Oh, I know that's so frustrating when that happens. I've had that happen to me a couple of times this past year. So annoying cos the tank ends up looking worse than before doing the water change/filter clean.
What I ended up doing was another 50% water change and then just left the rest to the filter to clean up - it took a few hours to go clear again. Depends on how effective/fast your filter flow is at drawing the tank water in (which will trap all the particles) and pushing cleaner water out.
As you know, rams are very sensitive little fish. The fact that he's not well and is now going to be stressed out even more due to the dirty water (yes, they are fussy!) isn't going to help much.
What I would do in your situation is, firstly, do another 30-50% water change then add your meds. It would have been useful to put back the carbon filter before adding meds, just for an hour or so - BUT there is the chance that messing around with the filter could, again, cause it to chuck more debris into the tank (there was obviously a large build up of debris in the filter chambers which might not have all cleared). So, rather than chance that happening, dont bother using it to clear the water. It will have to clear up on its own - and it should be ok in a few hours (depending on how strong your filter flow is at drawing the dirty tank water into the sponge).
Anyway, good luck with treating the ICH and I hope your little ram pulls through!
Regards, Athena
