Can antibiotic food nuke the Biofilter?

"humBill" wrote in message
. ..

"Bill Stock" wrote in message
...
Somewhat rhetorical I think.

I was cleaning the boys yesterday (pond refugees) and I noticed that
their Ammo-Alert was far from it's pale yellow. It was up in the danger
zone, so I tested with the Ammonia kit and it was reading around 400.
YIKES. So I did a water change and added all the Ammo-Lock I had. I also
added some Stress Zyme, but I've never had much luck with this in the
past. I'll keep doing daily water changes and replacing the Ammo-Lock
until I get things going again,

Any advice appreciated.



Hi Bill
I am interested in the answer to this myself. If I understood your post
these are fish FROM the pond IN an aquarium. We have been feeding
medicated food lately as well. My wife told me she recently read that
'antibiotic food' could kill your filter. This has not been the case with
us, nor was it in the pond. However, the info came from that 'About' site
which I have found is a bit generalized but often seeded in truth = sounds
like a possibility anyway.
Bill Brister - Austin, Texas

Yes, these GF are in an aquarium. Pond refugees from two seasons ago, three
Heron survivors and two fry (now 3").

I originally thought the Potassium Permanganate treatments killed the
filter, but I did not see the Ammonia spike until after I started feeding
the medicated food. Roughly two weeks after the PP. I'm just lucky I noticed
the Ammonia Alert was not it's normal Yellow. They usually get so covered in
Algae that I don't always notice them. The Ammonia was getting close to 8
when I did their weekly water change.

BTW, the food contains sulfadimethoxine, ormetoprim sulfa, oxolinic acid and
kannamycin.

"~ jan JJsPond.us" wrote in message
...
Yes two bottle test. Ammo Alert only tests free ammoinia and it still has
not returned to yellow. PH is 7.2 now and tap water is usually around 7.
Nitrites are still zero.

Hmmm, I'm stumped. I know I've never been too impressed with Ammo-lock
myself, preferring Amquel or Chloram-X in the dry forms myself. ~ jan


~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~

Thanks Jan.

It was actually Ammo Chips, I knew it had Ammo in it.

The Ammonia was down to 1 last night after another water change. I added
some gravel from another tank and the Ammonia dropped off to zero tonight.
Unlikely the bacteria took off that quickly, probably the Ammo Chips
catching up.

On Wed, 7 Sep 2005 21:25:27 -0400, "Bill Stock" wrote:

It was actually Ammo Chips, I knew it had Ammo in it.

Zeolite? Whole different thing, you need an ammonia neutralizer like Amquel
or Chloram-X. Zeolite removes the ammonia till it is saturated and then
stops. It converts the ammonia making it non-toxic to the fish, yet still
in a form the bacteria in the filter can use and regrow from. If what
you're using is Zeolite, the bacteria in the filter won't have access to
it. ~ jan


~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~

Hi Bill
Sorry - puter has been down and workload up. From what you have described I
would GUESS no to the antibiotic food. I do know PP will definitely kill
the filter and anything organic, along with the fish off course, if left
long enough. Maybe it just took a bit for the ammonia to build up??? I dont
know anything about those ingredients. Despite my warning my Medi Koi never
seems to harm the filter.
Bill

"Bill Stock" wrote in message
...

"humBill" wrote in message
. ..

"Bill Stock" wrote in message
...
Somewhat rhetorical I think.

I was cleaning the boys yesterday (pond refugees) and I noticed that
their Ammo-Alert was far from it's pale yellow. It was up in the danger
zone, so I tested with the Ammonia kit and it was reading around 400.
YIKES. So I did a water change and added all the Ammo-Lock I had. I also
added some Stress Zyme, but I've never had much luck with this in the
past. I'll keep doing daily water changes and replacing the Ammo-Lock
until I get things going again,

Any advice appreciated.



Hi Bill
I am interested in the answer to this myself. If I understood your post
these are fish FROM the pond IN an aquarium. We have been feeding
medicated food lately as well. My wife told me she recently read that
'antibiotic food' could kill your filter. This has not been the case
with us, nor was it in the pond. However, the info came from that
'About' site which I have found is a bit generalized but often seeded in
truth = sounds like a possibility anyway.
Bill Brister - Austin, Texas

Yes, these GF are in an aquarium. Pond refugees from two seasons ago,
three Heron survivors and two fry (now 3").

I originally thought the Potassium Permanganate treatments killed the
filter, but I did not see the Ammonia spike until after I started feeding
the medicated food. Roughly two weeks after the PP. I'm just lucky I
noticed the Ammonia Alert was not it's normal Yellow. They usually get so
covered in Algae that I don't always notice them. The Ammonia was getting
close to 8 when I did their weekly water change.

BTW, the food contains sulfadimethoxine, ormetoprim sulfa, oxolinic acid
and kannamycin.