Aquarisol kill beneficial bacteria?

[Arizonagrace]

I have recently received 4 sailfin mollies who I noticed today have ick. I started upping their temp, added salt and dosed with aquarisol after removing charcoal. I took the filters out, emptied the charcoal and left the filter bags in the filters. I did a 10% water change.

I am noticing ammonia in the tank now. Is this caused by the aquarisol, or is it because I removed the charcoal? I didn't think it would be the charcoal, as I left the filter bags in the filter. The tank had no ammonia until this evening.

I have a bottle of StartSmart and am wondering if I should add this to the tank. It is supposed to remove ammonia and nitrates (neither of which I had this morning) instantly and cycle tank.

 

[12 Volt Man]

probably the aquarisol, although is a little unusual since it is a fairly mild medication. not nearly as strong as many other ich meds out on the market. any med can stress/kill beneficial bacteria.

 

[Arizonagrace]

Should I stop using aquarisol and reintroduce the bacteria? I have the temp at 82 right now, and not sure if the heater will take it up to 85. I know the use of salt is good, but I have 2 live plants in there and no where else to put them.

 

[12 Volt Man]

if it were me I would do a water change to dilute the ammonia that is there (you could also add some ammo neturalizing water conditioner like Prime), leaving the carbon out until your done treating the ich. I would not add another dose of aquarisol for a few days though. a little bit goes a long way, so what you did add should take care of the ich..

monitor your ammo levels daily, do water changes accordingly.

the thing that is great about doing water changes on an ich tank, is you are also removing at least some of the free swimming parasites in the water you removed, which is a bonus.

 

[12 Volt Man]

when you go to add another dose of aquarisol, do a half dose.

I usually half dose all ich meds, and only go to a full dose unless its really necessariy.

99.9% of the time, a half dose is still plenty strong enough to kill most ich strains.

 

[Arizonagrace]

I did a water change as soon as I realized there was ammonia, and I always use prime. First thing in the morning, I will do another water change and add more salt. (I know it is 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons, but not sure what that would be in an "sg" reading.)

I will do a change in the morning, and one in the afternoon and watch ammonia very carefully, but not add any more aquarisol for a few days if the ich doesn't go away. I will continue use of salt as well.

The sad thing is, I ordered 4 more sailfin mollies online and they are due tomorrow. They are now destined to the holding tank

 

[Cholly]

the thing that is great about doing water changes on an ich tank, is you are also removing at least some of the free swimming parasites in the water you removed, which is a bonus.

Truth. I know a BN breeder that claims twice daily 50% changes with an 82 to 84F temp will cure it by itself. She does deep gravel vacs to get them out of the gravel, too.

 

[12 Volt Man]

I would think that one partial water change per day should be sufficient, unless your ammonia is crazy high.

 

[swede]

if you have a real emergency, i would use prime to neutralize the ammonia/nitrite/nitrates.

 

[MonsterMinis]

with mollies, your sure it's not velvet?