HELP! made a mistake!!

Hello everyone.. I think I may have an emergancy on my hands and don't know what to do. I made the mistake of trying to add the aqua clear filter insert,( the ammonia remover insert) to the filter basket as it was still running. I thought I would be able to just pull up simply the top insert and just insert this one to the middle, where it goes without turning the filter off. what happened was the bottom bio filter foam started to float up so I pushed it down and what resulted was a bunch of dirty water flowing into the tank!! OMG.. have I caused distress, damage.. and possibly kill my fish by this stupid move of mine? Everything is now in place but the water is cloudy. Have I just put back into the tank all the junk the foam insert has filtered and collected in the past weeks? uggggghhhh!!!
Please help with advice! thank you~ kate

 

I think most people here have had some sort of similar error. I'd watch the fish for signs of distress and make absolutely sure that all of your numbers stay ok. Presuming you don't have any really fragile fish, they'll probably do alright. The cloudiness could just be extra debris that will end up sucked back up into the filter and cleaned out again. Or it could be a bacterial bloom. I've heard a couple of people say that any time they upset their tank's balance, they get a temporary bloom (like what happens at the end of the nitrogen cycle) as the bacteria work to get the extra chemicals out of the water.

 

You won't kill your fish or haven't done anything that will mess up your tank. I have done that by accident myself a few times. It will just take time for the filter to clean the water or the junk will settle to the bottom. But either way, nothing will happen to your tank. There might be some of the junk back in the tank, but it will have a 99% chance of getting sucked back up into the filter. So don't worry.
Tom

 

As long as the tank is already gunky, you might want to go ahead & pull that filter sponge out again & rinse it out - drain a little tank water & rinse the sponge in tank water. That way you won't kill the bacteria, and the rinsed sponge may be able to better filter the stuff in the water. Either way I would'nt worry about what you did - been there & done that!

 

WHEW! Thank you both so much for your advice. I was so worried.. (and still am) that I may have hurt the fish. I have two dwarf gourami, 5 platy, 2 dalmation mollies a male betta and a silver tip shark cat (baby). I hope they will be ok. The mollies are so cute, playing hopscotch over each other, they don't seem to have noticed the problem at all. The cat just plays with the wand bubbler 24/7 and seems uneffected as well. The betta seemed to be thinking **** just happened here?? lol.. but thank you.. I will just let the aqua clear 50 continue to do its job cleanning up this mess in my 29 gal tank. The cloudiness came because of the mistake. I thought to put the ammonia remover to help with the nitrite/nitrate readings which are nitrate 0.5 and nitrate about a 10.
I better leave well enough alone and start working on setting up my 10 gal instead!! jeesh... lol
Thank you.. thank you... thank you for your fast responses, it feels good to know there are those out there ( in this forum) that kindly offer up their sage advice, this newbee so appreciates this forum for all you do! ;D

HI Terry.. thank you for the advice, its a great idea and your right, since it is gunky I may as well clean it up! this time however I will make sure to turn OFF the filter! lol...

OPPS..
those readings.. I meant to say.. nitrite at 0.5 and nitrate at about a 10. :

 

Yea, you're alright.. i've done the "oops, forgot to turn it off" thing with the filter too. How's the tank looking now?

 

hello there!
the tank is doing much better. At Toms suggestion I turned off the filter and rinsed out the foam in a bowl of tank water. It wasn't so bad, but did color the water. All the fish are doing fine today. I added a few more photos of the betta and the gourami in the interaction between them, over in the fish and tank photo folder. I didnt use the flash tho, it seems to startle them when I do, and it doesn't have that crystal clear look as when I use the flash. But you can check out the 'dance' there if you would like!~

 

One thing to remember- it's better to do an extra water change to get the parameters back in line.....I use activated carbon all of the time and change it every other month. In between changes I rinse the bag in used tank water when I do a water change...It helps to polish the water as well as to assist with the water parameters. As for the nitrates, anything <20 is acceptable...10 or less is better.

But again, if it were me, I'd do an extra water change....

 

thanks Vin, since I just did almost a 50% water change on saturday, I'm going to wait a few days to do another. Will change out about 20%. I have heard pro and con about the carbon filter. I took the charcoal out and replaced it with the ammonia remover bag. That's what started this whole thing. Wondered if after the water change I should put the charcoal back in. The nitrate/nitrite are doing fine...
thanks ~ kate

 

hello there!
the tank is doing much better. At Toms suggestion I turned off the filter and rinsed out the foam in a bowl of tank water. It wasn't so bad, but did color the water. All the fish are doing fine today. I added a few more photos of the betta and the gourami in the interaction between them, over in the fish and tank photo folder. I didnt use the flash tho, it seems to startle them when I do, and it doesn't have that crystal clear look as when I use the flash. But you can check out the 'dance' there if you would like!~

Sounds good, I will check that out.

