Quick Cure Question?

[MBfan465]

I just bought the Quick Cure treatment for Ick/Ich today, and it says to take out the carbon filter?? Is this safe for the fish? I also have a filter with a BioWheel, and was wondering if the medication might mess it up, and if I have to remove it. My whole tank just got the Ick, and all four of my platys have it!!! I heard Quick Cure was great stuff, and they are just starting to show mini dots so I wanna catch it early. Anyone who knows, any advice is helpful??

 

[coryd]

It's okay. If your carbon is a seperate cartridge just remove it from the filter. If the carbon is behind the fiber/floss, cut it and dump the carbon out, then put back cartridge with just floss. It should not affect your biowheel. My understanding is you should never remove the biowheel unless it is broken. I recently treated ich with Quick Cure. It is supposed to be the strongest stuff but it still took me almost 3 weeks to cure the tank.. One thing I learned is you must get the temp up to atleat 82. Good Luck

 

[MBfan465]

Well I don't have a very large tank (under 10 gal.), so I am hoping it will only take a week or so. When I take the carbon filter out, the only thing actually left in the filter will be the BioWheel. So do I have to put anything in it's place, because it will just be nothing there??

 

[noelberg]

i have found that you can do 2 things when medicating with a biowheel:

1. cut a hole in the top of the biowheel cartridge and shake all the messy carbon out
2. take one poor cartridge and take all the crud off of it until only the plastic backing remains, then buy some filter pads and cut a piece to size - the force of the water will hold it in place

After much experience i prefer #2 because no mater how much you shake the carbon, some will still remain.

 

[Mr Miagi]

Yeah, you should always treat your tank without the filter carbon inside. All it does then, if you leave it in there, is remove the medication you just put in. So take it out and chuck it out.

 

[Redbled]

Is this safe for the fish?

A lot of people don't even have carbon in their tanks. In one of mine, I use filter floss, which I heard about here, and I actually like the results better. So no, it won't hurt your fish to remove your carbon, especially for a small period of time.

 

[MBfan465]

Thanks for all your advice everyone, I took out the carbon filter and replaced it with a plain sponge one. My fish seem to be alittle more alive today swimming around normally, and although they have spots still it seems as though they don't have as many. This Quick Cure is great!

 

[coryd]

You should have more than just carbon and a biowheel in your filter. There should be a fibrous/spongy media to trap debris. You may want to check your owners manual to be sure you are properly using the filter. I'm guessing that the front side of your carbon cartridge has this "sponge" media. Either way, you can run the filter without both these mediums just to oxygenate and keep the water moving.

 

[MBfan465]

No my filter is a sponge pad with carbon in it. It is an all in one sponge pad thing.

 

[noelberg]

like i said, either remove the carbon and leave the spongey thing on, which is a pain, or remove everything and put a new spongey pad onto the plastic grid. A huge sheet of filter material with about 6 uses is $5 - 6

i recommend putting a carbon filter in again after medication is complete

 

[Redbled]

I've never added a spounge when I've medicated. Curious why its that important for a short period of time other than keeping the water looking clear, which won't happen when you medicate anyway.

 

[Mr Miagi]

I've never added a spounge when I've medicated. Curious why its that important for a short period of time other than keeping the water looking clear, which won't happen when you medicate anyway.

U take it out because carbon has the ability to remove some small particles out of water, so if you add medication, carbon will remove it! So there would be no point in adding medication if your going to remove it by leaving carbon in your filter!

 

[Redbled]

That wasn't what I was saying, I understand why to remove the carbon, what I was asking was why it was necessary to put a sponge there when you removed the carbon filter?