Carbon Filter / Medication

[Ginty]

Hi guys.

Ive added some anti-internal bacteria to my tank because my water is all ok. Ammonia 0. Nitrite 0
And nitrate 40. Ph is 7.5.
Ive lost 2 fish this week. They had no signs of illness then all of a sudden acting very fragile and struggling to swim properly. But no visible signs illness or spots, burns or fin rot.
I took the advice of someone and added this.
It says add a bit every other day. When do i add the carbon to remove medications and then when is it safe to remove the carbon. People have advised me to only use carbon to remove medications as it can be very expensive to keep running all the time.

 

[attibones]

When you complete the medicine round, then you should decide if you want to repeat the process or if your fish have healed well enough to remove the meds. To do that, add a new carbon cartridge or a bag of carbon or whatever works with your filter type. The carbon will be activated for two weeks, at which point the carbon is no longer useful and can be removed. I keep spare carbon filters around from new filters so that I have these on hand for times like this.

 

[KieranBoyne]

Hi guys.

Ive added some anti-internal bacteria to my tank because my water is all ok. Ammonia 0. Nitrite 0
And nitrate 40. Ph is 7.5.
Ive lost 2 fish this week. They had no signs of illness then all of a sudden acting very fragile and struggling to swim properly. But no visible signs illness or spots, burns or fin rot.
I took the advice of someone and added this.
It says add a bit every other day. When do i add the carbon to remove medications and then when is it safe to remove the carbon. People have advised me to only use carbon to remove medications as it can be very expensive to keep running all the time.

Are you using the interpet treatment??? If so, im pretty sure it's not every other day, its every 4 days i believe. And your nitrates are too high, 20 or below is acceptable. If its 20, it's just about tolerable, 15 and lower is good, 10 and lower is very good, any lower than that is insane lol. What colour is his poop??? That may seem like a strange question but if it is white then that is an indicator of internal infections. Also, is he bloated?? Do you see red lines/Streaks throughout the body?? All of these symptoms are telltale signs of an internal infection, which is one of the most lethal diseases.
 
And about the carbon, You take out the carbon filter media before you do the first dose of the treatment, otherwise it will just take it out the treatment and it will have no effect on the fish whatsoever. You only add the carbon filter media if you are finished dosing, along with a water change of course.

 

[Ginty]

Hi guys.Ive added some anti-internal bacteria to my tank because my water is all ok. Ammonia 0. Nitrite 0And nitrate 40. Ph is 7.5.Ive lost 2 fish this week. They had no signs of illness then all of a sudden acting very fragile and struggling to swim properly. But no visible signs illness or spots, burns or fin rot.I took the advice of someone and added this.It says add a bit every other day. When do i add the carbon to remove medications and then when is it safe to remove the carbon. People have advised me to only use carbon to remove medications as it can be very expensive to keep running all the time.

Are you using the interpet treatment??? If so, im pretty sure it's not every other day, its every 4 days i believe. And your nitrates are too high, 20 or below is acceptable. If its 20, it's just about tolerable, 15 and lower is good, 10 and lower is very good, any lower than that is insane lol. What colour is his poop??? That may seem like a strange question but if it is white then that is an indicator of internal infections. Also, is he bloated?? Do you see red lines/Streaks throughout the body?? All of these symptoms are telltale signs of an internal infection, which is one of the most lethal diseases. And about the carbon, You take out the carbon filter media before you do the first dose of the treatment, otherwise it will just take it out the treatment and it will have no effect on the fish whatsoever. You only add the carbon filter media if you are finished dosing, along with a water change of course.

I have seen slight creamy poohs floating aroung so i guess there is a disease.
As for my nitrates. I cant get it lower then that as my tap water is 30ppm.any advice on that??
Also i knew i had to add the carbon after id finished medicating the tank, i just wasnt sure when to remove it. Thankyou very much for your reply.

 

[KieranBoyne]

No problem. Im here to help after all. Slightly creamy, like, off white I guess?? Well that is internal issues then. Any bloating (big belly?)
 
