# Treating with Melafix



## TheOtherGeoff (Feb 11, 2003)

i dunno if it will work as a dip. it will be fine to go ahead and treat the whole tank as its not really a "medicine". its more of a natural cure. it has no adverse effects on unhealthy fish or plants. it works great but just takes a while. you could try a dip but if the tank is small enough i would just treat the whole thing


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## sarahbobarah (May 20, 2005)

Catch your fish and apply the melafix directly to the open sores. It will work faster that way.


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## Titania (Apr 7, 2006)

Melafix is a salve. In my experience (I breed betta splendens), it is not very effective in treating bacterial infections. It can help soothe, but you're not going to heal a fish with that stuff. Your best bet is really to remove the gourami to a separate tank and do very regular water changes. Adding a bit of salt to the tank and raising the temperature will help, as well. Watch out for fungus setting up house in the wound. 

Unfortunately, it's very unlikely that this situation is going to get better. It's not uncommon for male gouramis to fight to the death. They aren't always as mild-mannered as the LFS will tell you. 

Good luck...


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## jake (Feb 20, 2004)

Melafix contains what is basically tea tree oil, a natural antiseptic and antibacterial agent. It should work fine on wounds. My issue would be that melafix has a tendancy to irritate the breathing organs in labyrinth fish. I agree with sarahbobarah that putting it directly on the wounds would be the best bet. 

Bettafix is melafix at 1/5 the amount of tea tree oil. If you want to use bettafix but have melafix on hand, just use 1/5 the amount or dillute 4 drops of water for every one drop of melafix and you have bettafix.


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## Keck (Jan 18, 2006)

Thanks for the replies.

I went ahead and swabbed his wounds and moved him to my holding tank because the aggression was getting worse. 

I swore I would never keep another Gourami, but these 2 Dwarf Gouramis were freebies from the LFS. All their fins were completely gone and the owner gave them to me because I agreed to treat them (which they fully recovered). He swore to me that I would not have a problem with aggression with the Dwarfs. He was right about aggression towards other species (none), but they never got along with each other. I now wonder if this is why their fins were gone in the first place.


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## Bombay (Mar 3, 2006)

Hey Keck, let us know how your treatment works out. I've used Melafix before, but I really don't know if it helped...I imagine the fish may have healed on it's own, with or without. It had not harmful effects on the tank as far as I could tell though.

Since it is an antibacterial, I wonder if it affects the cycle bacteria?


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## Naja002 (Oct 12, 2005)

MelFix and PimaFix _*Do Not*_ negatively affect the beneficial bacteria. I've had that debate before--with a long time wannabe, know-it-all, been everywhere and done everything, Herp and Aquarium Superhero...He lost. And then disappeared...LOL


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## Bombay (Mar 3, 2006)

Najaoo2. Cool. I'd imagine that it would be hard to measure anyway unless you ran an experiment and overdosed it. Do you mind listing that thread for reference?


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## Naja002 (Oct 12, 2005)

Its on another set of forums and I would have to find it. The basic premise is that the use of melafix causes ammonia spikes and since its an "antibiotic" that the ammonia spikes are cause by the adverse effects of melafix on the beneficial bacteria. In other words, it kills off a bunch of the beneficial bacteria--causing a spike in ammonia.

The manufacturer claims that it will not harm the beneficial bacteria--both standard and in direct response to my email questions:



> Thank you very much for contacting us regarding our products. All of your comments and questions are valuable. We use your feedback to create the most effective line of aquarium and pond products available.
> 
> *Melafix will not harm the biological filtration it will only target the bacteria that are causing problems with your fish.*
> 
> ...





> Thank you very much for contacting us regarding our products. All of your comments and questions are valuable. We use your feedback to create the most effective line of aquarium and pond products available.
> 
> *Years of research have proven that use of melafix does not produce ammonia spikes. Ammonia spikes must be occurring from another source.*
> 
> ...


The manufacturers of Koizyme also claim that melafix will not harm the beneficial bacteria contained in Koizyme:



> Hi Robert,
> 
> Melefix will NOT harm Koizyme. I do not know what is in Pimafix so I can not answer that one.
> But a rule of thumb is that if a product will not harm your biofilter then it will not harm Koizyme.
> ...



My experience and the experience of others ("Present" at the time) is that there where no ammonia spikes--muchless related to MelaFix. I was using MelaFix and then MelaFix and PimaFix in a 40gal. aquarium at 2x the dosage on an Acrochordus granulatus at the time--and after multiple tests--I tested _*Zero*_ increase in ammonia: No increase, no spike, nothing.

The individual was just passing along bad information and then trying to defend it just so that they could "Be Right"...We all know how that works....


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## Bombay (Mar 3, 2006)

Thanks for the info. Like I said, I have used it without any (noticeable) ill effects. I would trust true usage like yours though over an email from the company.

