# Melafix + Ick treatment? "Quick Cure"?



## motifone (Nov 21, 2004)

I've added some Praecox Rainbowfish to my tank, along with some Rummynoses.

In their excitement, I think a couple of the Praecox bumped their noses on the glass, causing a bit of flesh damage. I'm also seeing a bit of white spot (Ick) on a couple Rummies.

Did a 50% water change yesterday?

Would there be any problem dosing both Melafix (for the Praecox flesh wounds) and an Ick treatment at the same time? Any good Ick treatments you all recommend? Is "Quick Cure" Safe for a planted tank at full dose? DO I use a carbon pad after medicating is done? Raise temp? Just don't want to kill plants...

(PS - Not using carbon in filter)


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## motifone (Nov 21, 2004)

Well, I dosed the Melafix to get started on bringing down stress levels and repairing the skin damage,

I'm slowly raising tank temp from 77f to 85F for the ick. I also bought some Maracide at Petco, but have yet to dose it because I'm having second thoughts. Some people seem to say Maracide has been safe for their planted tank, but Mardel (manufacturer of Maracide) seems to have recently changed the ingredients to Malachite Green, which I thought was bad for plants, not great for Tetras (I have rummies), and is cancerous -- I don't plan on drinking it, but with my hand in the tank hours on end pruning, who knows if this stuff is absorbed into the skin (?). Plus, I hear it stains certain silicones, so not sure how my acrylic tank would fare.

Anything else off the shelf without Malachite Green that's effective in conjunction with my raised temp? I've heard some use salt, but I remember doing a salt treatment years ago on a 20g with not so kind results on the plants. I have a 50g now. Tablesalt is it?

I have a $60 order of new plants coming this week, which I ordered before ick reared its ugly head. Not the best timing. So I'd like to be careful what meds I put in the tank.


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## miqws (Jan 2, 2005)

I used Quick Cure at 1/2 dose with rummies, didn't work with conditioner containing aloe vera and the like (ex. Stress Coat). Thought that would help the fish but instead it neutralized the treatment. :icon_frow 

So , changed conditioner to Ammo-Lock 2 and treatment worked right away (ick not seen), then held treatment for three more days. Plants (swords, crypts, anubias, rotala indica) and rummies all fine afterwards, though the rummies lost their red nose during treatment.  

I hiked the temperature to 82F with good water circulation to accelerate the ick life cycle.


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## Momotaro (Feb 21, 2003)

I would dose one thing at a time. 

Since you started the Melafix, continue the treatment as you slowly raise the temperatures to treat the ich. If I remember the dosing instructions on "Quick Cure" you dose half the directed dosage when treating tetras.

Don't put anything else in the aquarium. 

Mike


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## rayhwong (Aug 6, 2004)

First off test your water to check for any stressors. You may be surprised with waht you get.
Ive basically tried all the ich products.
Melafix will work wonders to heal the wounds. 
Coppersafe is by far the best medication for ich. It can actually knock off the ich off the body of the fish. Tanks treated by coppersafe are ich free for years if no other fish are introduced. One treatment lasts a month. Despite the warnings, it is safe for plants. THe con is that its expensive and if you have a big tank it will cost alot.
The next safest bet is aquarisol. It like coppersafe is a copper salt too. I used this to treat my 100G with discus. Before taht, I tried malachite, maracide, formalin and malachite, and paracide. It couldnt kill the ich. I think the high lighting destroyed the malachite dye. I had a heat resistant strain that survived 90F. Aquarisol did it in. It also stimulates your fish to eat too. I highly recommend aquarisol. Just follow the directions. Raise to 82-86F, dose daily, vacuum the substrate surface to get rid of the ich. AFter the ich is gone dose a preventative dose once a week to make sure its gone. I keep a 16oz bottle of aquarisol now on hand. 
Beware, it might kill inverts. But my wood shrimp never died during all the treatment. I dont know about other shrimps.
Good luck!

Melafix and aquarisol can be dosed together.


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## motifone (Nov 21, 2004)

rayhwong, 

Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are all zero (haven't started ferts yet)
ph stable around 6.8 (similar to LFS water). KH 4. 
Bought 10 Praecox rainbows 2 days ago. 3 dead, not sure if from Ick or stress, as I know this fish can sometimes be tempermental. They were hanging around near surface alot before died, but can't see how 02 is a problem.

