Removing carbon filter for meds

While treating my tank with Melafix, I read it's recommended to remove the carbon filter. I'm assuming it's the black spongy thing in my filter. If I remove them, won't any good bacteria in them die? I have them sitting in some treated water at the moment

When can I put the filters back in?

 

The black spongy thing is not the carbon. Carbon is the little black rocks that are probably inside of a filter bag. Let us know what kind of filter you have and we can probably help a little better.

 

it's a whisper 30-60 that hangs on the back, it has 2 sets of black sponges and then 2 white thing that looks like a bag

 

the carbon -- if you have any should be in the white filter bag(s). the sponges are your sponge filtration and home to the good bacteria colonies. when you work on the stuff in the filter, it's best to turn it off during the maintenance to cut down on how much 'crud' gets released into the tank. To clean the sponges, put treated tap water in a bowl and swish the sponge in it (never use untreated tap water on the sponges).

if you use carbon, it's good to replace it once a week (unless you get the real good carbon that lasts 2 weeks). if you don't replace the carbon when it's "worn out", it will release what it's collected back into the water.

 

I feel silly, I don't even know what's in the filter bags :-\, I'm guessing I should have changed one by now then? could it be something else in there ?

 

the white bags should only have activated carbon in them, if anything.. we either change or clean our bags every 4 weeks.. we change our carbon every 2 weeks.

 

okey dokey, thanks, guess I need to make another trip to the lfs tomorrow. I should have my own parking spot there by now lol
if I have 2 carbon filters in there, I should only change one tho right? so I don't lose the bacteria? I finally found the instructions and it says only when it gets clogged and backfeeds, and the sponges yearly or when they look worn

so are they taking the meds out then?

 

Yeah, the carbon is inside the filter bag. Your filter will still run fine without it for a week while you use the Melafix. You can even dump the carbon out of the bag, rinse it out, and put the empty bag back on the filter. At the end of the week, when you're done with the medication, do a 25 or 30% water change and just get a new filter bag. On my whisper filter, I don't even use those filter bags, I just wrap the plastic bag-holder thing with filter fiber... I don't use carbon at all.

EDIT: You probably want to remove both carbon bags as they will remove the medication.

 

You probably want to remove both carbon bags as they will remove the medication.

Will do, I'll just keep the bags in there, I see from the manual I can buy just the carbon to fill up the bags

I'm also have a nitrite spike, will removing the carbon make a difference?

 

Nah, I don't think removing the carbon should affect the water parameters much, if at all. Just do a fairly large (30-40%) water change to take care of the nitrite spike. Should do the trick. Just keep an eye on those levels. Water changes are a good thing

 

the carbon in the white filter bags can come out without a problem. a lot of people run their filters without the carbon ever being in. you can take out all of the carbon and not hurt the good bacteria. they mostly colonize on the sponge. i'm not sure about getting rid of a sponge full of good bacteria.. if I was planning to do that, i'd stick the replacement sponge in the filter for a month or 2 before changing sponges to help ensure a good colony of beneficial bacteria on the new sponge.

 

easier said than done, it took a while to get that carbon out, until I realized to just turn the bag inside out to get rid of it

so if I do a water change, will I have to re-medicate? or medicate in the am and change water in the pm?

I'm surprised that it's just tea tree oil, I have a ton of that stuff at home for other uses. But since it's for fish it cost a whole lot more :-\

I read on the label that it's a good idea to treat when getting new fish... any thoughts on that?

 

i'd do a water change, then start a course of treatment with the melafix.. I believe it's 7 days. I only use it if the platys show symptoms that need it.

 

I just checked and his fin looks a lot worse now, all shredded, I'm guessing the melafix is NOT helping. Any med suggestions? I need to run to the lfs and get something else

and what to do about the melafix in the water? should I put in carbon for a bit before I do a new med?

 

I just checked and his fin looks a lot worse now, all shredded, I'm guessing the melafix is NOT helping. Any med suggestions? I need to run to the lfs and get something else

and what to do about the melafix in the water? should I put in carbon for a bit before I do a new med?

yea, i'd clear the melafix with some AC in the filter for a day - outta clear most of it, then you can start a course of TriSulfa.. which tends to be pretty good against fin rot.

 

what are his chances? can his tail grow back?

I will run to the lfs this afternoon and grab some AC for the filters & run them and then do the new meds tomorrow, I did not add any melafix this am in case I was going to do a diff med. I hope the lfs has the Trisulpha

 

what are his chances? can his tail grow back?

