Carbon to get rid of meditication

[i3k]

OK, I have ICH outbreak in one of my tanks and I've been dosing it with Clout and removed the carbon filter. My loaches in that tank are having a bad reaction from clout. They are not moving and their skin got darker. I've been dosing for 3 days with temp. of 84 degrees and the Ich problem seems to be getting worse. So I want to switch medication. I have aquari-sol which I've had luck with in the past. My question is, if I put the carbon filter back in, how long will it take to clear out the clout medicine? When can I switch to aquari-sol? Last clout dose was yesterday morning. I put in the carbon filter back into the filter this morning.

Thanks.

[jft]

use polyfilter it will do the trick

[i3k]

so does anyone know how long it actually take for carbon to filter out the medication? couple hours? 24 hours?

[Blueiz]

The ich will get worse before it gets better. The increased temperature is speeding up the lifecycle of the ich. Ich can only be killed in its free swimming stage, so the cysts (white spots) on the fish have to rupture to release the parasite and only then can it be killed.

I would reduce the temperature in the tank a couple degrees and see if that helps the loaches, but I would continue with the same treatment since you have already started it.

[Markstanfill]

Activated carbon works after it has been saturated, which can take some time. It also works better in slower currents, like hanging in a bag in a corner of the tank where the water moves less. The faster the water goes over the carbon, the less it does. But I would not use carbon to filter out medications if there was a serious problem, water changes are much faster and efficent. +1 on blueiz comment.

[i3k]

So should I doze it with clout again? Just seems like clout is too toxic for my loaches. I mean is there any harm in switching medication? I know they do good when I use aquari-sol and I've had great success in killing ich quickly with aquari-sol before. Don't want to lose these guys...had them for about 5 yrs now.

[dkpate]

As far as I know, all ich meds are bad for scaleless fish. Do they have ich too?

[i3k]

Yea, all the fish in that aquarium seem to have it. The loaches seem to have it the worst.

When I've treated them for ich a few years back, I used aquari-sol and they seems to be OK with it. This clout medicine is messing with them. What bothers me is the fact that they turn dark color(poisoning?).

I didn't dose the tank with clout today. I put the carbon back into the filter this morning and they seem to be doing less flashing/scratching. I really do want to switch over to aquari-sol. I guess I will do a 30% water change tomorrow morning and start dosing with aquari-sol. Would that be OK?

[CaptainAhab]

Do NOT use Clout with scaleless fish. It is killing your fish. Get him out of that tank and into a QT environment.

If you want to treat with clout in the tank all the scaleless fish need to be removed and treated separately.

Understanding and Treating Ich or White Spot

http://www.liveaquaria.com/PIC/article.cfm?aid=71


You may also want to read this regarding the removal of copper based meds using GAC (or more precisely non-removal)

http://www.fishyfarmacy.com/Q&A/all_about_copper.html

[i3k]

Thanks Captain. Yea I'm not dosing the tank with clout anymore. The loaches are much better today as far as being active and their color is back to normal. Looks like the carbon filter removed some of the clout medicine over night. They are still flashing against gravel, but not as much. Is it safe to switch over to aquari-sol now? It has been over 48 hours since I dosed with clout and 24 hours since I put in the activated carbon to clear the medicine.

[Phrozian]

Is it really necessary to use medication for Ich at all?
At temperatures of 84 degrees, I thought Ich's reproduction cycle would halt?
I think you can imply keep the temperature at that level for another week or two to let the rest of the Ich die off...

[CaptainAhab]

I think the conventional wisdom is above 86 and that there have been strains that have proven to live into the mid 90's. The other big assumption is that your fish will live that long. In FW, I prefer 85-ish with meds in a QT. Tank fallow for 4 weeks.

BTW: Also a good time to go dark and whack out any algae that may be hanging around.

[i3k]

The reason I didn't want to raise the temp. to 86 is because my Boesemani Rainbows sit up top even when I raise it to 84.

The fish are doing MUCH better today. I hardly see any flashing/scratching. The loaches are very active again. I have my temp. at 80 and will continue to treat with aquari-sol for a few more days.

Thanks for all the replies.