# Treated for ICK now high Ammonia levels



## Sha344

Recently had an ICK outbreak due to heater malfunction when on vacation, treated the Ick with Ick- remedy which has Victoria green and nitromersol in it and also used Pimafix for septicemia. There are no more visible ick spots but it says to continue to treat for at least 4 more days just to be safe because of there lifecycle. So my issue today is that I checked the Ammonia , nitrites, nitrates and PH and they had been holding steady however now the Ammonia is at 1.0ppm and PH is 7.2. I had been doing a 25% water change during treatment and adding Prime and stress enzyme and not over feeding during treatment. I did pull the carbon out at the beginning of treatment and the filter looks like it has pretty good bacteria growing in it. I have been doing a 50% water change and not vacuuming the gravel since the ammonia has been rising and re added the carbon.Any suggestions I have had this tank for 5 years and haven't ever had Ick or water issues until now. Please advise. Its a 45 Gallon Bow front with a canister filter.
Thanks


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## Romad

Welcome to the forum :wave:

Sorry to hear that you're dealing with Ich  

You should be doing a really good gravel vac. with each water change. For now double or triple the dose of Prime with each water change to keep your fish safe while ammonia is present.

Have you thought about going with the heat method instead? It really works. Slowly raise the temp in the tank to 86-88 degrees farenheit (one degree per hour) and leave it there for 10 days. Continue with small daily water changes and gravel vacs. during this time. At the end of treatment, bring the temp back down to normal slowly again.

And you should add an airstone while the temp is higher in the tank to help oxygenate the water.

If you don't have live plants or salt sensitive fish, you can use AQ salt along with the heat treatment. Some folks do and some don't.

I would not use any other meds along with the heat/salt method if you decide to try it that way.

Good luck and keep us posted.


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## Sha344

Romad said:


> Welcome to the forum :wave:
> 
> Sorry to hear that you're dealing with Ich
> 
> You should be doing a really good gravel vac. with each water change. For now double or triple the dose of Prime with each water change to keep your fish safe while ammonia is present.
> 
> Have you thought about going with the heat method instead? It really works. Slowly raise the temp in the tank to 86-88 degrees farenheit (one degree per hour) and leave it there for 10 days. Continue with small daily water changes and gravel vacs. during this time. At the end of treatment, bring the temp back down to normal slowly again.
> 
> And you should add an airstone while the temp is higher in the tank to help oxygenate the water.
> 
> If you don't have live plants or salt sensitive fish, you can use AQ salt along with the heat treatment. Some folks do and some don't.
> 
> I would not use any other meds along with the heat/salt method if you decide to try it that way.
> 
> Good luck and keep us posted.


Thank you for your help! Yes I have not continued the ich medication and have raised the temp.. Ick is looking gone however now they Ammonia and PH continue to rise even with a big 50% water change and 25% every day after.. I'm using prime and Stess enzyme +. I do have live plants and loaches so I cannot use salt. Any idea what else could be making my levels so high? I have no dead fish in the tank and I still have living snails in the filter and in the tank. I also have added fluval bio helper as well.


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## Romad

I'm assuming that you didn't remove any of the bio media in the filter when you took out the charcoal? Have you added more fish recently? And have you checked your tap water for ammonia (hopefully not present there).

Or maybe the meds that you were using interefered with the good bacteria? There's got to be something going on there to put you in a mini cycle.


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