Treating with antibiotics, need to remove filter media?

[LeftyReefer]

When treating with antibiotics, the package normally says to remove filter media.....

What exactly is meant by that? all filter media? is some OK?

My QT tank is cycled with a HOB filter that has coarse blue sponges and filter floss inside.

Will filter floss remove antibiotics from the water? do I need to remove the filter floss? how about the sponges?
Can I just remove the floss and leave the sponges? If i remove it all, I'm guessing the tank will uncycle. so I'd like to avoid doing that if possible.
I can't believe a coarse sponge is going to remove antibiotics from the water column... I can't even see the tiny bit of filter floss I run doing it.

Does it matter which antibiotic, or is this rule for all antibiotics?

 

[Spare time]

This means remove things like carbon that would take out the medicine. Keep the mechanical filter material and biomedia.

 

[Spare time]

Out of curiosity, what are you trying to treat?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

When treating with antibiotics, the package normally says to remove filter media.....

What exactly is meant by that? all filter media? is some OK?

My QT tank is cycled with a HOB filter that has coarse blue sponges and filter floss inside.

Will filter floss remove antibiotics from the water? do I need to remove the filter floss? how about the sponges?
Can I just remove the floss and leave the sponges? If i remove it all, I'm guessing the tank will uncycle. so I'd like to avoid doing that if possible.
I can't believe a coarse sponge is going to remove antibiotics from the water column... I can't even see the tiny bit of filter floss I run doing it.

Does it matter which antibiotic, or is this rule for all antibiotics?

No - they mean remove any chemical filtration media (carbon, poly filter, Chemipure, stuff like that). You definitely want to keep biological filtration up as best you can....even then, some antibiotics will kill off your beneficial bacteria, so monitor ammonia level during treatment.

Jay

 

[LeftyReefer]

No - they mean remove any chemical filtration media (carbon, poly filter, Chemipure, stuff like that). You definitely want to keep biological filtration up as best you can....even then, some antibiotics will kill off your beneficial bacteria, so monitor ammonia level during treatment.

Jay

perfect. thank you.
That's what I thought, but wanted to make sure.

Normally they say remove carbon, UV, chemical etc... which seems pretty clear.
This said to remove all filter media and filter cartridges but keep up aeration....

 

[LeftyReefer]

Out of curiosity, what are you trying to treat?

Nothing yet, but I have a wrasse that has been in QT for over 50 days now that has a "dusty" look to him. He had it when I got him but figured it would clear up in copper/QT. Did copper power at 2.5+ppm for like 35 days, dusty look never went away. I stopped copper for 2/3 days and it seemed to get worse, so I started copper power back up and have had him in copper an additional 16 days now and it still isn't going away. The other 3 fish in QT have never shown any sign of this. They all appear 100% clean... but I'm reluctant to pull any of these fish out not knowing what this issue with the wrasse is.

During his time in copper, they were treated with prazi, metro, GC for intestinal issues and flukes multiple times. The wrasse, other than this dusty appearance on it's back seems 100% healthy. It acts fine, eats fine, seems fine, just looks dusty.

At one point, another fish (damsel) in QT got popeye, so I treated the QT tank with Kanaplex, 2 doses, 48 hours apart and the popeye went away, so I stopped after the 2nd dose.

The wrasse was in the QT during this time too and no change to the dusty spots.
Its on both sides of his back, on both sides of his dorsal fin. extends from his dorsal fin, down to his stomach. Almost looks like saddle back columnaris in freshwater fish... that's why I was sorta thinking it may have a bacterial component to it.... but if it did, I would think have thought that the kanaplex would have had an effect on it, which it didn't.... at least not the 2 doses 48 hour apart.

At one point, I even gave the wrasse a few 90 minute baths several days in Ruby Rally Pro, hoping the acriflavine/formalin might be the trick.... it wasn't.

So I started thinking maybe try something like enrofloxacin.

Not sure what else to do with this fish. Not liking the idea of releasing it, or any of the other fish in QT with it, into my DT not knowing what the issue is.

All the fish have been in QT since 3/29, dosed copper to 2.5 on day 1. At first, one of the anthias wasn't eating, so I lowered copper to 2.1 ppm and dosed metro. it started eating later that day. I upped the copper power back to 2.5 the following day and it has been above 2.5 ppm since. I even ran it at 2.9 ppm for a week to see if that would do anything... it didn't.

Not sure what else to do except setting up a third tank, just for this fish and trying hypo or something.

 

[LeftyReefer]

I've been trying for two weeks to take pictures to post here for ideas, but I just can't get it to show up in pictures. The wrasse hides when I try to get close to the tank to get close up pictures or a video. you can see it best when the fish is up near the surface, closest to the light and it is turned at a certain angle. hard to get it to show up in a picture when the fish is just darting around the tank.