Information re. Tank life after white spot treatment...

[Udanghantu]

Does anyone know what I should do to make my 64ltr tank safe for shrimp after treating my endler livebearers with Interpet Anti White Spot Plus? Thanks!

 

[Essjay]

It will take a while before it is shrimp safe.

Do a huge water change. This will remove a lot of the medication.
Then run carbon in the tank. If there's no room in your filter the simplest thing is to buy a small, cheap internal filter and some carbon granules, and a mesh bag (you can make your own from net fabric). Put the carbon granules in the bag and wash under the tap as carbon granules are dusty. Replace the carbon every day for a week. Several small batches of carbon are better than one big one.
If you want to and don't mind the expense, you can then run some PolyFilter in the filter. Note the capital letters, it is a specific filter medium which removes all sorts of things; it's not just filter wool. It's expensive, though.


If you have fake plants I would also remove them and any other decor and scrub them to remove anyhting attached to the surface as shrimps will graze micro-organisms from the biolfim which covers all surfaces and could be contaminated. Live plants are more difficult as you can't take them out and scrub them. If do you have live plants I would wait a couple of months before risking shrimps.

 

[Udanghantu]

Thanks for the fast - and very comprehensive - reply. I had a horrible feeling it would be complicated. I think the shrimp will not be moving in any time soon.
Happy thought - “Maybe I could use this to justify setting up another tank.....”

 

[Essjay]

Any excuse is worth using




For future reference, whitespot can be treated with just heat. That way you don't have to worry about medication left in the tank.
With heat treatment, you do a big water change and substrate clean to remove as many stage #2 parasites as possible; refill with water warmer than usual and turn the heater up to get the water to 30 deg C. use a thermometer to measure the temperature not the setting on the heater as they are usually poorly calibrated. leave the water at that temp for 2 weeks or a week after the last spot disappears whichever is longer. When you water changes during this time, make sure the new water is at 30 Deg C so the tank temp doesn't drop. Then turn the heater back down and let the temp fall back to its normal level.
The fish will be OK at this temp for a couple of weeks - it's like being in a heatwave.