Originally Posted by
ophiura
IMO, don't blow money on a $30 bottle of bacteria that have been sitting on the shelf. This is good marketing, IMO, and may not be a great deal more. You already have a "seeded" filter. The problem is that at the moment the amount of ammonia you have is greater than the reproductive rate of the bateria. There is a lag time until they catch up, but they will. If you do get one of these products, qt least be sure it is one with an expiration date and is kept chilled. But $30 should get you a couple of pounds of cured LR, which will be a far better investment for long term health.
If you cleaned your bioballs in anything but old tank water (or at least dechlorinated freshly mixed saltwater, you may very well have killed off enough bacteria to cause another cycle. In addition, with recently medicating the tank and a thorough cleaning...
You have quite a few fish in there, IMO. You have to watch feeding closely for sure. I would definitely invest in test kits, and be prepared to do lots of water changes. With the pakistani b'fly and regal (tang or angel?) I would be worried about stressing the fish with these chems.
BTW what were you treating the Kole for? The tank is showing definite signs of some problems I am afraid. Definitely plan on water changes.
thanks for the response, ophiura!
for starters, i think the one they're selling me is the chilled one. as much as possible, i don't want to buy any sorts of chemical /and or additives in my tank. so i am hoping i could get these down with the 13g water change that i am doing.
the bioballs were rinsed with tap water when i did it. and not just the bioballs, the whole wet/dry filter stuff. i thought at first that it was a good idea, bec that cleared out the return water from below. i nver thought it was such a bad idea...
this is when diatoms started to reappear, and is now covering my CCs.
the medicine that i used is Mardel's Maroxy, which i did for 5 consecutive days. it was actually for the yellow tang that i had (4" to 5"). ( when i bought him, he already had that red thingy on his top fin, probably a fin rot, not sure) had him for a month, then i believe, he started deteriorating and developed this cottonlike stuff (bacteria or fungus, lfs said). on the second day that he had that, i tried treating him with maroxy, straight in my MT. (dont have a QT yet). 2nd day of treatment he died, and i think the kole (2" to 3") caught it, which died the next day, but went on to finish the 5 day treatment so my other fishes wont get it. (which they didn't , btw :joy: ) after 5-days treatment, waited for 5 more days before i did my 10g water change. i'd had my water tested at the lfs, and said parameters are ok, zero for trate, trite and ammo. it was after a week, when these elements were already traced, and am now fighting it! i already did 10g h2o change the same day i started this thread...did a 5g again, day after that, and a 13g today.
and yes, it's a regal tang that was left, which i keep a close eye on. everybody's fine, including my regal (it's been more than 3 wks since the 2 died).
still keeping my fingers crossed.
thanks everyone! u're all lifesavers! :happyfish :happyfish
don't have any #s, that's just what they told me. tank is 10 mos old, did a water change 5 days ago, ph and trates, is good. i have 1 maroon, 1 heniochus, 2 yellowtail damsels, 1 velvet, 1 regal, and i bought the pakistan. pls help anyone??? :help: :help: :help:
