malachite green

reefnut · #1 05-23-2005, 02:41 AM

i picked up a bottle to treat my fo for ick.followed the directions on the bottle using only two thirds there dosage.they have a six day treatment and on the last day(today)ive lost nearly all fish.two chromis a foxface and a niger and it seems my last chromis is on his way.my cow and snowflake seem to be fine.still eating and very active.after throwing in some carbon and a 30 percent change with a 20 percent on its way how long will it take the lights(wich were off during treatment)to oxidize the remaining malachite?

Aquattro · #2 05-23-2005, 04:37 AM

doesn't that have copper in it?

BCOrchidGuy · #3 05-23-2005, 06:16 AM

I'd use carbon to remove it quicker if that's your intention. I hope you didn't treat your main tank but a QT tank instead. Malachite green has many uses and it is a powerful dye, even once oxidized it will still remain in your tank.

Doug

megatron_55 · #4 05-23-2005, 06:22 AM

I used to use malachite green to treat my fish in the MAIN tank . . . it did cure my fish from ich but noticed lps had a reaction to it (candy cane, frogspawn and brain coral in particular) Killed my candycane's but that was it . . . No fish losses oranything . . . I wouldn't use it now tho'... heared something about it having copper? Not sure tho'

christyf5 · #5 05-23-2005, 06:32 AM

I looked into the whole copper thing a few years ago and was told that malachite green didnt' have copper in it. However it is a carcinogen, teratogen, mutagen and a bunch of other gens. In other words its nasty stuff. Don't get it on your skin. Wear gloves etc etc.

Christy

bulletsworld · #6 05-24-2005, 10:41 PM

* shaking my head * Malachite green is horrible, horrible stuff. It’s similar to that of formalin. Malachite acts as a respiratory poison, damaging the cell’s ability to produce energy to drive vital metabolic processes, as well as being a suspected carcinogen. Nasty stuff. I was told that, it is likely that malachite green will be banned in the near future. More like I hope so.

With you losing your fish before the treatment was over...I found is quite common. As it (like formalin) removes oxygen from water. You MUST aeration your water during treatment. Even run air stones. Also Malachite is also more toxic at low pH as well as high temperatures. Are you just treating in your main tank or are you doing this as a dip method. regardless, small fish are NOT be able to handle full treatment dose.

After I tried many methods to eradicate ich in the past, I have found that depending on species of fish, state of infection, treatment best used when used correctly is…

1. Soak food in Garlic
2. Water quality at its highest (more water changes)
3. Hyposalinity (ONLY in Hospital tank)
4. Last option- Copper (Coppersafe) I liked best because I found it to be easier to dose and more stable. (ONLY in Hospital tank)

Sorry to hear about your losses so far, I will keep my figures crossed for you for the others, especially my fav the boxfish. *HUGS* Best of luck.

reefnut · #7 05-27-2005, 03:52 AM

well i feel stupid.i should have posted questions about the stuff before i used it.i think the loss of oxygen was a big part of the deaths as all the fish were gasping for water.the good news was my two favs survived and were ick free for two whole days.but guess what its back already.bullet im going to follow your advice with the more frequent water changes and from now on all foods will be soaked in garlic.ive also put my lr in a rubbermaid that is fish free but with the return of the ick i guess its going back in the main.this is very frustrating for me.everything was great for the first year and after much thought between reef and fo ive decided that the fish are the creatures that i really want to keep.

reefnut · #8 05-27-2005, 04:08 AM

well ive just checked my fish and ive decided that anyone who can help save my three remaining fish is welcome to take them for free.my poor niger has been hiding for a week and i wasnt sure if he was still alive so i dug him out of the rocks and he looks real bad.watching my fish die is very stressful to me and would rather give them away for free and rethink the way i do things and start over keeping only the rock and equipment.the three fish are a cowfish a very sick niger trigger and a snowflake moray about 12-15 inches long.pm me.

DanG · #9 05-27-2005, 04:19 AM

Get the cowfish out asap. They release deadly toxins if they get stressed, enough toxins to kill most tank mates.
At least get him into a QT tank.

mid-island reef · #10 05-27-2005, 04:37 AM

In regards to the copper thing... there are some meds on the market that have Malachite and copper in them as a combination and or Malachite and Formulin. Aquatronics, and Aquarium Produts make meds like these. Most meds in my experience list their contents on the bottle as well as the respective %'s of the ingredients.
Malachite is also very toxic to scaleless fish , so Tangs, clowns and your Foxface would have died from the meds and not the disease.
I am a big fan of quarantine tanks and ALL my new fish, regardless of where they came from, live in mine for a month. I use coppersafe on most of the fish, and have had no problems with it. In the odd case that I HAD to treat a display tank I have used Kent RXP with good results.

Just my 10 cents worth ...

Cheers