Waterchange

[kmez]

My neons have had dropsy which i have treated with only one loss, i have added the second dose of the medication today, but all it says on the bottle is to wait 7 days before re adding carbon filters to the tank,

Do i still do my weekly water change or do i have to wait till i re add the carbon filters?

how much water should i change when i do eventually change it?

 

[backtotropical]

Avoid water changes for the duration of the medication unless absolutely necessary. All it will do is dilute the medication and give it less chance of working.

I would advise you to wait until the medication duration is complete (that will be until you are allowed to put carbon back in), then add the carbon back in or remove the medication with a series of partial water changes, entirely up to you.

 

[rabbut]

My neons have had dropsy which i have treated with only one loss, i have added the second dose of the medication today, but all it says on the bottle is to wait 7 days before re adding carbon filters to the tank,

Do i still do my weekly water change or do i have to wait till i re add the carbon filters?

how much water should i change when i do eventually change it?

Hi. You need to wait untill the instructions tell you to add the carbon, as this is used to remove the medications. Waterchanges can and will do the same job, thus they must wait untill the course of meds has completed. With dropsy, I would do a 30-50% waterchange, and run another course of meds after all symptoms have cleared. This is because it is a stubborn disease to cure, and the fish should be cleared of all traces of the disease caursing bactiria if repercussions later are to be avoided, both when adding new fish and in times of stress. The disease causing bactiria can live in fish for months or even years, without any symptoms, with the fishes immune system holding the bactiria at resonable levels. If anything compromises the immune system, or if a fish with no immunity is added/already in a tank with dropsy, an outbreak will almost cirtainly occur.
Cangratulations on the low losses. You must have been very vigilant to have caurght it early enough to save almost all, as this disease can be a pain to treat sucsessfuly.
HTH
rabbut