Makes you wonder though. How does it distinguish good bacteria over bad bacteria. Isn't that kinda like spraying Malathion and saying it is ecologically safe since it only kills the bad bugs. I don't think that an insecticide or bacteriacide can distinguish good from bad. Good and bad are all relative to the application.

Now don't get me wrong, I am not implying that it does kill off the cycle bacteria. Honestly, I think the effect it would have on ANY bacteria in the recommended dosage would be very small. I have always used it in the same way a human would use an aromatherapy agent. If it soothes the fish, the fishes natural defenses are bolstered.

This is all just jabber though. I'm just thinking out loud.


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## Naja002 (Oct 12, 2005)

> Thanks for the info. Like I said, I have used it without any (noticeable) ill effects. I would trust true usage like yours though over an email from the company.


I agree. I am not one to just accept manufacturer's claims--because I realize just how dishonest some of them are. But their claim supports my personal experience and that of others at the time. So, I accept it.



> How does it distinguish good bacteria over bad bacteria. Isn't that kinda like spraying Malathion and saying it is ecologically safe since it only kills the bad bugs. I don't think that an insecticide or bacteriacide can distinguish good from bad. Good and bad are all relative to the application.


I don't fully understand it, but gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria plays a role in there somewhere. Think of Weed and Feed for Your lawn--Kills the weeds, Yet makes the grass grow....Its the same basic idea.



> This is all just jabber though. I'm just thinking out loud.


Not really. These are all valid thoughts that other readers will come up with too. Helps answer those questions...or at least helps shed some light....

"MelaFix Kills Beneficial Bacteria" is *Very* popular on some Aquarium related forums--and its still Wrong.


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## Bombay (Mar 3, 2006)

Naja002 said:


> I don't fully understand it, but gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria plays a role in there somewhere. Think of Weed and Feed for Your lawn--Kills the weeds, Yet makes the grass grow....Its the same basic idea.


Good discussion...although I think we may have hijacked the thread.  

Maybe you hit it there with gram-pos/gram-neg. That is beyond my knowledge though. In regard to weed and feed, the weeder (usually atrazine) has been known to do damage to grass too...along with newly planted trees and shrubs.

I wonder if the claims of Melafix/Pimafix are scientifically backed. Hmm. It reminds me of the Noni juice and now Gogi juice radio spots. They persuade you to believe that they cure 100's of diseases...the latest is cancer. Those claims, for sure, are not scientifically backed.

Hey, Mela smells pretty good though. :tongue:


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## TheOtherGeoff (Feb 11, 2003)

i never have even heard of melafix causing problems to the good bacteria.


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## Keck (Jan 18, 2006)

Not a hijack because my main concern was about it impacting the beneficial bacteria. Other small concern was about what other chemicals might do to plants, but searched info pretty much made me feel OK. In any case, I am the type that doesn’t want to add things to the water that is not needed.

From what studies I can find about Melafix is that it is not a cure all for sores. It will speed up the healing of light tissue damage and will help speed up repair of more serious injuries when used in conjunction with other treatments like salt. In short, while not a cure all, it is a nice thing to keep handy and does help.

As for my patient, he fully recovered from his missing fins within 6 weeks after I took him home. Both of their “whiskers” (forget what they are called) were nothing but nubs. No medication was used other than adding a little aquarium salt. This time around there are sores on the body with scales missing. Feeling bad for the little guy, I just wanted to help him along the best I could.


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## sarahbobarah (May 20, 2005)

I've used it in planted tanks to treat applesnails that were injured (from falling out of the tank or getting antenae bitten off) and it did not harm the plants or cause an ammonia spike. Only weird thing was that it made my water foam a little bit. 

Also, I've applied it directly to fish wounds. May not _cause_ healing, but definately prevents further deterioration of damaged tissue.


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## brian.brigg (Feb 24, 2016)

Naja002 said:


> MelFix and PimaFix _*Do Not*_ negatively affect the beneficial bacteria. I've had that debate before--with a long time wannabe, know-it-all, been everywhere and done everything, Herp and Aquarium Superhero...He lost. And then disappeared...LOL


I believed the same thing but after using Pimafix and Melafix I had bad ammonia spikes and lost over 20 fish and dozens of shrimp. The shrimp were mostly just Ninja shrimp but there were several fire yellow and 10 Black Cocoa Sulawesi shrimp among the victims. When the ammonia first showed I added AmGuard but there was a spike of 3ppm by the time I got up in the morning. 

I have two filters on a 55 gallon tank, one Eheim 2217 and a huge Atman. The Eheim runs 2 litres of Matrix while the Atman runs Biogrow media. The Atman had been cleaned a week prior to the problem. 

After a large water change with Prime and AmGuard ammonia and nitrites are both well controlled. 

I have no actual scientific evidence that the medications caused the problem but on a tank that has run for 2 years with no spikes I can draw my own conclusions from the experience, manufacturer's claims notwithstanding. 

Sent from my SM-A500F using Tapatalk


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