Carbon, carbon everywhere?

It seems like the carbon filter is spitting out tiny particles of carbon everywhere. Nothing in the tank is black, so I don't know what else it could be. Also getting a film or oily substance on the top layer since it started.

Did a water change and rinsed over everything covered in the particles. Rinsed the carbon really well. Top layer is clean now but I'm just a little concerned.

The carbon media was going for more than a week before it started. It's just a little Whisper 10.

I feel like garbage because I thought it stopped after not seeing any from last time, so we got a new snail. This morning it was everywhere again and the snail had been all through it.

 

So the carbon bag was only in the filter for a week before this started? Did anything come out of the bag while you were rinsing it?

 

Husband squeezed it and saw carbon when he was rinsing it, but it still wasn't at the level that came out in the tank. That's what baffles me!

 

Sometimes if you don't really kneed the bag of carbon when rinsing it out, you can get a pocket of dust that will release into the water. I had this happen once, so I do a much better job of rinsing my carbon now.

 

We had another smaller filter and never saw it, it just kind of shocked me. Made me feel awful for our Betta and new snail.

I think the last time I had fish in my home I was a preteen and never heard a word about all the media, filters, water parameters, etc. It's been a real learning experience, but I'm loving it.

Thanks