# Pimafix and Carbon in Filter?



## moonbaby4885 (May 28, 2010)

I'm new here to the forum so first off I want to say hello to everyone, and thanks for all the insight! I'm rapidly becoming obsessed with this new hobby (or newly re-discovered). I have 2 tanks, a 30gal and 10gal. 

I started out with 9 glolight tetras, 5 albino cory's (4 juvies and one 3-yr-old which has not survived the "disease" ..), and 3 glass catfish. Now I'm down to the 4 cory's, 7 glolights, and 2 glass cats. 3 weeks into having my tank I noticed small white fluffs on the bodies of some of the tetras. Stupidly, I assumed it was ick so I gradually raised the water temp and started treating for it with malachite green. The fluffs didn't go away and I'm afraid the treatment stressed my older cory because the next day his tail fin was almost gone it appeared to have abbraisions on its skin. The smaller cory's still seem to be doing well. The white fluffs on the tetras were growing larger and covering the head(above the mouth) and gills.I've lost 3 glowlites and 1 glass cat. The other two glass cats look healty as a lark? Further research lead me to come to the conclusion that they have cotton-mouth or columnaris so I immediately went out and bought some pimafix and lowered the water temp. I found out that warmer water actually makes these fungi worse, doh! 

Here comes the real question...

So I'm 2 days in witht he pimafix treatment (bottle recommends 7 days, then a % water change) and the fuzzies are going away! Anyways, the bottle says remove all carbon filtration over the course of the treatment. After 2 days the water is starting to look foggy and I don't want to cause further harm to the fish by not filtering the water??? I have the marineland 200 with biowheel that has the filter cartridge with carbon built in. If i take out the carbon i take out the filter. Is it okay to put the filter back in for a short time and then take it out before my next dosage? If so how often can I do this without effecting the treatment? Bottle says to do the water change at the end of the 7 days. 

Any opinions?


(sorry for all the reading! :BIGvault


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## bettababy (Oct 12, 2006)

Wow, sounds like you have a mess on your hands. 
I will do my best to help you sort through it.

In answer to your question about the carbon, it will absorb any medication that is in the tank and will continue to do so until it is either full/used up or until the medication is gone. Adding it between medication doses will lower the amount of medication in the water, and with most meds, this will make them ineffective. Basically you'd just be wasting the medication and not get the desired benefits from its use.

You mentioned the water is cloudy... is it white cloudy, green cloudy, brown cloudy? Can you see particles floating in the water? 

One option if this is particulate matter is to use filter media without the carbon. If you need a link to an example, let me know and I can post that here for you. There are a number of different options available.

I would strongly suggest you not add carbon back to the filter until the treatment is complete.


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## moonbaby4885 (May 28, 2010)

Thanks BettaBaby! I'm down to 5 glowlites now but the affliction seems to have dissapeared. I moved the fish into a temporary 10 gal so I could change the water in the 30gal to hopefully prevent the disease from coming back.


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## bettababy (Oct 12, 2006)

moonbaby4885 said:


> Thanks BettaBaby! I'm down to 5 glowlites now but the affliction seems to have dissapeared. I moved the fish into a temporary 10 gal so I could change the water in the 30gal to hopefully prevent the disease from coming back.


If I am understanding this correctly, you emptied the 30 gallon and cleaned it out to start it over, yes? I would strongly suggest you make sure this tank is cycled before moving the fish back into it. With a weakened immune system from fighting off a recent illness and the stress of medications, adding these fish back to an uncycled tank will likely mean the loss of more if not all of the rest of them. I'm hoping the 10 gallon was cycled before you moved them to it? 

For future reference, this is not a good idea when treating fish for an illness. Stress is a major cause of illness in fish, and this procedure is very stressful for them. If illness is present in a tank and the proper medications are used in that tank, there should be no concern of a occurrence of the illness unless the medications were ineffective or the wrong medications were used. In both instances, the fish would likely still be showing symptoms of the illness. 

For infections such as you dealt with, which sounds like a fungal infection or possibly a viral infection, there is no way to completely eliminate it from an aquarium. Once you begin adding water, fish, food, etc. there are spores present, as many of them are air born. The best way to eliminate future illness is to quarantine new fish before adding them to the main tank, keep water parameters in check (0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and nitrate under 20), and avoid stress as much as possible for the fish. Stress weakens the immune system which leaves the fish vulnerable to a wide range of issues. With a strong and healthy immune system, a fish is normally capable of fighting off these problems before they take hold and cause a problem.

I will do what I can to help you, but at this point, making sure the 30 gallon is fully cycled before moving the fish back is the best thing to do.

Also for future reference, its is best to seek advice from someone who knows about fish illness and the medications to treat it before using anything in your tank. Malachite green is a very harsh medication and is not safe for all species of fish, such as corys. Adding a wrong medication can be deadly to sensitive fish, as you have found out the hard way. If this illness was viral, the medications would have done nothing to help the fish, only cause more harm. Viral infections will clear up on their own and the best thing to do is to keep close watch and keep the tank conditions in good standing. 

Sorry for your loss, I hope things get better now.


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## moonbaby4885 (May 28, 2010)

The 10 gal (i have 2 plus the 30 gal)was already cycled and I have every intention of waiting for the 30gal to do so as well BEFORE i put the poor fish in, lol. unfortunatly i did learn the hard way with the malachite green as i lost my older cory  thanks for your advice and ill keep an update of how the fish are doing


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