A couple weeks ago i had ick so i treated with protozin a word of advice do not use this unless its in a hospital tank.I didnt know that it kills everything including you're bacteria.Ive had to put my babys in to my 30 gallon tank as my 160 is off the charts with ammonia.On my charts it goes up to 8ppm and is dark green,when i test the water in my vats it goes way past this in to a very dark blue i thought it might be the coulor from the protozin but its been like this for 2 weeks.My bacteria colonys will not grow,am i gonna have to change all the media?Oh and the ick is back in the 30 gallon tank now,so im treating with ws3 any suggestions guys if you need more info please ask i need to get them back into the bigger tank asap.thanks tim

Losing all your bacteria was unfortunate. I am quite surprised this happens. Whereas I haven't used the product you are talking about, I have used various other products by water life and never had any problems. Do you know if protizin is based on methylene blue? I know that methylene blue can play havoc with your biological filter.

How long have you been trying to cycle the tank again? If indeed the medication is the cause of your problem, Have you tried washing the media completely so that any trace of this medication is eradicated?

Try turning the temperature up to around 30°C and leaving it like that for a few days, this should speed up the life cycle of the parasite, this is actually a common way of clearing this problem up. You will need to treat the tank as well so that any free swimming parasites are killed

I have turned the temp up to 30 like you said the last time,i believe protozin does have methylene blue i didnt no it killed everything when i used it it even kills you're plants.my tank has been cycling for two weeks now with no change what so ever so i might try washing all the media and starting again.Is there anything else that could be stopping the colonies of bacteria growing?After the last treatment with protozin i put carbon in to take the med out the water and did a 50%water change.Was this wrong or write?What am i doing wrong?thanks again

Stupid question, I assume you've got fish in the tank that you are trying to cycle? It really is difficult to say what is happening. Whether or not the media still has this medication on it is impossible to say. Have you got any nitrite reading at all? Do another test on tell us what the ammonia is. You could try using something like the stress zyme or stability, this can often help in a new tank.

Give us a detailed explanation of exactly what you're doing

Ok got the tank set it up and put some white clouds in to start the cycle.After 4 weeks the cycle was well under way so after 7 weeks the ammonia,nitrite had fallen to 0,nitrates were at around 10ppm.ph is at 6.8 at this time.I bought 4 irredescent sharks(catfish) and settled them in there for a week.I then purchased 4 oscars,now, in the shop they looked fine i took them home setteld them in and left them over night.The morning after i noticed the ick on the oscars i just bought.So i went back to the shop told them,looked at the rest of the oscars in the shop and of course they had it great!!The shop sold me protozin to treat but failed to mention this stuff will kill everything.Now once i treated with this and the ick had gone i did a 50% water change and put the carbon in.Then took my readings ammonia was sky high off the charts nitrite was at 0.50ppm.Itreated with ammo lock and after a week no change,i took my oscars out and put them into my 30 gallon tank and needless to say they loved my partners tetras and siamese fighter,but i didnt want to loose my oscars.Now i had to leave the sharks in as the 30 gallon cant cope with them.They have been in a week since i moved the oscars and still eat like pigs and seem fine.Ive been checking the ammonia everyday for a week and changeing 30% of water daily to get the ammonia down but it aint happening.ammonia is still sky high.here are the readings.AMMONIA 8.0ppm,NITRITE 5.0ppm+,NITRATE 10ppm,PH 6.8.What to do thanks tim!!

So you have got four iridescent sharks at the moment. Did you know that these alone can reach large sizes, they do acquire quite a big tank. Something that you have to think about before too long.

How big are they at the moment? How big they when you put them in the tank. I'm just wondering whether you overloaded the system is slightly. If you cycle the tank with just three of those small white clouds and then put in fish producing a lot more waste, that could cause problems.

You still using the ammo Lock? 8.0 of ammonia is extraordinarily high, I doubt any fish could last very long in that sort of environment.

Please tell us how big the fish are in the big tank

I had 16 white clouds in to sart off the sharks are 5 inch and im surprised ther still alive gonna have to get them out ill go see the shop when they open on the 27th.these were labelled as only gettin to 9 inch but as you've said they are monsters so i will rehome them ill give them back to the shop if i can.I need to get this tank sorted really.Its gotta be the protozin cus everything was fine untill i used that.So what would be you're advice?ive not used the ammo lock for 3 days now didnt no if was doing any good or just putting more crap in the system.

Don't stop using the ammo Lock if your ammonia is still very high. If this stuff does indeed work properly, it could save you from losing all your fish.

What type of test kits are you using? I can't see why this medication is still causing problems. You have to remember that 160 gallons is quite a big tank, it will take a few weeks to let the cycle properly. If I was you, I would get yourself some stress zyme. I think this could help your situation. You say your iridescent sharks are around 5 inches? Put together, that's quite a lot of fish, this could be why your ammonia is so high. This is why fishless cycling is so good, you can actually put a loss of ammonia in the water without worrying about losing any fish. The more ammonia you've got, the quicker the tank will cycle. This is why cycling with fish takes so long.

It's very dangerous to cycle a fish tank with too many fish to start off with, you would just have too much ammonia. The only thing I can suggest is to thin out your stock and take some back like you have already suggested. Start off with just a few fish. Like I've said, try using stress zyme. I got myself a 20 gallon tank a few months ago and put a few fish in it, I then added stress zyme and didn't do any water changes. I think the way stress zyme works is to actually take care of any ammonia and nitrite that's in the water whilst the tank is cycling. It does say that it helps establish a biological filter, this is quite a contentious issue which I'm not going to get into at the moment. However, I did use stress zyme and it worked for me. I can't promise it would work for you but it's worth a try

those sharks look like high fin pangasius.

if im correct then i can tell u that these sharks grow up to a huge size.

back in South Africa i had one of thos in a 1000liter tank and it grew to approx 800mm untill it out grew my tank.

those sharks are really pretty but i dont think that they should have ever left the wild due to the enourmas size they grow up to.

PS:i woke up this x-mass morning very merry just to find my 4 clown loaches dead,im pretty bumed out as i really liked my loaches.

Its not xmas here for another hour,as for the sharks which you have identified i feel the same they should never have been in the shop.If id of done my homework first id of left these guys in the shop i feel quite sorry for them as they dont look like there gonna have a future,who can house a 5ft monster cat fish,same as the redtails really aint please correct me if im wrong after all thats why im here!I will try the stress zyme thanks ill keep you all posted,and please if you can think of anything else let me no.cheers and a merry christmas to you all. Tim

Ok guys im having more problems,as you no my big tank is high in ammonia but it is slowly coming down now phewww.I got rid of the pangassius this morn the shop took them back.Now you no i said earlier i had to put my baby oscars in to the 30 gallon tank cus of the big tanks ammonia,well they got ich again ive been treating them with ws3,and again it just seems to be gettin worse,but the big problem is now that 1 of the little guys appears to have a fungus growing on his eyes.What is goin on?I just want them to be healthy i hate seeing em sick they become part of the family don't they.What am i doing wrong?The ammonia,nitrite are at 0 and nitrate is bettween 10ppm and 20ppm.According to the ws3 ive to treat at 48 hour intervals for as long as the problem is there and do a 10% water change after 5 treatments.The temp is at 30c,please advise.thanks tim