Water Changes In Conjunction With Meds?

[CezzaXV]

Hey everyone.

Long story short, one of my cardinal tetra has a pretty bad case of ich. Although none of my other fish appear to have it, I know how it's not visible til the later stages so I've been medicating the whole tank with King British WS3, which according to my LFS is really strong and should clear it up in a week or two but I should follow the instructions on the bottle very precisely.

So, according to the instructions I should redose every 2 days, then after 5 doses do a 10% water change. However, I usually change my water twice a week, around 30-50%, depending on how active I'm feeling that day. There is nitrate in my tap water so it can build up to higher levels relatively quickly.

The bottle states if the tank contains any sensitive fish such as X,Y,Z, to do a half dose. I've got cories in my tank, and although they weren't mentioned on the bottle, I've heard they can be sensitive so have been doing half doses.

This is all just a long-winded way of asking if I should proceed with my scheduled water changes!

 

[soybean]

Just personally I would skip the water changes until the treatment is complete. If your current sig is accurate, you don't have many heavy-duty fish in there, so feed lightly, maybe every other day, and waste should be minimal.

I would've thought a full course of the treatment, especially as you're only half dosing, would be more beneficial to them in the long run compared to a water change.

 

[Akasha72]

I always leave my water changes if I've had to medicate the tank - common sense tells me that removing water = removing the meds which is the last thing I want to do.

Although if it states on the med bottle to do a water change at a certain point then I'd follow that to the letter

 

[TwoTankAmin16]

common sense tells me that removing water

As it should. But common sense should also tell you that if you remove 25% of the water to change it that you remove 25% of the med as well. So if you add a 25% dose to the new water, net, you will not have removed and of the med.

I never use a cycled H tank. Instead I do 25% water changes every other day and replace the meds removed. I have done things this way for many years with no ill results. I have also found in most cases that excess food and fish poop should be removed from this sort of setup every day.