Will 'white spot' medicine ruin my filter?!


Question: Will 'white spot' medicine ruin my filter?
I have an ordinary basic sponge filter in a 13 litre tank with 1 goldfish in it. The goldfish got White spot disease so bought medicine for it and I feel as though my filter has slowed down in performance. Could that happen? Does the White spot medicine affect or ruin my filter?

Also, I got the medicine on Monday and today is Friday but my fish doesn't seem to have less spots... What do I do to help it? It swims around and then sinks down to the bottom in a corner.will it get better???

Answers:

I think you meant to ask this in the Pets section, not the Alternative Medicine section... you'll probably get much better answers in that section instead of this one.
I don't imagine it would be a problem... most filters I've seen are designed with fish in mind and whatever you would put in the tank for the fish (food, medicine, and of course their waste) wouldn't damage the filter or the company that made it would have a LOT of angry customers on their hands.
If that doesn't answer your question well enough, I would definitely ask in the Pets section or in your local pet store (where you got the filter or a place that sells filters) and they should have specific experience with those. Good luck and I hope I helped!


[edit]: Oops, almost forgot to answer the last part. If the medicine is in a solid state (crystals, pills, or whatever you'd like to call it), they are commonly meant to dissolve into the water so that's not unusual. If it's still sitting there and hasn't dissolved, I would call wherever you got the medicine and asked them what's wrong.

Personal experience in various sections on Yahoo! Answers and shopping in pet stores



1. no won't hurt filter. maybe a little discolored
2. use the filter properly. don't ever have the air off and don't rinse under tap water . use dirty tank water instead . if you think it's working less then just squeeze it out in the water you take out for a water change.
3. underfeed while medicating. the filter may be less effective biologically with some medicines.
4. if the tank is too small the fish will always have problems unless you do proper water changes every week at least. right temperature. dechlorinated water. leave fish in the tank and change half or less. don't over feed.
5. use the medicine according to the directions but continue with treatment for at least 5 days after the last time you see any sign of disease on the fish.
6. do some small water changes during treatment
7. from your description it doesn't sound good. if you lose this fish empty all the water rinse the tank out. clean the filter in the water you're throwing away. fill the tank add a dose of the medicine and run it for a week. then buy another fish.



I think you mean you have Ick (looks like your fish has salt grains stuck on it? - that's Ick. If those spots look fuzzy - that's fungus....I) In either case, the medications for those wont effect the filter - however, if my conversions to metric is right (3.5 gallons roughly) - that tank is about 8 times smaller than it should be for a goldfish (one inch of goldfish requires 20 gallons of water, no, I'm not kidding) - that is one of the reasons why you are having trouble with the disease. Gold fish are FILTHY as far as fish go....if it is ICK, cover the tank with a towel, making sure that the tank won't wick water to electric power. Ick requires light to live, and with some stubborn cases or very delicate fish I have had to do that to kill Ick without meds. If it was a tropical fish I would suggest cranking the temp up as well, but with a sick cold water fish that is a bad idea...

If I were you, post this is over in the Fish section - if you get an answer from Ianab, black cat, nosoop4you, or copperhead, you can take it to the bank.

I would highly suggest a betta for that tank in the future ;)




The consumer health information on answer-health.com is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice or treatment for any medical conditions.
The answer content post by the user, if contains the copyright content please contact us, we will immediately remove it.
Copyright © 2007-2011 answer-health.com -   Terms of Use -   Contact us

Health Categories