Overdose Of Interpret Fungal Treatment

[tardytard]

HI, I feel such an idiot and am so upset. I was trying to treat a neon tetra with fungal infection and have added far too much treatment to the tank, about 5x too much!!!!! 4 of my fish have died, I have managed to get the others out into a much smaller tank, which is only 30L. They seem ok at the moment but I know the tank is too small. I have done a 50% water change, washed the ornaments and put in a new carbon filter pad in my original tank. What should I do now? Should I do another 50 % water change tomorrow. When can I put my fish back into the original tank safely?
I can't believe I have done this!!

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

If you 5x overdosed, you need to change 4/5 (80%) of the water minimum, before putting the survivors back into the tank.

 

[tardytard]

Thanks for the reply, should I do another 30% today then, or let it settle and change tomorrow? Then when can I put the survivors back in?

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Change another third ASAP and then you should be able to put the fish back if the water is about the same temp, I would acclimitise them as if just brought home from the shop.

Keep an eye on ammonia and nitrite daily for the next couple of weeks, just in case the overdose has wiped out the vital bacteria colony in the filter (they might be absolutely fine, but some meds are known to affect them) and change water accordingly.

 

[tardytard]

Hi, I have just changed another 40L and added TINY amounts of tap safe and stress zyme. The fish all seem fine in the small tank, should i leave them in there until tomorrow? The water coming out of the filter is still quite cloudy so I think there is still some treatment in there.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Has the small tank got the filter in it from the overdosed meds tank? If not, the 30l water could turn bad very quickly, if it does not have a filter with a bacterial culture used to coping with these fish.

If the overdosed tank definitely had 5x overdose max poured into the main tank and you have now changed at least 80% of the water with fres dechlorinated, there should be no more than the proper dose of meds left.

If I do a big water change on my Rio240 with the integrated filter, sometimes "gunk" can come out of the filter chamber as the water level reaches the top inlet grill, giving the water a cloudy look (and me laughing at how "clean" the water is after changing a massive amount of water!).

See how the water looks in 30-60 minutes and turn on the heater now, if it looks better acclimitise the fish back to the tank. Net the fish into the tank and top up with some fresh dechlorinated water.

 

[tardytard]

The small tank does not have the filter from the old tank, but it is a cycled tank, it just had 3 neons in it though so a bit of an overload I know.

 

[tardytard]

I am so wary of putting them back in too soon, how long should it take the carbon to deactivate the chemicals? I used a new carbon pad, when should I change it?

 

[afremont]

Thanks for the reply, should I do another 30% today then, or let it settle and change tomorrow? Then when can I put the survivors back in?

Don't forget that a 50% change followed by another 50% change is not a 100% change. It's only 75% since half the water removed on the second change was clean water. Therefore a 50% change followed by a 30% change only replaces 65% of the water when all is said and done. It gets allot more complicated when you break the change up into four or five changes. That all said, you're probably close enough. There should be some amount of leeway in the dosage.

 

[tardytard]

Yes I see what you mean, I should have changed more in the initial change. I don't know what to do now, should I change more?

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Thanks for the reply, should I do another 30% today then, or let it settle and change tomorrow? Then when can I put the survivors back in?

Don't forget that a 50% change followed by another 50% change is not a 100% change. It's only 75% since half the water removed on the second change was clean water. Therefore a 50% change followed by a 30% change only replaces 65% of the water when all is said and done. It gets allot more complicated when you break the change up into four or five changes. That all said, you're probably close enough. There should be some amount of leeway in the dosage.

Very good call.

So you need another minimum 30% water change to dilute a 5x overdose of the original water. A 50% water change and it should be safe as houses, move the fish over and then just keep an eye on toxin levels over the next couple fo weeks, just in case there was some bacterial colony loss.

 

[tardytard]

I have already moved 3 of the fish back, I have tested the water in both tanks and nitrites and ammonia are fine, even the small tank, so would it be safe to leave some of them in the small tank until tomorrow, so that I am moving them over gradually? The 3 I have moved back are fine so far. Will it stress them if I do another 30% change now?

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Should be fine to do a relatively small change like that with them in situ.

 

[tardytard]

Ok, another 40L changed, poor fish. Thanks so much for your help. When should I change the carbon again in the filter?

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

The general consensus is that newly added carbon will "work" for about a week, after that it simply becomes another surface within the filter for bacteria to colonise, so you only add it when needed.

Was this carbon in place when you overdosed and if so, was it new? Quite a few meds I've used say to remove the carbon before starting treatment. Just something to consider if you are now needing to carry on with further (standard) doses of the meds if instructed over the coming days.