And as for nitrates, I nice big wc should help it on it's way, 50% or more. But NEVER empty it. And, do you have live plants??? They help too with the water clarity
 
I don't mean to sound patronizing by the way.

 

[Ginty]

No problem. Im here to help after all. Slightly creamy, like, off white I guess?? Well that is internal issues then. Any bloating (big belly?) And as for nitrates, I nice big wc should help it on it's way, 50% or more. But NEVER empty it. And, do you have live plants??? They help too with the water clarity I don't mean to sound patronizing by the way.

no they havent got bloated bellies. And no i dont have live plants because im not sure how to care for them. (I dont want to have to keep replacing plants every week so id need a long lasting one )
I cant get my nitrates past 30 because thats how it is straight out of the tap. Is that harming my fish??
I do regular w/c once a week. And i do do 50% on the 4th week of each month.
Oh and your not patronizing. I need to learn and you replying so ill listen.

 

[KirkyArcher]

A lot of fish species can safely cope with nitrates as high as 60-80 ppm for relatively long periods providing it's a slow climb to reach those levels, (obviously the lower and more constant the better) most quotes of keeping levels below 20 ppm is usually related to reducing algae growth, planting with easy growing low maintenance plants will keep levels around the same as tap water values unless you go for densely planted high tech in which case you may see a slight reduction as the plants will consume a fair amount of nitrate , plus as a tank matures and especially if using high grade ceramic media anaerobic bacteria will develop these will start to consume some of the nitrates, as will reducing amounts of feeding and not going overboard with stock levels

 

[KieranBoyne]

Hello again. Basically if the nitrates stay at 30 then that should be just about ok. But 40 is just slightly too high. And its good that you do constant wc's every week. Some people don't keep up with it lol. I may have missed this in your reply, but do you ever clean your filter media?? Youre supposed to scrub it in tank water that has been taken out during a wc.

 

[KirkyArcher]

I and most fish keepers would strongly advise against "scrubbing" your media even in used tank water, all you need do is rinse out the heavy deposits of solid waste that reduce water flow rates and clog pores in ceramic media! Over cleaning media will eventually lead to ammonia spikes and mini-cycles occurring! 

 

[KieranBoyne]

Kirky, i always scrub mine.. Not so much that all of the dirt comes off it, just the majority... And i have never had an ammonia spike thank goodness.

 

[KirkyArcher]

Your recent cloudy water issue Kieran may well have been from an ammonia spike (bacterial and algal blooms are usually the result) ammonia spikes often go undetected even with daily water tests as spikes can be of short lived duration!

 

[KieranBoyne]

Thanks for the reply. But i think it was something else other than an ammonia spike as once i put in the ferts and stuff, i tested every 3 hours soo.... Don't meant to sound argumentative or anything
Sorry ginty. Ive put this topic off track. Is there anything you need help with?

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Also lets clear up the white /stringy poop issues. This is not usually a sign of bacterial problems but rather of internal parasites. This requires totally different meds than would an internal bacterial infection. Hopefully somebody from the UK will chime in with a recommended med as I am in the states.
 
As for nitrite levels as tested using an API type kit. In the states the legal limit of nitrate in tap water is 10 mg/l-N. That -N means using the nirtogen scale. The API type kits measure using the total ion scale. The result is that 10 mg/l-N of nitrite translates to a reading of 44.2 ppm when using the total ion scale. And this is further complicated by the nitrate hobby test being one of the least accurate ones we use. I would not worry about 30 ppm of nitrate unless one is keeping things rarely/never found in hobby tanks.

 

[Ginty]

Thanks every one. That last post has gone a bit too scientific for me. Lol. Im not that intelligent.
Ill get some stuff for internal parasites.
I would like to reduce my nitrates. But i need the easiest way please guys.

 

[KieranBoyne]

I kind of get confused too lol. And i thought i said it was internal parasites, my mistake.
 
I find that the best way to lower nitrates do not leave the tank unless they are removed (or if its a well planted tank; the plants will use the nitrates as food). It will not correct itself. Think of it this way: anything you add to the tank STAYS in the tank unless you remove it!