to cause an issue without a good cycle.
Thanks for the help. Please no negative comments. I feel horrible enough already.
Dumb mistake almost killed my babies, and still might, although I'm hopefully as everyone looks ok, and I'm watching close for illness to creep up after this.
New problem I've come across though.
I crashed the cycle in my 75 gallon a few days ago by accidentally adding too many antibiotics and didn't notice right away.
My filter died during the nights, and when I woke up my tank was milky white- I couldn't even see the fish!
I immediately started doing water changes, lowered the temperature, and switch off the lights to keep everyone calm and quiet. It took 6, 50% changes to get it reading at 8ppm! I did one every two hours and added ammonia lock each time.
Took me a day to figure out what the problem was, and immediately went to get used filter from an established tank somewhere.
I just added it this morning, and already levels are down to 0.5ppm after three changes today.
Thank God all fish are still ok. I just fed them this afternoon a tiny tiny bit for the first time in four days, and they all ate ravenously. They seem so happy to be able to see again and are exploring as usual again.
I'm amazed.
How long do I have to keep the water changes up until the culture establishes? I got a HUGE chunk of filter media, and split it between both my filters and added some bioballs so it can grow further.
Is there anything else I can do?
I've never had to deal with a fully stocked tank crashing before
it's understocked atm, which is good, but still enough fishies to cause an issue without a good cycle. Thanks for the help. Please no negative comments. I feel horrible enough already.
Dumb mistake almost killed my babies, and still might, although I'm hopefully as everyone looks ok, and I'm watching close for illness to creep up after this.
