Getting rid of Melafix in tank

[jassz]

First off, before I get to my question, I have to say that quarantining a fish is so far a total bust in my experience. I had another thread going about Bambi (who probably had Ick), and Fabio with cloudy eye. To get the background, you can read more about that in this thread. http://canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=54313

While Fabio seems to have improved with my course of action (more on that to follow), Bambi, the trigger fish was starting to look more and more... what's the best way to desribe it... white spots yes, but it was so hard to tell if it was a damaged scale because he was looking quite scratched up from banging the rocks so hard. But his rock banging had greatly increased, so I decided I had to do something, and opted for quarantining him. I figured to treat him for a few days for ick, then put him back in the tank. Well. He was almost impossible to catch, and I finally had to remove almost all the rocks to do so. I put him in a 10g tank with the Fluval 404 filter running, and the ick medicine (and a few plastic things for him to hide behind. I knew he was stressed, but he ate so I figured he'd be okay for a few days. WRONG. He was dead by morning. I just feel sick about it. So far I'm 0 for 2 with quarantining fish, but the first one was nearly deady by the time I did so,so it wasn't a surprise. THIS was a shock.

Anyway, prior to this, I decided to treat Fabio's cloudy eye with Melafix. I dosed the whole tank for five days, since I read it was safe and I really was trying to avoid quarantining anyone (I'll be even more reluctant to do so now) and his eye is looking better. What I read about this doing this (treating with Melafix) is that you should shut off your protein skimmer while treating, and do a 25% water change when you are done. I did the 25% water change today (about 40 gallons replaced), and STILL the protein skimmer is overflowing. What should I do? Does it eventually dissipate? I leave for a holiday on Friday, and the neighbour kid is watching the tank. I'd really like to have everything working as it should be! The Fluval 404 is going full tilt, adn the water isn't looking too bad. The glass I think is cloudy from the oil in hte Melafix though, which frustrates me as I can't Windex the inside! Yesterday, before the 25% water change, there was a very slight trace of ammonia and nitrite, but after it was neg again. pH is slightly higher though. It's always sitting at 7.8 and now is 8.2.

So what should I do to get rid of the Melafix and get my skimmer going again? Oh, I put a big carbon thing in the overflow.

jassz