(Emergency) Water change...

[snytiger_92]

I am fairly new to the hobby (only kept fish for about 5-6 months now) .

About three weeks ago, my Clown Loaches began showing signs of distress :sick: . At the suggestion of my LFS, I put a treatment of Binox into the tank. It seems that the amount of treatment I put into the tank was detrimental to the health of my plants :mad2:. After having spoken with another LFS in a nearby town, I found out that the Binox is extremely potent and the plant problem is probably the result of too much medication.

What I want to know is this: how long would it take to get the medication out of my tank if I did a 10% water change everyday (I own a 58 gallon tank)? (I don't really want to change out 50% of the water at one time because I was told that a change of that magnitude for the fish would be stressful.) Or, would it be better for the plants to just do a 50% water change now?

 

[Candycat21]

10% water changes aren't really going to help too much....it will take longer and probably put more stress on the plants and fish the longer those meds are in there. I would go ahead and do the 50% water change. It's not going to be harmful in any way. Just make sure you treat it before adding it to the tank. I do 50% water changes every week...mostly because my bioload is so high...have a lot of fish in my tank for a 46gallon.
Just out of curiousity, what were the signs your clowns were showing that made you think they were sick??
Good Luck and come back and let us know how things are going!

 

[Swimfins]

I would do 50% waterchange every 3 days and use some new charcoal in the filter for a week or so.

 

[snytiger_92]

Just out of curiousity, what were the signs your clowns were showing that made you think they were sick??

2 of the 3 began breathing rapidly and showing signs of stress (i.e irratic swimming, hiding, etc.). I called the LFS after checking the water (everything I tested came out normal - pH: 7.2; nitrAtes: 10 ppm; nitrItes: 0; Ammonia: 0.) They said since the water seemed normal, they figured it was a bacterial infection or fungus. "Come get some Binox, and it should clear right up." Well, I lost the two loaches and the plants began to die off.

 

[TKOS]

I would do water changes at first that were the same as you normally do. So if that is 10% then start there. And the next day do 20% and the next day do 30%. If you have been doing only small waterchanges all along a rather large one could potentialy do more harm that good at this point. I would also add fresh carbon.

In the future aim for 1 50% or 2 30% waterchanges per week and this will allow you to do any level of emergency waterchange without worry too much about your fish.

 

[mvigor]

I made up a water change med/salt removal spreadsheet just last week. Entering your information I see that using 10% WC you would have removed half the med after 7 daily 10% WC.

You'd be down to 25% strength after 13 changes.

10% of the med would remain after about 22 changes on June 12th and below that it would take several more weeks to be sure the the med was actually completely GONE.


On the other hand, if you change 15 gallons a day, you'll be down to 10% on the 29th and 1% on June 6.

 

[anonapersona]

Ro?

Were you using RO water? What is the KH and GH of the tank? pH?