Urgent Help Required!

As said in a previous post, I removed my gravel/large pebbles from my tank, But as I removed it clouds of old food and other gunk came out! Usually when doing my rocks it isnt so bad this time it was mayhem and it is now all spiralling round my tank.

I really dont know what to do to get rid of it? Its starting to lay on the floor of my tank but even then, what should I do to get rid of it?
My axolotls are in a seperate container, so aren't being harmed but I dont want to put them back into a tank where they are likely to.

Any help will be MUCH appreciated!

Edit: I forgot to say, I was cleaning the filter, as I was told it was a 3 sponge filter, but when I opened the 2 smaller containers lots of pieces of charcoal and pebble like things came out? I didnt realize this and it has ended up in a bucket with the rocks I am going to throw away, So What should I do?

Reply

im not sure but byy removing gravel mite need to recycle tank but removing was a good idea and i suggest removing axolotl and do a full water change

I was to believe that doing more than a 50% water change isn't a good thing.

I decided to filter my whole tank into another 2 basins, then filter it all bak into the tank again and this has got ridden most of the dirt, The levels in my tank are fine aswell, phew!

Now you see another reason why gravel is a poor choice for substrate.

If you managed to remove the debris, and keep most of the water, it shouldn't be a problem. What kind of filter do you have? Can you post a picture of it? Some filters use bags which contain charcoal (a chemical filtration process) and bits of ceramic, on which bacteria grow (biological filtration).

Thats exactly what came out of my filter...I cant reshut the thing they came in either as it snapped when my mum opened it...

http://www.everythingforpets.com/images/prod/3/prop_1_37865.jpg

I've ended up leaving out those 2 bits now because there broke and just the filter sponge, Will I need a new filter? I'm not particulary fond of this one anyway.

The filter sponge alone is often adequate for biological filtration. The filter which came with a tank I am setting up has only a sponge. Keep a close watch on ammonia and nitrite as you have changed rather a lot and you may need to resort to 20% daily water changes but with luck this filter will still work fine.