Fin Rot- Carbon Filter

[Stephanie87]

Hi there!

One of my platys may be suffering from fin rot....it is early days so i'm hoping i'm wrong. At first I though he may have just been nipped by another fish, but I was told that it wouldn't hurt to treat the water with Interpet Anti Fungus and Finrot anyway just to be on the safe side.

Why is it important for me to remove my carbon filter before adding the treatment?

Thanks
x

 

[KittyKat]

The carbon removes the medication from the water.

 

[Lolly123]

Hi there!

One of my platys may be suffering from fin rot....it is early days so i'm hoping i'm wrong. At first I though he may have just been nipped by another fish, but I was told that it wouldn't hurt to treat the water with Interpet Anti Fungus and Finrot anyway just to be on the safe side.

Why is it important for me to remove my carbon filter before adding the treatment?

Thanks
x

I believe it will suck up the medication that you add.

 

[Aqua Tom]

Carbon is a chemical filtration media & as such actualy absorbs chemicals from your water. Now this is usualy a good thing as it removes tannins & other discolourations but it will also absorb any medication you put into the tank.

Most of us only put carbon into the filter for this exact purpose, eg to remove medication from the water when treatment is over.

Your best bet is to take it out all together untill after treatment.


Tom

 

[Stephanie87]

Thanks, this is really helpful!

Although, if I remove the filter will my tank not become 'un-cycled'?
Also, how long should i wait before reintroducing the carbon filter, and what type of filter should I use in the mean time?

x

Carbon is a chemical filtration media & as such actualy absorbs chemicals from your water. Now this is usualy a good thing as it removes tannins & other discolourations but it will also absorb any medication you put into the tank.

Most of us only put carbon into the filter for this exact purpose, eg to remove medication from the water when treatment is over.

Your best bet is to take it out all together untill after treatment.


Tom

 

[KittyKat]

Although, if I remove the filter will my tank not become 'un-cycled'?
Also, how long should i wait before reintroducing the carbon filter, and what type of filter should I use in the mean time?

If you remove the whole filter, yes that will happen so that would be a very bad idea. Can you not remove *only* the carbon? Which model of filter is it?

If it is the only sponge in the filter, then you can probably leave it in as normally carbon is used up within a couple of hours to a few days of being added to a fish tank.

 

[Stephanie87]

Yeah its only a small tank, with one filter and a single carbon sponge.

I added the medication anyway.....but all my fish reacted REALLY badly to it. they stopped swimming and seemed to be in a bit of a trance, wouldn't eat, and their colour also faded. So i did quite big water change and things seem to be getting back to normal now.

Is it normal for medication to have this sort of effect on the fish?? I followed the dosage instructions correctly. And added oxygen tablets as the medication apparently de-oxygenates the water.

I'm really worried about my platy suffering from finrot- don't want it to spread to the other fish

Although, if I remove the filter will my tank not become 'un-cycled'?
Also, how long should i wait before reintroducing the carbon filter, and what type of filter should I use in the mean time?

If you remove the whole filter, yes that will happen so that would be a very bad idea. Can you not remove *only* the carbon? Which model of filter is it?

If it is the only sponge in the filter, then you can probably leave it in as normally carbon is used up within a couple of hours to a few days of being added to a fish tank.

 

[Aqua Tom]

What exactly do you have in your filter.

Is it one some sponge & some carbon?

Or just carbon?


Tom

 

[KittyKat]

Although, if I remove the filter will my tank not become 'un-cycled'?
Also, how long should i wait before reintroducing the carbon filter, and what type of filter should I use in the mean time?

If you remove the whole filter, yes that will happen so that would be a very bad idea. Can you not remove *only* the carbon? Which model of filter is it?

If it is the only sponge in the filter, then you can probably leave it in as normally carbon is used up within a couple of hours to a few days of being added to a fish tank.

Yeah its only a small tank, with one filter and a single carbon sponge.

