Quick Cure??

[Waverider]

Ok, so my fish have been acting very lathargic and I noticed some spots on three of my fish. I assumed I am experiencing my first illness in the tank.

I got some Quick Cure by Aquarium Products. It states to add one drop per gallon of water and to remove the carbon from the filter for 24 hours. I read on a website that you should treat for 14 days to remove the illness completely from the tank.

I guess my question is.....Can my tank survive 14 days without a Carbon Filter in it? That doesn't make sense.

And what happens if this medication gets into the carbon filter? Will it destroy it?

Thanks.

[Waverider]

Quick Cure contains Malachite Green and Formaldehyde.

Also, I am also adding salt to the aquarium from now on. I have added 4 tbsp to my 20 gallon tank.

[budrecki]

STOP! Do not use salt and Quick Cure together. Do a 75% water change right now.....

After you do the water change read this

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39759

It explains how to treat ICH with salt and increased water temp.

[Waverider]

:help: Crap! What's gonna happen? I am at work and will not be able to get home for the next 7 hours. Am I going to come home to a dead tank?????

I saw no warnings about salt with the Quick Cure. I also removed the filter before I left today.


......did I just kill my tank?

[budrecki]

Bad times......All you can do is keep your fingers crossed until you get home.

[Waverider]

Dude....give me some more than "bad times"...please!

What is bad about the combination? Shouldn't you always try and keep some salt in the water?

[LunchBox]

no you should only have salt in your tank as a treatment and not really as a normal every day thing.

I've heard the quick cure and salt will cancel each other out (someone else can probably go into more detail on what exactly happens)

I don't think haing both will kill your fish (again, someone correct me if I'm wrong) but it won't take care of the Ich. Check out that link posted earlier and it will explain what you need to do to take care of it.

CORRECTION: after double checking my info, I found that yes you can have both in the tank at the same time but having both salt and meds in the water will cause undue stress to the fish. and since stress is one of the contributing factors to a fish getting sick in the first place it probably isn't the best idea.

[budrecki]

Salt is not a preventive measure, it is a treatment. YOU don't take antibiotics every day, and your fish does not need salt everyday.

SALT+ MEDS+ HEAT=Increase in stress= Dead fish

There is nothing you can do, except go home and do a water change. Sorry.

[Waverider]

I will do a major water change today... Thanks to all!

Also, I have read that salt is bad for Corydora catfish. Does anyone know why? Mine seemed to have pepped up.

[LunchBox]

not sure on the corys. I've personally never heard that, but then i don't have corys so I wouldnt' know ;)

once you do your water change make sure you check out that Ich article. it'll be a big help. the I suspect you need to choose one treatment or the other and hopefully your fish pull through ok.

good luck!

[TKOS]

Lets all calm down here a bit.

Carbon. Tansk can run forever without carbon. I have never used in in over 4 years on my tanks. It does have its uses but essentially carbon wears out in less than a week anyway. So to keep using it at its full strength you need to get new carbon every week. Leaving old carbon won't hurt anything, but it just doesn't do anything. The reason to take it out during medication is that if it is fresh carbon the carbon will suck up some of the medication, thus reducing its strength.

Now salt and Quick Cure aren't going to suddenly stress and kill your fish. No panick. Finding out if it is ich will be a good idea. I woudl also suggest reading the info in the article section on curing ich. It is a great article and explains not only salt and heat but also medications like Quick Cure.

Cory's will be able to survive the levels of salt needed for curing things like ich no rpblem. It is a short term treatment (3 weeks). What people get confused with is that many catfish can't take brackish water conditions for long. 1 tsp per gallon of NaCl is no where near brackish conditons, which is porbably closer to 1/4 cup of salt per gallon long term.

I woudl avoid salt long term. There just isn't the need. Large weekly water changes will help to halt most illnesses. And once ich is killed with a proper full length treatment it just won't return unless you add new fish (read up on Quarentine Tanks). I have never had ich in my show tanks.

Good luck and keep reading and asking questions.

[Waverider]

Nice, I have to say I was freaking out there a little bit. Almost took some vacation time to go home and tend to my tank.....:dive:...screw Maui!! LOL

So, the filter cartridge in my filter loses it's carbon in a week?!? What's the point of that!?! I have printed out that other thread and will read it when I get home. Looks good!!

I love this site, I always get quick responses and can't wait to help someone newer than me.

I will update everyone later.....unless I am having a fish funeral. :)

[LunchBox]

good luck!