 

I could be wrong, but aren't gouramis and bettas from the same family and they will fight? I could be wrong as i'm certainly no expert on bettas! :-\. also the mollies have quite big fins/tails which could be another target for the betta to attack?

glad to hear the tank readings are getting back in balance!!! we all make mistakes, so long as we learn from them!!!!!! hey, i've made plenty!!

tan

 

Yea, they don't have a reputation for getting along.. I guess sometimes they defy the odds & it works. how long have they been together?

 

just going over responses to posts..
they have been together for 5 days. Still no outbreak of war...

 

just going over responses to posts..
they have been together for 5 days. Still no outbreak of war...

cool. may peace reign in your tank.

 

As long as the gourami has his/her place and the betta has theirs, they may just not bother with each other....

thanks Vin, since I just did almost a 50% water change on saturday, I'm going to wait a few days to do another. Will change out about 20%. I have heard pro and con about the carbon filter. I took the charcoal out and replaced it with the ammonia remover bag. That's what started this whole thing. Wondered if after the water change I should put the charcoal back in. The nitrate/nitrite are doing fine...
thanks ~ kate

AC will help to remove chemicals as well....I've never used the ammonia remover so I can't comment on it. I just rely on water changes...It may just be that if you're experiencing water parameter issues that you may need to change water conditioners...I see a lot of folks talking about using a product called Prime.....Apparently it works to remove ammonia and detoxify nitrites and nitrates....Maybe you could give that a shot?

 

AC will help to remove chemicals as well....I've never used the ammonia remover so I can't comment on it. I just rely on water changes...It may just be that if you're experiencing water parameter issues that you may need to change water conditioners...I see a lot of folks talking about using a product called Prime.....Apparently it works to remove ammonia and detoxify nitrites and nitrates....Maybe you could give that a shot?

HI Vin~ thanks!
What is AC? I have used and use Prime during water changes. I have put the charcoal bag back into the filter and hope that will eliminate some of the cloudiness issues.

 

AC = Activated Charcoal

 

AC = Activated Charcoal

Exactly.

 

Belated welcome capekate. Just started reading this thread, and have to agree with vin on the water changes. Until your ammonia and nitrate are 0 and to keep nitrate WELL under 20, (5 is what I shoot for), I would recommend 50% water changes every day. It is a lot of work, but the more regular you are on water changes, the less stress on your fish, and they will be healthier!
About your woops, we all to that, Tom gave a good suggestion, I would just add wash all filter media out periodically with used tank water (not hot, cold or chlorinated water) trying to preserve the bacterial culture in the sponges/filters etc. Depending on your bio-load this might need to be done once a month, or every week! Best of Luck

Land of the Midnight Sun 8)

 

  Belated welcome capekate.   Just started reading this thread, and have to agree with vin on the water changes.  Until your ammonia and nitrate are 0 and to keep nitrate WELL under 20, (5 is what I shoot for), I would recommend 50% water changes every day.   It is a lot of work, but the more regular you are on water changes, the less stress on your fish, and they will be healthier!     
   About your woops, we all to that, Tom gave a good suggestion, I would just add wash all filter media out periodically with used tank water (not hot, cold or chlorinated water) trying to preserve the bacterial culture in the sponges/filters etc. Depending on your bio-load this might need to be done once a month, or every week!    Best of Luck

Land of the Midnight Sun 8)

Thank you for the welcome! Since I don't have the ammonia tester, I have been relying on the nitrate and nitrite readings to give me some indication of the ammonia level. I test with Mardel 5 in 1 test strips every am. The nitrite is now less than 0.5 and the nitrate has been around 10sh. I did a 20% water change on 4/3; 20% on4/7; 20% on 4/12; 50% on 4/15; 20% on 4/17th. and will do another 20-30% change today. The readings look good to me this am. nitrite almost at zero and nitrate a wee bit higher than id like it to show but it is less than 20. But its been just over a month and I'm hoping this tank has finally cycled. The fish all seem fine to me.

 

You've probably heard this, but those test strips are infamous for their unreliable results & this kit seems to be a favorite here:
. Hope your tank is on the way to being done cycling.