I am using Parasite Clear in both of my tanks right now, I forgot to remove the filter before administering the tablets! Ooops!

Does anyone have a suggestion concerning what I should do next? Re-administer the tablets? When?

Are you saying that you forgot to remove the carbon?

Yes, its only if you have carbon/charcoal that you have to worry. The other media should be fine

I use the Penguin Biowheel, the filters are a combination of carbon and filter media.

Sorry I'm not familiar with the filter but if you can take the carbon part out only, it should't be too late as you have only just put meds in and they take a bit of time to get through the system.

Nope, can't take the carbon out only. It's a plastic frame with the carbon built in to the plastic and the filter sewn/moulded right over it. I guess I can...no, I don't see any way around this except to go filterless.

You should be able to just take the filter cartridge out and leave the bio-wheel going.

Thank you, yes the biowheel is going. Should I drop in another tab?

How long ago did you put the first tablet in, Luvbender? Like Trinket said, it takes a while for the meds to go through the whole system. If it hasn't been all that long - say, no longer than an hour or so - I wouldnt' redose the tank, and just go with the original schedule.

It's been more than 4 hours...

4 hours, well, then the meds could have been at least partially absorbed by the carbon. Re-dose it then, and change the schedule accordingly. The biowheel is on, but the rest of the filter is empty then, yes?

Yes...now, how long do I keep the filter out of my cycling tank?

PS~ Thank you to everyone who has helped

Well, the tank is still cycling? That is a bit tricky. Definetely put the media in a separate container and keep feeding it with either pure ammonia or just simply with fish food to not lose whatever beneficial bacteria has colonized in it. And keep an eye on those parameters in the treatment tank. There are still the good bugs on the biowheel, but you have taken out a good number when you took out the rest of the media.

I would keep the media out of the tank as long as you treat it with the PC - what does it say as to schedule, about 4-6 days? Sorry, it has been a a while since I used PC.

Thanks...I am almost done cycling. This morning my params were Ammonia 0, Nitrites .10, Nitrates 20, ph 8.2. I've had a 0 ammonia reading for 2 days now and my nitrates climb regularly. I will put the filters in a container, good suggestion, I would not have done that.

The PC schedule is 48 hours between treatments...

Yeah, you are well on your way with the cycling then! If you see any ammonia in the treatment tank, just dose it with Prime, or whatever water conditioner you have at hand. I believe water changes are only in order right before you administer the next PC dosage, right? Bad memory...

Right! Quick question, will it hurt my bb's to be out in the cool weather? I'm in California we're at about 40 F in the evenings. Will that kill the little guys?

How old was the carbon?

That sounds like the filter setups for the Emperors, and what I do, is cut a slit in the bottom of the filter floss side, and dig out all the carbon. Is that what your's sounds like it looks like too?

Great question, becuz if it's more than a month old, the carbon is used up anyway, and you're just fine.

The LFS owner even said that even after a couple of weeks, the carbon is too weak to kill the meds. After a month the carbon is definitely toast.

Less than a month old...

Yes, that sounds like it exactly. Oh well, too late now. I put one tablet in last night to bring the strength back up. The filters are out in the garage in tank water with some Hikari pellets in it. Now that I think of it, the filters aren't less than a month old, they're one month exactly. Can I overdose on the PC? Chubby sure is a happy camper if he got an OD, I've never seen him so lively!

So, are you running your tank without any filters at all, or just with sponges? You can put your filters back in safely now.

Good luck!

I took the carbon out of the filters. One of the media sources was an old filter from my 10 gallon so I knew that one could be safe and I left it alone, the other two, I removed the carbo from just to be safe. Nobody has said anything about if PC is safe if over-administered?

Either way, we have filtration once again! Woo Hooo!!

What would I do without all your wonderful care and concern? :

OK... lets just pause a moment here and look at what has happened.

You have a cycled tank - with a brand new baby cycle going in it. You have a Penguin Bio-wheel. I am assuming you are counting on the bio-wheel to be the platform for your cycleing bacteria, right?

You want to dose the tank with Parasite Clear. It is a combination of Prazi and a light-weight antibiotic.

You left the cartridge in the filter - a cartridge that has carbon in it - and is about 1 month old.

