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Moderator
 
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Last Login: 2 days ago @ 5:29:17 PM
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| Sorry -- but I can't keep quiet. IMHO, using any medication at half strength is a very bad habit to get into. All you may end up doing is "wounding" the parasite, protozoan or bacteria, and helping to develop a strain that is immune to the med. Quick-Cure (formalin and malachite green) is fine to use at FULL STRENGTH -- using it at half strength makes no sense to me. I use it every time I do a water change, which I do at least once a week, on all of my tanks -- down in the fish room and the show tanks, I use it on clown loaches (after I have treated them with quinine for the Far East Super Ick), cardinals, neons, everybody. Just my experience. I'd like to hear the rationale behind using it at half strength.
*************************** Be warned -- everyone at college has a weird roommate. If you don't have a weird roomate -- then you're the weird roommate.
Conan O'Brien, Stuyvesant High School.
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Fishkeeping GURU
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Last Login: 2 days ago @ 4:09:27 PM
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The bottle says to use it at half strength for scaleless fish, so I always have, with good success. IMO as long as you use it long enough that the spots have been gone for over a week (two is safer IMO if the fish are taking the meds well), it's pretty likely dead anyway (unless your water is quite cool). It just means you treat for longer. I have heard of fish losses when treating scaleless fish with these meds full strength, so I've always erred on the side of caution with that. I hear you on treating some things with anything less than full strength meds though. If you can't see the pathogen (be it an internal parasite, bacteria, etc) you can't know that the meds worked and you may just be creating medication resistant strains. But ich is kind of unique in that the life cycle dictates that there will be a trophont stage within a certain period of time, and that stage is usually visible (unless it is fully contained in the gill area, which on a weakened fish would be very unlikely). So that's my reason for the half-dose of Quick-Cure for treating ich.
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Average Member
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Last Login: 7/5/2008 6:26:26 AM
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I did not lose any of my more delicate fish this time with the half strength cure. The bottle has warnings for humans, though, as a carcinogen which is pretty scary. I raised the temp slowly in my tank to 86 and will leave it there for a while. I had clown loaches way back and they were both infected by ich. Both, however, were almost totally covered. I check the fish daily and felt I had caught it pretty early in the out break which seemed to make a difference. I'd like to know how people can actually catch active fish in their tank for quarantine or treatments outside of the tank. I cannot catch a fish to save my life in my tank!!!!! As for the rational behind half strength, I'd love to ask a company producing the product why. Now, Coppersafe, can it be used on scaless fish?
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Fishkeeping GURU
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 2 days ago @ 4:09:27 PM
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Coppersafe is supposed to be safe for scaleless fish, but will kill invertebrates and live plants.
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Senior Member
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Last Login: Yesterday @ 8:21:42 AM
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| I just coral them into a bowl and slide it up the tank side. Malachite green and its many aliases is in fact a carcinogen that stays in the fish so it is banned for commercial fish if memory serves. BTW I agree with David on the half dose... if you fail to kill the bug then it will become much more resistant.
"We are Starfleet officers, Weird is a part of the job" - Captain Janeway, USS Voyager
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