activated carbon question

[neupane00]

discus tank has some problem.. i saw one white spot in discus. possibly ick?? couple of discus with torn fins and one discus with its fins sticking together. all of them are very ACTIVE and eating like crazy tho...
i am planning to do melafix, pimafix and ick cure treatment to the tank. to do that i need to take out carbon right? now the question is if i take the carbon out, store it in a plastic bag and after the treatment, can i use the same wet carbon that i stored? or once i take it out, its no good? thanks a lotttt for your help..

[seanyuki]

Remove the carbon then add the medicine.....try Furan 2 or Maracyn-Two for the infections.

[Disgirl]

I think it would be OK to save the wet carbon, but rinse it in a bucket of used tank water before you put it back into the filter.
Barb

[neupane00]

Remove the carbon then add the medicine.....try Furan 2 or Maracyn-Two for the infections.

wait.. so should i use pimafix, melafix, ick and maracyn-two .. all together??

whats the diff between maracyn-two vs (pimafix/melafix)_?

[seanyuki]

just use the MARACYN-TWO......it's bad to combine all sort of medications at once cos you would NOT know which medicine actually cured the fish ........as for MELAFIX/PRIMAFIX are quite weak imo....but they smell good.

[April]

id do a very large wc for awhile..daily..maybe add salt and forget dumping medications in there. first line of defence is wcs. are they in a tank with substrate and other stuff? bioload will make them have issues. give them some big wcs..and watch them before resorting to tons of medications. it lowerrs their immunes etc.
no reasonn discus should have ick if you have your temperature high enough. 84 degrees or higher. discus dont get ick becauses of the high temps. melafix wont hurt..but dont dump all those meds in. do a wc and melafix or salt at one tablespoon per gallon and forget meds for now. if it doesnt cure with major wcs and clean bottom etc..then go to the disease section and give all the parameterrs of your tank etc for expert advice. theres a list there to fill out of your parameters, tank size, etc etc so we get a better idea of whats happening.

[Eddie]

I agree with April, keeping the water quality at it's best and the addition of salt for now would the best option. Using melafix may or may not help but its no harm in trying it.

Take care,

Eddie

[seanyuki]

Just a reminder it's coarse salt and not table salt:)

[Eddie]

Just a reminder it's coarse salt and not table salt:)

I use table salt Francis.

Eddie

[seanyuki]

Hi Ediie,

Just curious.....which one works better.....coarse or table salt:confused:.....heard from a breeder that he's using salt from the mountain too.



I use table salt Francis.

Eddie

[Eddie]

Hi Ediie,

Just curious.....which one works better.....coarse or table salt:confused:.....heard from a breeder that he's using salt from the mountain too.

I don't know Francis, I guess I just use what is more readily available to me. Been getting 5 pounds of Morton's (non-iodized) Table Salt for months now and it works great. ;)

Eddie

[Apistomaster]

Re: Salt
Table salt has anti-caking additives that may temporarily cloud the water. This isn't harmful but the rock salt used for water softeners is much cheaper, is 100% pure NaCl and does not cloud water..

Re: Carbon
Carbon is a waste of money. It is not needed at all.
The only time carbon is helpful is when you have had to medicate fish and after making several water changes it doesn't hurt to use carbon for a week to help remove any residual medication.
Not very many truly expert aquarists use carbon routinely. It can be used to remove the tannins from wood that harmlessly discolor your water.

Melafix and PimaFix:
These herbal extracts are a scam. They do nothing; no harm and no good. Just a waste of money. Fish that happen to improve after using them would have done so anyway without them.
Use specific drugs for specific diseases.

[Eddie]

Re: Salt
Table salt has anti-caking additives that may temporarily cloud the water. This isn't harmful but the rock salt used for water softeners is much cheaper, is 100% pure NaCl and does not cloud water..

Re: Carbon
Carbon is a waste of money. It is not needed at all.
The only time carbon is helpful is when you have had to medicate fish and after making several water changes it doesn't hurt to use carbon for a week to help remove any residual medication.
Not very many truly expert aquarists use carbon routinely. It can be used to remove the tannins from wood that harmlessly discolor your water.

Melafix and PimaFix:
These herbal extracts are a scam. They do nothing; no harm and no good. Just a waste of money. Fish that happen to improve after using them would have done so anyway without them.
Use specific drugs for specific diseases.

Hey there Larry, not all table salt has anti-caking agent. Specifically the type I use has none. The label on the back usually provides the ingredients and some brands have anti-caking agents, Morton's Non-Iodized salt does not.

Eddie

[Apistomaster]

Hi Eddie,

Obviously I did not know that any table salt did not contain an anti-caking additives so you have taught me something new. Isn't Kosher salt also without the additive? I'm guessing it is.

I actually like using salt with the appropriate medication but only in a separate treatment tank.
Most commonly, I use 1 tbs with methylene blue, for a week on newly arrived Discus if they look badly beat up and bruised. For the most part I only need to do this with some of the wild Discus I have received. They have been through so much. The salt seems to promote healing although it has some other beneficial effects. Once the initial treatment has been completed I move on to de-worming meds like flubendazole and praziquantal.
Once Discus are ready to come out of quarantine I never use salt in their standard water.

[Eddie]

No worries Larry, the Kosher Salt I use for cooking has anti-caking agent. I remember reading some issues with the AC agent so I never used for my tanks.

Eddie