Eheim MechPro Media Lifespan?

[lucius]

I noticed a humming noise coming from my fish tank and it ended up being my Eheim canister filter.  It's been a few months since my last cleaning so I guess I was do. 

When I took the canister filer apart, I was surprised to see the mechpro media all over the place.  I realized that all the media had broken down.  There was nothing that could have chewed them up.  Does anyone know if this normal and they break down after a few years?    The canister was bought brand new back in April 2020. Luckily I didn't find any in the impeller area.

Intact
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Broken Down
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[Jody]

Hi Lucius,
 I have seen that stuff break down over many years, but never in just a couple.
  Very strange..

Jody

[fischkopp]

Interesting. Higher acidity (due to pH <7) can do bad things to some plastics, making them harder and brittle. Maybe that's the case here? Just guessing ...