Should I buy a new filter

**crystalite** · 07-09-2012, 04:27 PM

My tank got infested with all kinds of unwanted pests and I've had to clear it and start from scratch with my substrate. My fish are currently in a smaller tank but can't stay there long as it's not really suitable for anything more than a very short term fix for my current problem.

I'm not sure what to do with my fluval U3 filter now as I saw some of the stuff that was in my tank crawl into it and now I can't be sure if theres stuff still in there or if anything laid any eggs while they were inside it.

I don't want to have to re-cycle my filter but I don't want to put everything back in it and then have all the pests crawl out again and my tank to get reinfested.

Would I be better throwing the whole thing out and buying a new filter or is there a way to kill anything that might be in it without loosing my good bacteria?

I already opened it up in some tank water to see if I could see anything and removed a couple of bugs but its hard to be sure theres nothing else in there.

**luv2sk8te17** · 07-09-2012, 05:19 PM

Perhaps flush the inside compartments, put in fresh materials, flush on an aquarium filled with fresh water as well as some disease killing fluids. Leave for a couple of days to cycle then go back to clean water. I only say this because canister filters are expensive. IF you can save money why not. But if you want to be sure and maybe if yours is old, then upgrading is never a bad thing.

**imma24** · 07-09-2012, 06:08 PM

Well, when you did a visual inspection, did you see anything in the media? In my cannister filter, if there's anything unwanted in it, I could probably see it right away - amongst the ceramic rings, in the pillow stuffing and on top of the sponges. I have found snails in there, no eggs or anything else. Even if there were "critters" in there I'd see them and remove them.

I could be wrong, but I don't see where you'd need to start over again with new media, especially if your filter is cycled already.

**crystalite** · 07-09-2012, 07:59 PM

My filters very new I only got it about 3 months ago so it would be a pain to have to get rid of it.

I could see the bigger stuff but I don't know what their eggs look like so I'm not sure if I'd be able to see them in the filter or not. It took 3 of us until midnight last night to try and spot all the damsel fly/dragonfly larvae and get it out of the tank and today when I siphoned water from it there were more in the bottom of the bucket.

I keep trying to get something to put in the water that would run through the filter and kill everything but my LFS are less than useless. They actually told me the larvae was bloodworm and I should leave it for my fish to eat. It has legs and looks like a weird coloured earwig. Does that really sound like bloodworm? I got some stuff that's supposed to kill snails and treat hydra and I'm testing it on 3 larvae in a jar but so far all that's happened is one of them has beheaded the other 2 and is in the process of eating them (so much for being harmless bloodworm like my LFS said).

Anyone know a good product to destroy every pest and parasite?