White Spot

[boost]

Hi one of our clowns has whitespot and the mrs has treated with interpet antil white spot but not taken out the carbon filter out the filter, this was yesterday, what affect will not taking the carbon out have?

 

[loraxchick]

hi
how long have you had that batch of carbon in your filter. carbon loses its ability to absorb chemicals rather quicklu..if its been in for more than two weeks id say you are ok to keep running the filter with the carbon in while you medicate(if the carbon is older, all it is right now is a location for good bacteria to colonize and removing it would also remove some good guys)...but change the carbon AFTER the treatment is done to remove the meds.

 

[Bignose]

It is fair to simply assume that the carbon has been taking up all the medication and none of the medication has been killing off the ich parasites. So, if you've been putting in medication for two days, take the carbon out immediately and restart your count at zero days.

The problem with slightly used carbon is that it will take up some portion of the medication so the dosing won't be right. Partial doses are really bad because it will effectively selectively breed the medication-tolerant strains of ich and then when you start using full doses the population of organisms is resistant and won't be killed by that same medication.

So, in short, remove the carbon immediately and restart your count of treatment days at zero.