Younglin;4526989; said:
Yes, but as long as a link between carbon and HITH is suspected, it's better to be safe that sorry.
imo it's better to not use carbon...
Oscar with HLLE. Saveable?
- Thread starter Younglin
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Yes, but as long as a link between carbon and HITH is suspected, it's better to be safe that sorry.
imo it's better to not use carbon...
Activated Charcoal, which is what carbon is, traps organics in the water like fly paper. After 3 weeks the carbon deactivates sending all the organics back into the tank sometimes causing sharp increases in ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate - the leading cause of hith/hlle. Carbon however has little to do with Carbon Dioxde build up in tanks another cause of hith/hlle, that is a water circulation/aggitation problems. If Carbon is changed every 3 weeks it's probably not gonna be a problem. And to the poster with 6 - 10" Oscars, a TSN, and RTCxTSN in 90 gal. fighting hith/hlle for a year - gee I wonder why it won't go away?
good luck with yours. I got a large oscar for dirt cheap (10 inchs for like 20 bucks) bc the pet store practically begged me to take it when they heard I had a 180.
still trying to get the HITH to go away. frustrating... other than that he looks awesome (fins are perfect despite livign with africans) and he is calm as can be.
still trying to get the HITH to go away. frustrating... other than that he looks awesome (fins are perfect despite livign with africans) and he is calm as can be.
Commendable of you to do that. I think you'll get nuffin but mad MFK respect for your good deed, metro, crystal clean water, and a good diet and you'll have one happy and healthy wet pet. Seriously good on ya mate!!!
If you quit feeding him feeders he will probably eventually learn to take pellets when he's hungry. Fast him for a few days, then feed a few pellets.
give him longer, he can go a couple of weeks without eating so dont worry. Try giving bloodworms or brine shrimp.
yeah fast him for several days and then try pellets, or even worms or something, if he remains super stubborn the insects would be better option for live foods and not have the risk of him getting parasites, which he may already have since it seems like that is pretty much all his previous owners fed him, keep an eye out on his poo and if his HITH refuses to go away with clean water and good diet then i would try treating him for parasites and see if it helps. and i agree with the carbon while it is only suspected i just dont see the need for it, its just taking up space in the filter that could be used for more biomedia, i havent used carbon for the past year and my water is totally clear and i dont have the cost of constantly replacing it. i also just recently rescued an 8in O that somebody brought into petco but he only has minor HITH but had kinda eaten away fins, so im not sure if it was fin rot or what but he was also constipated as well but now just 4 days later he is already starting to look better and has great white growth ridges along his fins where they are growing back, so hopefully they didnt have him for too long and he isnt badly stunted
Just want to say that the whole carbon releasing things back into the water en mass is false. Carbon is a porous material and the many little pores create a large surface area for interactions between organics and the carbon to take place. This causes things to "stick" to it. When carbon is saturated, it does not change its mind and suddenly release all this back into the water; rather it simply stops absorbing anything more.
However, one caveat is that certain organics/chemicals have a higher affinity for carbon than others. Consequently, what could happen with saturated carbon upon addition of a new chemical, say a new medicine, is that this new chemical could "pop" the previously captured chemicals off the carbon and release them into the tank. This will not simply happen because carbon is saturated, rather something new and in large quantities must be added to the tank for a problem to occur.
So use or don't use carbon in the tank. I personally use carbon that comes with the filter for a month or two then chuck it. After that I only use it if I suspect something is in the water. Carbon is not an alternative to water changes but old carbon will simply not cause a tank crash on its own.
However, one caveat is that certain organics/chemicals have a higher affinity for carbon than others. Consequently, what could happen with saturated carbon upon addition of a new chemical, say a new medicine, is that this new chemical could "pop" the previously captured chemicals off the carbon and release them into the tank. This will not simply happen because carbon is saturated, rather something new and in large quantities must be added to the tank for a problem to occur.
So use or don't use carbon in the tank. I personally use carbon that comes with the filter for a month or two then chuck it. After that I only use it if I suspect something is in the water. Carbon is not an alternative to water changes but old carbon will simply not cause a tank crash on its own.
