Tea Tree Oil

[sly2kusa]

Someone was telling me today at Petsmart that Tea Tree Oil is a healthy additive for your aquarium (along the lines of the benefits of Evaporated Sea Salt and Garlic - slime coats benefits and general immune system boosters).

Any truth to any of this?

 

[koliveira]

Someone was telling me today at Petsmart that Tea Tree Oil is a healthy additive for your aquarium (along the lines of the benefits of Evaporated Sea Salt and Garlic - slime coats benefits and general immune system boosters).

Any truth to any of this?

I don't know about using straight Tea tree oil also called melaleuca oil. It is found in melafix though.

 

[Scotty]

I use a natural product for treating my fish and wheb smelling it it most definitely has tea-tree oil in it. When speaking to the supplier he informed me that this is a remedy he has obtained from England. Seems to work and I would rather look at treating with something that is natural rather than a man-made chemical. Use Similar products for removal of chlorine from new water and also for anti-stress.
Natrural products work extremely well in humans therefore I don't see why they should not be beneficial to fish.
The article on garlic sounds like a great idea. Will definitely look at trying it out.

 

[Mr Pleco]

did some googling and this is what I found on tea tree oil:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_tree_oil


Now to Melaleuca Oil (tea tree oil)...

Melaleuca oil comes from the Australian tea tree (Melaleuca alternifolia). It is also known as tea tree oil and Australian tea tree oil. The oil is reputed to have mild antibacterial and antifungal properties and is marketed as a natural remedy in both veterinary and human medicine.

Tea tree oil (melaleuca oil) is being marketed for the treatment of many disorders in humans and in animals. The active ingredients in tea tree oil have a similar structure and action as turpentine.

Unfortunately, melaleuca oil is potentially toxic and not innocuous as has been suggested.

Animals and humans are getting poisoned from topical use and from accidental ingestion of tea tree oil. Ingestion of approximately 10 mL by a young child caused rapid loss of consciousness.

I have numerous reports on file of toxic reactions from tea tree oil being used topically to treat fleas in animals. Application of "a couple of drops" on the skin of dogs has resulted in shaking and kittens have died from topical application for fleas.

It is also highly toxic to the avian species. The owner of a lovebird applied one drop of tea tree oil to a bleeding blood feather of her lovebird. Within 10 minutes the bird collapsed and was on the bottom of the cage. The bird was rushed to the vet. Fortunately, with intensive care treatment, the bird recovered uneventfully.

There is an excellent review article on the toxicity of melaleuca oil in animals in Veterinary and Human Toxicology. Unfortunately I don't have the reference handy, but the article discussed the similarities between the structural formula of melaleuca oil and turpentine and showed that percutaneous absorption caused toxicity in dogs.

In summary, Melaleuca oil is potentially toxic and its safety for use in both animals and humans should be questioned.


I think I'll have to do some more reading before I add it to my tanks..