Ammo-chips do work
June 3, 2009 7:43 am Daily life, Random Helpful tips, fishRemember my test to see if Ammo chips would work? I cut the experiment short by converting that tank to a home for Takeyo.
The Saga of the poorly thought through purchase of neon tetras continues. They have been in the micro tank for 2 weeks, doing fine, I thought. I turned on a light in the tank on Monday to discover they looked completely salted: an Ich infestation! I decided to move them to the spare 12 gallon tank in another room. These poor fish. I could not have planned to put them through more stress if I had tried. So I ended up with a completely uncycled hospital tank, exactly the situation for which was keeping Ammo-chips on hand.
I moved them Sunday night and treated with a Jungle Ich tablet, shut the light out and left them alone overnight. The next morning before work I tested the water and had an ammonia reading of 1.0. Bad enough by itself, but to add that to stressed, ich infested fish was just insult to injury. The problem for me was I had to be at work and did not have time, unless I called in, to do a water change. So I put 1/3 cup if ammo-chips in a nylon sock, tossed the sock into the filter and went to work. When I got home that night and retested the water (AFTER the water change- I didn’t want to make the fish stew while I messed with test tubes, but set aside the water for testing after they had a fresh tank) and the level was 0! yes, 0! I was amazed and relieved. Of course I won’t depend on Ammo chips long term, but they are great in an emergency.
I am now treating the Ich with a water temp of 86 degrees and no salt, since I’ve read that salt is bad for neons, and using Seachem Prime to reduce the stress of a cycle. I continue to be amazed that these fish are alive, and know I have a responsibility to care for them as best I know. They are creatures created by God in my care. All the same, had I realized that they could not live in the big tank without being snacks I would not have gotten them, sigh.