I will continue Melafix treatment. I know it's not for ick, but it will bring stress down and fix any wounds. Visible ick

I did buy some "Quick Cure" as I thought the copper wasn't good for the plants and was hard to get out of a tank. Haven't dosed yet because I need to do a heavy planting tonight and don't want my arm immersed in medicated water for 4 hours  I did see Aquarisol at Petco, so maybe I'll try that instead. I like that Aquarisol doesn't tint the water, if I'm correct?

OH, and do you treat with Carbon after treatment done? With it remove Aquairsol meds?

I'll read up a little bit more on it and see if I need to buy Aquarisol instead of Quick Cure.

thanks


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## rayhwong (Aug 6, 2004)

Hi Motifone,
I dont think its an O2 deficiency either if you have aeration or good circulation. You can tell if its o2 in a planted tank if the fish are only at the surface in the morning before the lights come on. They are really breathing hard and gasping at the surface like they are trying to breath air. The plants havent started to produce o2 yet in the morning darkness.

My guess is that some sort of bug is irritating the gills the of the fish or it jsut might be stress. It could be bacteria of ich bothering the gills. Melafix and copper salts will take care of it over time. Regular salt can help too if its severe. It just takes time to heal.

Yes, you dont want to dip your arm in any of those ich dyes! Malachite is carcinogenic.

Aquarisol doesnt tint the water. Its milder on your fish too than the dyes. Some people say its too weak, but i found if you dose it properly, raise the temp, make sure all other sources of stress are gone, have clean water, and vacuum the cysts that fall of the fish, it will work better and faster than the other drugs i mentioned before. 

Did you put your rainbows in a quarantine before adding it to your main tank? Many times the community tank is too stressful for new fish and they dont eat well and get sick. A quarantine lets them be a less stressful place adn you can make sure they are eating all the food. Plus you can dose drugs w/o worrying about other fish or plants.

I don't use carbon after drug treatment. I havent used it in my tanks for over 2 years. Your water changes will take care of the aquarisol! You can leave aquarisol in teh tank. It is a preventative drug too. I wuodl actually dose teh preventative dose for 2-3 weeks after. Its just one dose a week. Melafix will probably break down by itself since its ingredients are organic.


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## motifone (Nov 21, 2004)

Ray

Good information. So long as Aquarisol is safe for plants, I'll try it. I know you said Coppersafe did not harm plants. Did your plants suffer any at all while using Aquarisol, (which uses Copper Sulfate)?? Also, sounds like it is not as toxic as malachite, so I don't have to worry about my skin contact with the water?

Unfortunately, I did not use a quarantine tank. (slap) My apartment is just not big enough. I know I should use a quarantine tank and I understand that I gamble by not using one. So, I can't whine too much when illness strikes.

The Ick, thankfully, is mild... and is not necessarily visible on the 3 fish that have died. I know Praecox Rainbows can be touchy sometimes when getting used to a new home. I agree with your assessment that the loses are due to either stress, a bug, and/or ick. Although I do not use aeration, my tank stock is low, so I agree the O2 deficiency probably wasn't the issue. Out of the three dead ones, I only saw two riding the surface of the water prior to death. Every once in a while, they would do the "ick twitch", as if something was irritating them. Last night, I ran an airstone (in case O2 was low) and awoke to find a third dead. I had not seen any fish skimming the surface last night, so who knows what did him in. However, the aeration did raise the pH from 6.8 to 7.0 -- my pressurized CO2 on my Milwaukee pH meter couldn't keep up i guess, so maybe that 3rd dead fish didn't like the pH change. So, no more airstone. If o2 was truly deficient, they would all be at surface.

Either way, the survivors are active, but not eating the flake food. It usually takes a few days for new fish to take to new food, doesn't it? I was considering trying frozen brine shrimp, but I'm worried they will get spoiled and never take to the flake. But now is a time I imagine they need food for energy, so maybe I will try brine for now. Then, once healthy, starve them for a couple days, and try flakes again when they aren't ill and scared of me - whatca think?


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