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Re: Ick remedies/malachite and copper
> Well, I'm sure our resident chemists will give a more complete
> explanation here, but to say malachite doesn't contain copper is akin to
> saying bauxite doesn't contain aluminum ;-)!
????????
a. According to all the books and FAQs copper kills inverts dead.
b. I have used malachite green in tanks that have a variety of inverts
including hermit crabs, snails, brine shrimp, grass shrimp, daphnia
and a small (3mm) anemone.
c. All of the above animals survived. Only the anemone showed any distress
(pulled in it's tenticles for the length of the treatment -- 10 days).
Conclusion: malachite green does not contain copper or copper does not kill
invertebrates. Take your pick.
Unfortunately the packages do not say if it does or not.
I did the above test because I had a fish with ich (SW) who I wanted
to treat with malachite green and could not remove from the tank.
First I did the above test on a 1 quart jar with samples of all the
above animals to observe the effects on them since I was not able to
get all of them out of the main tank to be treated. I did remove the
ones I could but there were some I could not and the fish was uncatchable.
After the test was successful I treated the tank with the fish with ich.
The ich was cleared up completely in about 6 days. I continued treating
for 4 more days making a total of 10 treatment days. All the fish and all
the inverts and coraline algae survived fine. The small anemone reopened.
The anemone was the only creature that I observed showing distress to
the malachite green.