Didnt Want The Filter Media

[OzeN]

Well as some of you may know i went to my friends house today to get some mature filter media from him. When i got there i was a bit supprised in the sence that i swear his fish had wite sports... Most (not all though) of his fish were covered with tinly little white spots.. so i guessed that was whitesports.. didnt want to take the filter media from him as i thought it my cary the desease.. was i right in doing this or would this not be passed in the filter media.. anyway i didnt want to take the chance so i left it..

Was this the right move?

 

[Corleone]

Most likely a good idea. You don't want to risk bringing that into your tank. If I have a fish get sick in quarantine, I sterilize the filter media before putting the quarantine filter back on my main tank to cycle.

 

[fifefish]

u could of just took the filter media out and cleaned the filter out..then put some new media in ?

 

[OzeN]

u could of just took the filter media out and cleaned the filter out..then put some new media in ?

why would i do that... i needed the filter media to help me cycle my tank faster.

 

[fifefish]

try a pinch of garden soil and some starter fluid

 

[OzeN]

try a pinch of garden soil and some starter fluid

what? how is that going to help?

 

[Corleone]

Well, nitrifying bacteria do live in soil, as well. Some of the same species, in fact - nitrospira lives in just about every environment people have looked for it. Never seen it recommended, as you can bring in all sorts of bad stuff as well.

 

[OzeN]

yer i have never heard of anyone recomending soil for a fish tank

 

[fifefish]

thats how i started my 180 litre tank in my room and ive had it for over a year now and no fish fatalities what so ever

 

[OzeN]

how much soild did you use

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, I believe using soil was much discussed in the 1980's when Chris Cow and others basically invented the technique of fishless cycling. The main problem was that on average I believe it was not found to be any more effective than the bottled bacterias, which is to say only very intermittent success. The other, more serious, problem was the one Corleone mentions, that of introducing other things to the tank that might be highly undesirable - the list is long. In the end, the use of pure ammonia just trumped other methods partly out of simplicity.

The introduction of (usually commercially prepared) potting soils under the substrate is not unheard of. There are techniques written about by Diana Walstad in her book, Ecology of the Planted Aquarium.

~~waterdrop~~
edit: spelling

 

[OzeN]

ohh never knew that.. thanks