Amquel - does it destroy your bio filter?

[Connie]

On the bottle of amquel, it states that it REMOVES nitrite, nitrate, and
ammonia. It says each dose will REMOVE 1.2 ppm of ammonia, 2 ppm of nitrite,
and 13 ppm of nitrate.

Ammo lock just says that it detoxifies ammonia, but does not REMOVE it.

Here is my predicament. 29 gal tank - just finished cycling. I did a
fishless cycle using real ammonia, and enough that I thought I would be ok
with a semi fish load to start out with (I did that before). Anyhow, added
my fish (4 tiger tetra's, a black ghost, pleco,upside-down cat, 2 mollies).
Today there was a mini spike - up to almost 4 ppm. Not sure how long it was
like that, checked it last night and it was fine. Did a 45% water change
immediately. Has been at 0 for 5 hours. I still want to add some ammo lock.
We will be checking morning and night and doing water changes as needed
until this spike is over.

My fish seem to be fairing fine, they just ate, and are swimming around (all
but one of the tetras I am worried about). I was worried about my ghost, as
I know they are more fragile. Any recommendations? How long till I know the
fish are out of the woods from the minispike?

[Elaine T]

Connie wrote:
> On the bottle of amquel, it states that it REMOVES nitrite, nitrate, and
> ammonia. It says each dose will REMOVE 1.2 ppm of ammonia, 2 ppm of nitrite,
> and 13 ppm of nitrate.
>
> Ammo lock just says that it detoxifies ammonia, but does not REMOVE it.
>
> Here is my predicament. 29 gal tank - just finished cycling. I did a
> fishless cycle using real ammonia, and enough that I thought I would be ok
> with a semi fish load to start out with (I did that before). Anyhow, added
> my fish (4 tiger tetra's, a black ghost, pleco,upside-down cat, 2 mollies).
> Today there was a mini spike - up to almost 4 ppm. Not sure how long it was
> like that, checked it last night and it was fine. Did a 45% water change
> immediately. Has been at 0 for 5 hours. I still want to add some ammo lock.
> We will be checking morning and night and doing water changes as needed
> until this spike is over.
>
> My fish seem to be fairing fine, they just ate, and are swimming around (all
> but one of the tetras I am worried about). I was worried about my ghost, as
> I know they are more fragile. Any recommendations? How long till I know the
> fish are out of the woods from the minispike?
>
>
I looked this up on Kordon's website a while back. Kordon says that
AmQuel and AmQuel+ make a chemical complex with ammonia, nitrite, and
nitrate (depending on the product) that make them nontoxic to fish but
still available to plants and bacteria. I only use AmQuel, not AmQuel+,
and it has never harmed my biological filters. I believe Ammo Lock is
the same.

Ammonia tends to damage gills first. The gills go purplish with
irritation and if it's bad, they gasp at the surface. They also tend to
dart around looking for ammonia-free water, or go lethargic if they
can't get enough oxygen. If your fish are gilling normally, eating, and
swimming comfortably, they are probably fine.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com