In that case, the carbon won't affect the medication as it would have long since used up. I use a similar filter (an Elite mini) in my hospital/quarantine/grow out aquariums: I actually use bio media (in the form of bio balls, Eheim's Substrat) in the filter with good results. But media swapping is a pain, so if you ever think about it, ask for advice before doing anything.

I added the medication anyway.....but all my fish reacted REALLY badly to it. they stopped swimming and seemed to be in a bit of a trance, wouldn't eat, and their colour also faded. So i did quite big water change and things seem to be getting back to normal now.

Is it normal for medication to have this sort of effect on the fish?? I followed the dosage instructions correctly. And added oxygen tablets as the medication apparently de-oxygenates the water.

I'm really worried about my platy suffering from finrot- don't want it to spread to the other fish

Oh, fun stuff! Which medication did you use?

What are your water parameters? Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, hardness, temperature?
Aquarium size?
Stocking?
Full description of the set-up, preferably including a photo?

 

[Essjay]

Kitty Kat - the elite mini doesn't have carbon. It's just a black coloured, non-carbon sponge. I emailed the company and asked: -

In answer to your question about the filter sponge in mini filter, it is just coincidence it is coloured black. There is no carbon in it what so ever. I hope this has been some help to you.

The filter's in my betta's tank, but I use substrat pro too, covered with a thin layer of the sponge.


Always thought it was a silly idea, using black for a plain sponge when there are so many other colours available.

 

[KittyKat]

Kitty Kat - the elite mini doesn't have carbon. It's just a black coloured, non-carbon sponge. I emailed the company and asked: -

In answer to your question about the filter sponge in mini filter, it is just coincidence it is coloured black. There is no carbon in it what so ever. I hope this has been some help to you.

The filter's in my betta's tank, but I use substrat pro too, covered with a thin layer of the sponge.


Always thought it was a silly idea, using black for a plain sponge when there are so many other colours available.

Hah! Thanks for pointing out! When I bought mine some years ago, they were being advertised as "carbon sponge"s, which I was slightly annoyed at, at the time..

 

[Essjay]

I suppose it depends on how you define 'some years ago'. That email reply was April 2007 - I always save useful emails in case I need to refer to them again

 

[KittyKat]

I suppose it depends on how you define 'some years ago'. That email reply was April 2007 - I always save useful emails in case I need to refer to them again

I think I got mine if mid-2008..

 

[Stephanie87]

Hi Kitty kat,

I used Interpet anti fungus and finrot,(http/www.aquaessentials.co.uk/interpet-anti-fungus-finrot-fish-medication-100ml-p-2703.html) which i bought from pets at home.

My tank is 28 litres.
temperature is set to 26 degrees.
I don't have an oxygen pump but my filter seems to do the job fine, and i've also got some live plants in there.

I've got 3 platys (one of which has fin rot)
2 yellow honey gouramis
2 white tip tetras
and 2 orange dwarf shrimp.

My tank has been set up since about December, but the platys are new. They were introduced about 2 weeks ago.
When I set up my tank I moved a mature filter sponge into my own filter. so I more or less had an instant cycle.

The medication instructions told me to use 1ml of medication per 5 liters of water. 5ml of medication per 25 litres of water.
so I initially used 5ml, dissolved in a glass of warm water before added to the tank.
After the bad reaction I did a 50% water change to try get rid of as much medication as I could as quickly as possible.

Things are back to normal now but the fin rot is getting worse although its not yet spread to my other fish.
I've just added 3ml of medication. hopefully a lower dose will work better???

my current water quality is as follows:

ph: somewhere between 7.2 and 7.6
ammonia: 0 ppm
nitrite: 0 ppm
nitrate: above 0 ppm, below 5 ppm


I'm not 100% sure that my filter is a carbon filter, as the sponge was donated to me. it is a black sponge though. either way, i have left the filter and the sponge in the tank.
the filter i use is: http/www.aquaone.co.uk/documents/Internal100series_instructions_lowres.pdf

xx

 

[Stephanie87]

will include a photo- just charging the camera! x