# Melafix & Carbon



## Narile (Mar 22, 2007)

I realized that my emperor 400 filter media come with carbon inside them. So I don't have the choice of removing them without removing the whole filter pads. I've been dosing my sick fish with melafix for the last few days. Did I do it all for nothing? Does all of it get absorbed or just some of it? What should I do in this situation, turn off the filter while dosing with meds?

I've been posting a lot lately because my fish's ailment is driving me nuts. Don't know what it is and don't know how to fix it.


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## rchan11 (May 6, 2004)

If your carbon is more than a month old, it's ok. If it's fairly new, it will absorb the medicine. It's best to turn it off and run a powerhead and airpump.


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## Dr. Giggles (Oct 18, 2003)

rchan11 said:


> If your carbon is more than a month old, it's ok. If it's fairly new, it will absorb the medicine. It's best to turn it off and run a powerhead and airpump.










If your filter has inserts and the bio wheel you can remove the inserts without turning off the filter/s and if they are newer than 3-4 weeks. Once you are done with treatment the inserts will remove the meds if as mentioned they are newer than 3-4 weeks.


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## Narile (Mar 22, 2007)

Dr. Giggles said:


> If your carbon is more than a month old, it's ok. If it's fairly new, it will absorb the medicine. It's best to turn it off and run a powerhead and airpump.










If your filter has inserts and the bio wheel you can remove the inserts without turning off the filter/s and if they are newer than 3-4 weeks. Once you are done with treatment the inserts will remove the meds if as mentioned they are newer than 3-4 weeks.
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I'm not sure if it's my imagination or not but when I removed the inserts and left it running, it appeared as if some dirt was making its way into the water. Is that normal?


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## jsadlersos (Mar 11, 2008)

you can buy blue bond filter pads that you can cut down yourself to fit the filter. This way you have something in there when you remove your cartridges, and when your through with them you can use them as scrubbers for algae on glass


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