Does mela fix make your fish itch ?

[tcarswell]

I have been using it for 3 days straight now just did a water change. To make a long story short I introduced three fish I bought about an hour away to my tank. Their fins looked like crap after the drive so I have been using melafix following their directions to a T.
My fish (African cichlids) semi often itch on the rocks but it seems a few hours later (after dosing) my Africans are flashing against the gravel and rocks even more. Now I am worried they have flukes or ick .

Thanks for the help in advance fellas and ladies ,
Tcarswell

 

[BPags52]

When I noticed my silver dollars occasionally flashing against rocks (scratching), I think I saw Ich the next day. Not sure if MelaFix treats ich or not...

Luckily I had a full 16oz bottle of recently purchased Rid-Ich that I had on hand for just such an occassion Bumped water temp to 86F and added 1 full dose three nights in a row. By the 3rd night the ich was almost completely gone (and my 5 red hooks had it all over them a couple days prior (going back further, i think the red hooks caught leftovers from a previous ick outbreak a month earlier when first introducing my common silver dollars. During the most recent outbreak, the common silver dollars seemed unaffected.

Just to be safe, on the 7th day I added another (4th and final) dose of Rid-Ich. Today (day 10 I think..) I've started to slowly lower the temp back down to about 80.

edit: On a side note, other tank occupants (L264 pleco and Lima shovelnose catfish) seemed unaffected by the medication (and also never showed signs of ich).

 

[Will Hayward]

I have never personally experienced, witnessed or heard from others, that Melafix or Pimafix caused irritation to fish. It has always had the opposite effect.

Ich and flukes are visible on the fish. Look at some images to compare go stare at your fish a while.

 

[tcarswell]

Im really looking at them and I don't see any spots or salt looking stuff... The only odd thing is my newest fish purchased from a reputable store seems to have some white stringy stuff on his mouth. Would pima fix cure this as it helps mouth fungus? I gotta find some pics of mouth fungus. Thanks for the help guys.

 

[Will Hayward]

Melafix is antibacterial and pimafix is antifungal

 

[TheFishJunky]

no

 

[tcarswell]

Nope no visible signs of ich or stress besides scratching on the rocks. Maybe I should change half the water run some carbon and switch to pima fix?

 

[Lupin]

Not sure if MelaFix treats ich or not...

It doesn't. Ich is protozoan, not bacterial infection.

Im really looking at them and I don't see any spots or salt looking stuff... The only odd thing is my newest fish purchased from a reputable store seems to have some white stringy stuff on his mouth. Would pima fix cure this as it helps mouth fungus? I gotta find some pics of mouth fungus. Thanks for the help guys.

Tcarswell, what I don't understand here is why did you proceed putting those fish in your main tank if you've seen the fins are already ragged? You didn't mention you have a quarantine tank hence I am under the assumption that you did not quarantine your new fish thus infecting the others of possibly ich, flukes and external parasites. Sorry to say this but most people learn the hard way losing most of their stocks after failing to quarantine their new stocks.

 

[tcarswell]

Your right. my quarantine was far too small for my livinstoni though and I really don't think it has ich. He seems fine some of my 6 month olds seem to have the itchies but nothing serious which leads me to believe it was something else I may have cross contaminated my tank with my community which did have ich. It would have been nice to have a 40 gallon breeder at least for him but my Q tank at the moment is a 29

On another note his fins were perfect in the store the damage was done to him in the bag. on the long drive home. Not too sure what may be going on but it does not appear like anything serious at the moment. The flashing could be territorial I have heard.

 

[Lupin]

A 29g quarantine is a temporary solution even for 3 weeks at the very least. It should be flexible enough for any fish no bigger than 10 inches. Given the time duration to isolate, you'll have enough time to observe any unusual symptoms of the new fish.

The occasional scratching is nothing to be concerned of compared to frequent which is quite abnormal already as it delivers a message something is indeed wrong with your community tank. It's difficult to determine right now what is causing the scratching unless they keep rubbing the same body area in which case, they may either have skin or gill flukes. For ich, a few spots in various areas is enough for me to tell what is happening. Using the wrong treatment hastily can worsen your situation so keep a close watch for now and keep the treatments on hand. Neither of these scenarios can be treated by Pimafix and Melafix.