another ich and salt thread

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The brand I used is Mardel Quick Cure, which is a MG and formalin combination formulation. For loaches, catfish and tetra, the instruction says use half dosage. Cichlids are very tolerant of MG and IME even double the dosage doesn't harm them. Interestingly, my bristle nose plecos can tolerate full dosage even though they are scaless catfish.

Under dosage can be as harmful as no treatment. Make sure you follow the instruction and apply the recommended dosage for three or more consecutive days even though the symptom may be gone. I typically treat for 5 consecutive days to assure complete root out of ick pathogens so they won't return.
 
looking at the 2 and it seems seachem Paraguard contains malachite also.. i do want to be 100% sure ive rid this pain in the backside parasite, but also i dont want to harm the stock in the process ..

cheers again
 
looking at the 2 and it seems seachem Paraguard contains malachite also.. i do want to be 100% sure ive rid this pain in the backside parasite, but also i dont want to harm the stock in the process ..

cheers again

I can tell you right now ParaGuard isn't hard on either cats or loaches....I use it with my bullhead catfish as well as my clown loaches...no ill effects on either. I would start at half dose the first day you treat and then after 24 hours up to a 3/4 dose. From then on every 24 hours full dose as long as your fish are behaving normally.

ParaGuard is a reducing agent (so I've been told) in that after 24 hours it is completely inert in the water. The Mardel Quick Cure will be harder on loaches and cats being that it contains formalin. ParaGuard does not and is great for scaleless fish.
 
Bah, I meant to say more malachite green than paraguard and formalin, so it would be harder on scaleless fish.
 
You quoted it wrong. Paraquard is not a reducing agent in an oxidation reduction sense. It is biodegradable, meaning that it will break down into inert compounds after certain time. MG, formalin and nearly all organic based medication will break down after certain time and this is why you need to repeat treatment daily or else it will lose therapeutic effect. On the positive side, you do not need to do WC to get rid of the residual effect as with salt and copper treatment. Even WC cannot completely rid of residual copper because it can bond with rock and substrate.

I can tell you from experience that full dosage MG will kill loaches, but half dosage MG is still more effective to cure ick in loaches than salt.
 
You quoted it wrong. Paraquard is not a reducing agent in an oxidation reduction sense. It is biodegradable, meaning that it will break down into inert compounds after certain time. MG, formalin and nearly all organic based medication will break down after certain time and this is why you need to repeat treatment daily or else it will lose therapeutic effect. On the positive side, you do not need to do WC to get rid of the residual effect as with salt and copper treatment. Even WC cannot completely rid of residual copper because it can bond with rock and substrate.

I can tell you from experience that full dosage MG will kill loaches, but half dosage MG is still more effective to cure ick in loaches than salt.


Hmmmm well I'm not sure as to its actual properties then, as I have spoken with SeaChem about ParaGuard, and they assured me it acts as a reducing agent in the home aquariums, IE it will render other medications ineffective if they are effected by reducing agents.

Straight MG will cause severe damage in most fish over extended time or in large doses. ParaGuard cannot contain that high of a dose however because as I said I've used it effectively several times with scaleless fish and they showed no signs of stress whatsoever. It doesn't stain silicone or acrylic like any other MG based med has for me in the past either which is a minor plus lol.
 
Hi,

Sorry to jump in here....but is there a medication that works well that doesn't stain everything?

I have coral sand and I don't want it to turn green or blue!

It cost me fortune to get it in there!

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MG will stain the water green, but dissipates in less than 24 hours. In fact, some suggest to turn off the light to retain the stain longer which is an indicator of the therapeutic effect. I haven't found MG stain anything else except the silicone, but the stain is not permanent and will eventually gone in days or weeks.
 
MG stain is temporary? I stained the silicone on a few tanks(many years ago)and they are still blue.
 
it seems i may have ich still :( on my GG dorsal fin ..



and on my oscars eye..



do i need to speed up the parasite with a little more heat before treatment.. :(
 
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