active carbon cause hole in the head disease?

[australia]

does active carbon cause any disease? like hole in the head?

i have read this many times i just want to know the truth!

[Hollowman]

I have never heard of this, where have you read it?

HITH would be caused but prolonged bad conditions poor health/diet, low temp and general stress. Never heard it being caused by activated carbon before.

Activated carbon will remove meds put in water, and can overload if left for a long time. Some say this can sometimes leech toxins back into the water, but I would only use carbon in emergencies, or in my RO unit.

hth

Hollowman

[pink66]

Good Morning Australia,

I too have never heard of this.. I can tell you that I use AC in my sump and change it on a weekly-fortnightly basis.. I have never had any issues with HITH.

I do agree with H that if you leave it in too long without a change it would no longer be of any use. and great attention needs to be taken when filtering after meds are used. I run with the motto or "if in doubt - throw it out !!!"

[Hollowman]

Good Morning Australia,

I run with the motto or "if in doubt - throw it out !!!"

lol, nice one

[DIY]

I've read it a few times before , even had a few pages bookmarked from way back , a lot of my older bookmarks link to sites that no longer exist, so here's a couple of results from a very quick google search

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexamita

http://www.worldcichlids.com/diseases/Adamhith.html

IMO carbon is an old idea (and incorrect), HITH is probably still not the most understood problem but I've read other reported causes that are even harder to understand. For example "stray voltage" . At least carbon "possibly" removing trace elements necessary for proper development sounds feasable on the surface anyway.

Really though I think the currently accepted cause of HITH being a combination of poor diet and poor water quality not only makes more sense, but enough aquariasts have avoided HITH by providing good diet and good water whilst still using carbon to dispel that old chestnut

As a side note, you will probably notice the biggest problem of HITH you see on the net is in oscars... These are BIG fish, usually kept in tanks far too small, with nowhere near enough water changes.. discus keepers are an enlightened bunch and understand water is the key to health, we remove the water full of waste and provide nice healthy fresh water more than most other enthusiasts..

Of course, pending a more scientific study and confirmation of the real culprit I could be proven wrong

[pink66]

Just to add a case study..

When I was given my first discus.. (I felt it was my duty to save her) She came out of water that was sooo dirty we could not see her thru the glass, feeding - don't ask.. there was no carbon to be found in the filtration system.. Did she have hole in the head - yes, really quite bad (amongst other issues)

On nursing her back to health (yeah) I used only daily water changes, yummy food and I had carbon in the filtration system the whole time..

I am glad to say.... she is now the queen of the "palace" and having a wonderful time..

I say if you want to use carbon, then do, just remember to change it on a regular basis..