OK - no big deal. First - the cartridge does not contain the beneficial bacteria you use for the cycle. It may very well have a substantial amount of ben. bac. on it - but it is not an ideal place for it - and you should NEVER count on that place for BB. Either rely completely on the bio-wheel (if the tank/fish load is small enough) or stuff the filter with extra biomedia behind the cartridge.

Secondly - the carbon will NOT kill any part of the cycle. It is simply has the ability to bind a certain number of substances from the water. The activated carbon has a certain (limited) number of spots that are "open" - places where substances can attach. When these limited spots are full, the carbon can do no more. It is filled. Basically inert. There are a few instances where things can be released from the carbon - but mostly you do not have to worry too much about this. If you ever use carbon to remove strong medications after they are "done" being used, you should replace or remove the carbon, but in general use, the carbon is simply an "non-entity". It WILL NOT KILL A CYCLE.

Finally - Prazi is VERYVERY gentle - on both fish and the BB of your cycle. You can overdose by many hundred times over and not hurt a thing - except the parasites you are attempting to control. Parasite Clear is quite gentle, too. The anitbiotic contained is a very small amount - I usually do not even consider the fact that it is there.

There is no need to attempt to feed the cartridge ammonia or food or anything - there is no colony of BB that you need to preserve in it. Simply pull out the cartridge when you dose and replace it 24 hours later. The biowheel does not have to be removed. The Parasite Clear will not bother the cycle - even a baby one.

Since you already dosed with the carbon in place, you probably should slit the floss and bang out the carbon. I do that regularly, anyway. Slit the bottom of the blue floss and bang the cartridge over a garbage can. If the bottom is slit, the floss will not sag over time.

You then dosed again. That is FINE. You can redose every 24 hours if you wanted. I would recommend that you dose at least twice anyway - done approximately 48 hours apart.

DO not be concerned about your biocycle and Parasite Clear. They are compatible.

Good information, I appreciate the time you took to explain this fact!

Right now I have two filters -carbon in my Penguin, and yes a biowheel is going. I had a Nitrite reading this morning of .25, all the other readings were acceptable. I put a dose of Amquel+ in, and there is salt in the tank. He should be protected from the nitrites.

In 48 hours (from the time I last administered the PC) I will do a 25% water change and dose again.

What I'm wondering here is, should the fuzzy patch on Chubby's side fall off soon? How will I know that the PC worked? He is already acting like a happy fishie, but I want to be sure I've eraticated the parasites. How will I know?

I guess I do not know all the particulars of what you are trying to accomplish...

What "fuzzy patch"?? Is this the parasite(s) you wish to erradicate using Parasite Clear?

Yes, my fish was listless and bottom sitting. He reacted a little to an increase in salt and daily water changes then one day he came up with what looked like a scale peeling back. A raised patch of a pearlescent color that when viewed underwater, looks fuzzy. Will the patch fall off? Heal?

http://www.kokosgoldfish.invisionzone.com/...showtopic=66314

Sometimes it can take a lot longer to heal - or to look healed than you would think. Sometimes grievious wounds seem to heal in no time at all, but smaller infections and abrasions can hang around forever.

If you can control the parasites in your tank that may the root cause of this infection on the skin, the fishshould heal. The cleaner, more pristine the water, the faster it will happen. But remember - most likely what has happened is that parasites opened up the fish's skin when they penetrated, nasty bacteria or fungus (or both) have invaded in the open wounds and caused secondary problems.

As soon as the parasites are controled, the fish can start healing. Given a bit of help with the antibiotic that is in the Parasite Clear, the fish should do ok.

I would make sure you do at least 2 rounds of Parasite Clear done 48 hours apart. Keep the salt at 0.3%. And when the PRazi comes - use it.

Within a week or two, you should notice a difference. As long as it does not get WORSE, you have made progress - it just takes time to heal completely.

If, after the use of the Prazi, you still see skin infections, it may be time to take the next step and treat with an antibiotic medication. For open wounds, surface infections and such, I really like Maracyn Plus - it has microspheres that supposedly adhere to the open wound and help heal. All I know is that when I am dealing with open wounds on the skin, this product worked better than others.

JMO

Cool, I was wondering if I should go ahead with the Prazi. I had to ease up on the salt, it was really getting Chubby down. I'm at 0.2% right now. Perhaps I will raise it again once the Prazi comes in.

Thank you very much!