I will run to the lfs this afternoon and grab some AC for the filters & run them and then do the new meds tomorrow, I did not add any melafix this am in case I was going to do a diff med. I hope the lfs has the Trisulpha

I couldn't say for sure, not seeing how much damage he has, but fins do regrow and the trisulfa will be the most likely med to give him a good chance. if you can get some liquid vitamins like vitachem from the DFS website, that would help too.

 

his pic is on this thread near the bottom. His tail looks great there compared to today tho, the bottom is almost non-existant today tho and that pic was taken last night

 

yea, definitely get him on the trisulfa as soon as you can.. I might even say just do a 75% water change and start the trisulfa immediately rather than waiting for AC to clear out all of the melafix.. what little melafix is left shouldn't affect things and the guppy needs the finrot dealt with now along with getting some protection from secondary infections.

 

Hubby called me from home, Lucky's luck ran out and he's gone too so I now have a fishless tank

How do I proceed now? Does the bacteria for finrot stay in the tank? Should I treat the water or just change it. And when would it be safe to add more fish? My daughter is going to be so upset when I tell her tonight

 

awww.. poor little guy. i'm sorry he didn't make it.

what i'd do is run the tank for a week with new AC in the filter, after changing out as much of the water as you can while still keeping the gravel wet.. feed the tank every 12 hours with flakes to keep it cycled and do 25% water changes as you get the chance.. I think it would be safe to add more fish after running the AC for a week.. just clean it out good from the flakes and all + remove the used AC from the filter.

 

I will give that a try, need to run to the lfs and get the AC refills for the bags, probably not tonight, wicked thunder storm right now, unless it passes, but will for sure do a water change when I get home tonight

I'm quite sad myself, I feel real bad for the poor little guy

 

I will give that a try, need to run to the lfs and get the AC refills for the bags, probably not tonight, wicked thunder storm right now, unless it passes, but will for sure do a water change when I get home tonight

I'm quite sad myself, I feel real bad for the poor little guy

I understand.. I feel that way when we lose one.. but you did all you could for him and gave him care and love so at least he had that and I think it means a lot to our fish.

 

so my hubby doesn't listen at all, I got home and found 4 new guppies swimming around the tank. Store is closed so I can't return them. They do look like they are in decent shape in the tail so I put AC in the filter to remove the melafix, tested the water and it all seems ok, I will be keeping a close eye on these ones to see what happens

3 of them are very social, 1 is very shy, hopefully these gals work out, as he told me they are female, the look like males with their the tail, so we'll see

 

so my hubby doesn't listen at all, I got home and found 4 new guppies swimming around the tank. Store is closed so I can't return them. They do look like they are in decent shape in the tail so I put AC in the filter to remove the melafix, tested the water and it all seems ok, I will be keeping a close eye on these ones to see what happens

3 of them are very social, 1 is very shy, hopefully these gals work out, as he told me they are female, the look like males with their the tail, so we'll see

well.. best of luck and I hope it'll work out. please keep us updated.

 

the carbon -- if you have any should be in the white filter bag(s).  the sponges are your sponge filtration and home to the good bacteria colonies.  when you work on the stuff in the filter, it's best to turn it off during the maintenance to cut down on how much 'crud' gets released into the tank.  To clean the sponges, put treated tap water in a bowl and swish the sponge in it (never use untreated tap water on the sponges).

if you use carbon, it's good to replace it once a week (unless you get the real good carbon that lasts 2 weeks).  if you don't replace the carbon when it's "worn out", it will release what it's collected back into the water.

What carbon do you have to replace every 2 weeks? The only carbon I have is in my filter bag and in my carbon cartridges from the undergravel filter.

 

- this carbon lasts 2 weeks, but most carbon only lasts about a week before it starts releasing whatever it's captured from the water.

 

- this carbon lasts 2 weeks, but most carbon only lasts about a week before it starts releasing whatever it's captured from the water.

oh, then these wouldn't be of use for me, right? Since, I use filters that already have carbon in them. I only need to worry about replacing the filters every month, right?

 

- this carbon lasts 2 weeks, but most carbon only lasts about a week before it starts releasing whatever it's captured from the water.

oh, then these wouldn't be of use for me, right? Since, I use filters that already have carbon in them. I only need to worry about replacing the filters every month, right?

yea, those are every 2-4 weeks, depending on what the instructions say.. our 2 hex 5 gallon tanks have that type of filter.

 

- this carbon lasts 2 weeks, but most carbon only lasts about a week before it starts releasing whatever it's captured from the water.

oh, then these wouldn't be of use for me, right? Since, I use filters that already have carbon in them.  I only need to worry about replacing the filters every month, right?

Thanks, for the info. it helps a lot.
yea, those are every 2-4 weeks, depending on what the instructions say.. our 2 hex 5 gallon tanks have that type of filter.