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Re: [APD] new here, and coppersafe



--- "Anna R. Dunster" <azzacanth at livejournal_com> wrote:


> 
> Well, I've heard Malachite green is quite toxic to
> tetras, and also I
> don't have a hospital tank and don't really want my main
> tank stained
> green. :( 

They should be fine at half dose. If they die from the half
dose, then they are unlikely to have been strong enough to
survive the ich.

Just like with humans, taking chems always has some
negative impacts and risks. The question is whether they
are worse then the risks and impacts of the ailment the
chems are meant to treat.

It's really sort of a judgement call on your part. And you
have a choice of methods of treatment. Each of the ones I
mentioned have their share of reports of success.

I'm only giving you my preferences by saying what I'd do.
The easy trap to fall into is to try one thing -- it
doesn't seem to be working so then try something else, and
then something else and after a week or two the tank is so
messed up with temp changes and additions of chems/meds of
various sorts that the fish can't get enough relief from
the stress to gain strength and get well.

Luckily for you, ich is not a chronic problem for
fishkeepers with good maintenance routines and good
suppliers. And it's one of the easiest of all the more
common fish ailments to treat.

Btw, I don't think the pH is going to make much diff to
your fish. Instead of adding

The color fades rather quickly. The only long term reminder
is in vinyl and silicone but it fades from there too since
the UV from the lights slowly breaks down the dye.
> 
> I didn't know that about the charcoal, I will not bother
> with it in
> the future. 
> 
> >Copper treatments are the last thing that I would want
> to
> >put into a fish tank and I wouldn't use them in a
> planted
> >tank. Btw, some people think malachite green has copper
> in
> >it because there is a mineral by the same name that
> >contains compper. But the malachite green dye has no
> copper
> >in it.
> 
> Is the copper bad for the plants? Seemed to me that none
> of my options
> were good, between the plants and the tetras. :(  

It isn't good for much of any living thing except in
extremely small trace amounts.

 
> I do have a 0.075% malachite green solution on hand but I
> don't want
> to kill my tetras, especially since they're the ones
> infected anyway. 

Imo, it won't be any harder on them than dosing the tank
with copper.

If the fish are brought from down south, then they've had a
very long trip in bags and boxes. Their condition is weak
by the time you pick them up in the store. Weak fish are
more susceptible to certain ailments than strong fish, ich
being one of them.

If it was me, I might try one regimen of malachite and
formalin or, if the the ich was not intense, just let it
run its course. Slight cases that appear right after
introducing new fish often just clear up. If the one
regimen doesn't work, there is the option of trying it
again -- although I would figure at that point that the
disease is stronger than the fish. 

You don't have a quarrantine tank, but you can easily spend
more money on meds than a spare tank costs. Also, once your
tank is well established, you won't want to introduce a few
new fish and then have your entire tank wiped out.

Also find out what your fish supplier does with the fish in
the store. If ich appears, do they just remove the fish
with visible sickness? Or do they take the tank off-line
from the central filter system, seperating it from the
other tanks and treat that tank with meds, or do they
quarrantine the fish and not sell them until the illness 
or the fish have passed? You don't want to buy from a store
that does the first -- just removes the visibly sick fish.

Good luck, good fun,
Scott H.

=====
Plant your feet in Washington, D.C. and touch the moon -- at the National Air & Space Museum. 
And learn the art of aquascaping Senske style at AGA2K4. 

Speakers, field trip, Ray "Kingfish" Lucas, and more. . .
The Annual AGA Convention, 2004, November 12-14.

Convention Details/Registration at aquatic-gardeners.org & gwapa.org
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