help with my filter!!!?

Question

ok so my fish have ick/ich.
ive given them 4 treatments now (its called fish saver)
and its meant to cure ick/ich!
problem is i dont see a change!
i havent turned my filter off while ive been treating the fish.
i have a fluval 3 filter, and i took the black sponge out!
people keep telling me that i need to take the filter media out otherwise the treatment isnt goin to work.
what is the filter media?
do i have to take the two white sponges out aswell?
should i just turn the filter off full stop untill ive finished treating my fish?
please help as my other loach died today, and i dont want any of my other fish dying too!!!
thanks

Answer 1

Kepp the filter running and yes, you do need to be sure all of the carbon is out of the filter. Sounds like you have done it right to me. If you have a bag or container of small black rocky looking stuff, that's the carbon.

Be sure to include daily water changes (about 50%) in your treatment. Change the water before you add the daily treatment. Clean the gravel really well with a gravel vacuum. In the gravel is where ich lives part of it's life when it's not on the fish and by cleaning the gravel you remove some of that before it can get on your fish. That's part of the reason why loaches and other bottom fish sometimes have such a hard time with ich, they are right there when it comes out of the gravel looking for a host fish to attach to.

Hope that helps and feel free to email me if you need to.

MM

Answer 2

Keep your filter running, the only thing you need to remove is the carbon, or anything that acts as chemical filtration.

The white filter pad's in your filter should remain in because all they do is catch garbage and they will not affect the treatment.

You can raise the temp, but all this will do is speed up the life cycle of the ick, it will not actually do anything to kill it.

I would suggest getting a treatment that is made for ick, not a general cure all, which fish saver is. But you need to do a large water change (30 to 50%) and wait at least 24 hours before beginning a new treatment.

The Loach was probably killed by the treatment, not the ick. Scaleless fishes and snales (invertebrates) are very sensitive to these treatments and need to be removed from the tank before you start.

Filter Media = anything you put in your filter to help clean the water. There are 3 types. Chemical - Like carbon and ammo chips, Physical - like the white pads you use that catch and hold debree in the water, and Biological - which is a sponge of lattice like material that allows bacteria to grow, the bacteria then remove ammonia and nitrate from the water. (you should never clean this type except to swish them in a little old tank water to remove goo, if you run them under tap water it kills off the bacteria).

Good Luck
E.

Answer 3

Don't turn your filter off. What your filter media is is a "bag" looking filter filled with something that looks like black rocks. Just remove it from the filter.

The carbon will pull your medicines out of the tank. The sponges can stay. They will not pull the meds out of the tank.

You seem to be doing fine. Just remove the filter with the rocks in it. Keep treating your tank and allow the filter to run. Depending on the type of meds you are using, it may or may not require a water change.

Answer 4

The carbon is still in. You are filtering the medication right out.
Take out everything and just circulate the water if you can't just remove the carbon. The media is the stuff in the filter. Maybe a pad with charcoal in it? I don't know the Fluval that well. Ich is going to take at least 5-7 days to cure. You should start seeing improvement in 3 days.

This is my treatment. It has worked for me for over 30 years, dozens and dozens of times.
First step:
20-25% water change with gravel vac. Most likely your poor water conditions contributed to the outbreak of ich.
Second step:
Raise temperature (no more than 1° per hour) to 85°.
Third step:
Add aquarium salt (not table salt) in the amount of one rounded tablespoon per 5 gallons. If you have scaleless fish, reduce that to one rounded teaspoon per 5 gallons, as they don't tolerate salt.
http://www.aquariumpharm.com/en_us/productCategory.asp?categoryname=WaterConditioners
Fourth step:
After 24 hours, a second 20-25% water change. Add more salt. If you took 5 gallons out in the change, put another rounded tablespoon in. Adjust for your situation.
Fifth step:
Wait 24 hours.
Sixth Step:
A third water change of 20-25% and replace salt removed.
If this does not cure the fish, you will want to use a commercial ich curative, such as copper sulfate like Aquarasol http://www.aq-products.com/APpro/aquarisol.htm
or in more extreme cases, Malachite Green
http://www.aq-products.com/APpro/quickcure.htm

Good Luck

Answer 5

filter media is the carbon or whatever means of chemical filtration you have in the filter stop the filter and take out the sponges to, the bacteria could be absorbing the medication. Since the medication is an "impurity" to the water the media of chemical filtration will destroy it. Unless your medication is all natural the filter will eliminate it.

Answer 6

You need to take out watever filter parts that would block any of the medicine from returning to your tank after traveling through the filter system. I would also raise the temperature to 85 degrees to help the parasite to go through its life cycle faster.