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Aquarisol/Error in Tropical Fish Hobbyist
Unfortunately, some of the ick medications out there that may be safe for the
plants are hazardous for the fish. I used an ick medication from Aquarium
Pharmaceuticals, and unfortunately it was fatal to my pleco. Confirming this,
their tech support did indeed reply to an e-mail requesting info on which of
my fish were "sensitive", though a bit too late, that this medication would
be harmful to plecos.
I've used aquarisol in the past and haven't found it detrimental to any fish,
and only slightly or not at all to the plants that were in the tank. But then
it depends on what plants are in the tank, apparently, as it affects some and
not others.
I'd rather pull a "sensitive" plant out for a while during tank treatment,
then kill a "sensitive" fish.
And contrary to popular knowledge, ick does not necessarily require any of
the popular treatments. I've found it does clear up, given proper conditions.
Sylvia
<< Since we've been discussing the use of malachite green and
copper salts for ick treatment, I thought I'd pass on a little
something I stumbled across. While reading the Dec99/Jan00
issue of Tropical Fish Hobbyist, I found a gross error that concerns
us all. Frank Greco's article on "Quarantine Your Fish", pg. 82,
states, (and I quote) " What most people don't realize is that
malachite green is itself a form of copper carbonate." What??? He
needs to read our posts, because that is definitely not true. I e-
mailed them (T.F.H. Publications) and here's part of the stuff I
found for them:
<<Aquarisol is the most popular 'fish store' ick medicine available
in this area. It's composed of copper salts. This is the bad stuff. It
will desimate your glosso and vals, as well as the fine-leaved
plants. It probably works, but I wouldn't chance it. The other is
Quick Cure. It's a formalin-based product, with 0.75% malachite
green. This is the good stuff. **NO copper***. Both products are
made by Aquarium Products. Here are some references -
I found the following information in:
( The Merck Index, 11th Edition )
*Malachite green - C23H25ClN2 - triphenylmethane dye with
fungicidal and limited antiseptic activity - green crystals with
metallic luster - sol in water. Used as a fungicide and parasiticide
in fish.
*Cupric Carbonate, basic - CuCO3.Cu(OH)2 - occurs in nature as
the mineral malachite (dark green monoclinic crystals) - practically
insol in water.
( Hawley's Condensed Chemical Dictionary, 12th Edition )
*Malachite green - C23H25ClN2 - condensation of benzaldehyde
with N,N-dimethylaniline, oxidation of the phenylmethane product,
and reaction with hydrochloric acid - fungicide, staining agent.>>
I hope they correct it for the folks not on our list. That would really
limit the available medications we could use if it were believed to be
true. The formalin-malachite solution is pretty cheap and reliable. It
definitely doesn't contain copper. >>