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will the ick which stay on the cartidge die when it exposed to the air for 3 days2007-11-24 23:44:29

The tank has an ick outbreak therefore I applied ick medicine into the water and took out the cartidge. So my question is will the ick which stay on the cartidge die when it expose to the air for 3 days?

Answers:

young free-swimming ick can usually only survive around 48 hours if they don't find a host to burrow into, but i'm not so sure what conditions the mature spore-producing parasites can endure. their life cycles slow down though in colder temps (like when you remove them from the tank) so they may survive longer or even hibernate. and what if the cartidge doesn't fully dry out?

replace the filter cartridge and carbon anyhow to be safe.

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prob better off replacing it with a new one

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Normally ich won't effect the filter cartridge. You can put it in as long as you don't treat with ich any more.

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Just let the filter soak in really hot water for 10 to 15 minutes. Any living organism that may have survived the few days of dryness will surely die from boiling hot water.

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Why did you take out the whole cartridge? Only the carbon should be removed, the filter still needs the floss to take the debris out of the tank. If you want to use that one again then I would take out the carbon and treat that too or just use a new one in the filter.