Ich and ammo chips

Question
I am treating my tank for ich right now.  I removed the carbon/charcoal media from the filter. It is a 75 gal tank with a bio filter. The water is showing a very low level of ammonia.  Is it safe to use ich medication while filtering with ammo chips or similar products?

Answer
Hey Al,

Before I answer, I want to remind you that Ammonia chips really only need to be used on a) new tanks or b) over stocked tanks. If your tank is more then a couple months old, it builds up ammonia processing bacteria that turns ammonia into nitrite into nitrate. Live plants and algae use nitrate as fertilizer.

That being said, rid-ich and other water treatment products require you to remove activated carbon filters for a few days because the activated carbon actually neutralizes the medications. If you are only treating the water for a few days, you can remove the carbon and ammonia, but if this is a prolonged treatment (more then 4-5 days) then I'd say leave them all. Removing carbon for more then a week will let other toxins build up, such as ammonia, chlorine, phosphate, iron, etc. Otherwise, there shouldn't be any trouble. Just keep track of the water, make sure there are no spikes or rapid changes, and take steps to correct any unsafe conditions.

Best of luck, and let me know how things go!