dead bacteria?

[gypsy3]

hi all...did a filter clean a couple of days ago and all of a sudden ammonia levels in the tank went up.i didn't realise the filter hadn't primed and wasn't working for a couple of days. would this have caused the bacteria in the filter to die off, and if so, will i have to clean it again, or will good bacteria build up again.? in the meantime i'm doing water changes daily and the ammonia is stable, on my ph test kit on a scale from 0 - 8, ammonia is between 1.5 - 2.0. any advice would be appreciated

[ILLUSN]

you'll need to do more water changes to gert your ammonia down, i left a filter unplugged for a week and it was DEAD.

open your filter up and have a sniff, if it smells anerobic (you'll know it when you smell it) give it a GOOD wash to get all the dead muck out. under anerobic conditions patogenic bacteria can breed at an incrediable rate. you'll have to recycle it. if you can find some one close by who can spare some good media, you can use that "seed" your filter and you should be back in busniess within a couple of weeks.
If not KEEP UP THE CHANGES for a month or so and hopefully by then the bacteria in your tank will have re colonised your filter.

I fit smells ok prime it, add a tripple dose of prime to your tank to lock up any ammonia and you should be ok.
Aerobic bacteria can survive for over 24hrs in an anerobic enviroment, any longer and they start to go into a non viable state. hope fully they'll be ok and your ammonia should dissapear within a day or two.

[gypsy3]

thanks mate, youv'e been a big help over the past couple of weeks. i've also got an eheim 2215 and a couple of powerheads going, so maybe that'll help a little.will check the big filter first thing tomorrow