Jump to content

Bio filter killed


Recommended Posts

I made the newb mistake of keeping the bio media in in my shrimp tank as I used peroxide to kill some algae. Regardless to say all my biological filtration got killed and my tank is re cycling itself. So far one crs one CBS and one mischling have died in the lady 12 hours. I just put some stability in the tank and have to do a wc when my fiancé gets home.

What else can I do my ammonia is reading 1ppm. Which is deadly I know. I can't believe I forgot to take the media out. :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I told ya not to Punch your shrimp tank!  LOL, just kidding. ;)

 

Happens to everyone sooner or later.  Including us not too long ago, we had 2ppm ammonia by the time we discovered the problem.  Tackled it through a variety of means, and documented it in our tank journal:

 

http://www.shrimpspot.com/index.php?/topic/103-stef-darkcobras-maiden-shrimp-voyage/?p=1754

 

It should give you a few ideas.  Good luck and let us know what happens!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What would the man suggestions be? I have other filters I can pull bio media from. I have a marina s20 on my tank fright now should I pull my fluval c3 out of retirements and replace the s20??

that's alot of info to comb through lol. It wasn't the punch that did it it was my mistake of not pulling my bio media before the peroxide nuke went off

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yep, a lot of info because there's no "one size fits all" method when it comes to shrimp.

 

If it were a fish tank I'd just start doing large water changes, along with plenty of Prime, easy.  But these aren't fish tanks.  Most shrimp don't like large water changes.  Some people report Prime killed their shrimp.  And so on...

 

So far it sounds like you've been working on establishing a new biofilter.  That's good.  But considering you've already had some deaths, you may need to reduce ammonia more rapidly.  Especially if it's possible that shrimp may die somewhere you can't locate them, which can overwhelm even a health biofilter.

 

Prime will temporarily detox ammonia for two days, if your shrimp tolerate it.  Adsorbents like Ammo-Carb will soak it up too, permanently.

 

I think I recall you have a KH of zero.  What's your pH?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ive used peroxide in my shrimp tanks for hair algae before and not lost the bacteria you must have used a heck of a lot. what to do about it is maybe pull some filter media from another tank if you have one that will help if you have a small hob you can put on your shrimp tank with aged media that will help recycle. some of the instant cycled stuff might work as well. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3ml for ten gallons on the peroxide. So not vwy much but a noticeable change in color of the media ita white again where it was a yellowish brown before.

as far as my ph goes its around 5.4\7 using a ph pen. Using the API test kit ita at 6.4.

I just got some water today so I'll be using that to do slow water changes within the next few days.

I'm thinking to replace the filter and use new bio media from my canister to establish a working bio bed tomorrow.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The good news: At pH below 7, ammonia is basically non-toxic, and 1ppm isn't a problem.

 

The bad news:  The deaths might be a result of other toxins released by the damaged biofilter instead, or delayed effects from the peroxide.  And at 5.4, you may have some difficulty re-establishing biofiltration - that's far from optimal for rapid bacterial growth.

 

If you can raise it very slowly and carefully with baking soda to about 6.5, the biofilter will kick in faster.  Just don't raise it to 7.0 or above.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's a good idea haha. Too bad I just cleaned my canister when I set up the c3 and took my media from that to put I. The c3 so there's a running bio filter. I also threw in a bag of ammonia remover which I'll take out tomorrow. I have a feeling my cherries are going to go one by one another female is having trouble molting.

It's the Amazonia dropping the ph so low that the rcs are having trouble molting?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hah, mulm bombing!  I've done that before, just never heard it called that.

 

Haven't used an electronic pH meter of any sort.  6.4 is close to the lower limit of liquid test kits, so I'm inclined to believe the pen if you're sure it's calibrated.  Or maybe average the two. ;)

 

Lots of things can - or at least are believed to - cause molting issues.  5.4 pH is an extreme I'd avoid on principle alone.  I started adding baking soda when I found the pH had dropped to 6.0, and ammonia started showing up (a second time) due to compromised biofilter function.  It's really not an optimal solution, as it does get consumed, causing parameter fluctuations between additions.  But it's working well enough for now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think the Amazonia is trying to still establish itself after 2 months already. I constantly switch between primed tap water and re mineralized or water. After I remineralize the ro water it's the same ph as the tap water at 7.3. Tds is a completely different story at tap it comes out at 58 but I remineralize to 150-180. I haven't bothered testing gh and kh on tap or ro water though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's important to know what hardness has the tap water. RO will be the same every time. Tap might vary when seasons change.

I don't believe peroxide has anything to do with your problem. I've dosed 2.5ml of 3% peroxide in 10L of water without any noticeable deaths. I have around 60 RCS in this tank.

Opposite to mulm bombing the tank you can add. Tetra Safe Start if it's available. Or any bacterial start culture.

One thing to note, peroxide will attack any living tissue as it quickly reacts to living cells breaking the membrane. The deaths might have been because of that. Not because of a bio filter being killed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Whenever my bio filter has gone from yellow brown to completely white it means a die off and then ammonia always sky rockets there no need to test nitrates and nitrites when this happens. At least IMO

As it is it doesn't matter now anyways because the filter is replaced with a working bio filter and ammonia is back down to .25ppm and always cycled in 24 hours again. Nitrates would have been sucked up by the Dwl anyways.

After re building and replacing the bio filter there has been no deaths. The deaths that occurred were due to a failed molting attempt premAturely due to water changes to close together in combo with ammonia above 1ppm even though it's a low ph I know shrimp are sensitive to such things.

Of course this is all my speculation

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Stop speculating. Without actual tests you can speculate about anything and that leads to myths in this hobby. I don't test for pH as much as I test for TDS, nitrites, gH. Ammonia is quickly absorbed, nitrites not so much. Both of them are deadly in low concentrations. Whether the bio filter is bombed or not it doesn't matter much as long as ammonia and nitrites are 0. Most of the bio filters are supersized when it comes to shrimp. It shouldn't be a problem if part of your bio filter dies as long as it still does it's job, keeping ammonia and nitrites undetectable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...