are all medication reef safe except for copper?
- Thread starter Johnb123
- Start date
ThRoewer
New member
There is no such thing as a reef safe medication. You should never treat your display tank - ever!
If a medication is effective it likely kills something you may not want to get killed. And even those "reef safe" remedies that are not effective may have funny side effects you may only find out about when it's too late.
An example of an effective medication which many here deem reef safe is Prazi Pro. But it will surely also kill beneficial worms and flatworms (yes, those exist as well), likely also featherdusters and who knows what else.
The other reason why medicating the display is a bad idea are unwanted side effects that may cause toxicities or render the medication ineffective.
And then there are long-term effect that are hard to pinpoint, just corals not doing as well as before or the like, mysterious fish deaths, ...
Medicating a reef tank: BAD IDEA!
If a medication is effective it likely kills something you may not want to get killed. And even those "reef safe" remedies that are not effective may have funny side effects you may only find out about when it's too late.
An example of an effective medication which many here deem reef safe is Prazi Pro. But it will surely also kill beneficial worms and flatworms (yes, those exist as well), likely also featherdusters and who knows what else.
The other reason why medicating the display is a bad idea are unwanted side effects that may cause toxicities or render the medication ineffective.
And then there are long-term effect that are hard to pinpoint, just corals not doing as well as before or the like, mysterious fish deaths, ...
Medicating a reef tank: BAD IDEA!
Deinonych
New member
Deinonych
New member
If you have a sound quarantine protocol, you are unlikely to encounter disease in the display tank. Otherwise, a fish trap is your best bet. Aqua Medic makes one that works really well: http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/aqua-medic-fish-trap.html
ThRoewer
New member
^^ This.
Of course even the most stringent quarantine protocol will inevitably let slip something through, especially if it is rather some more "exotic" disease and not just one of the usual suspects. Also not every disease will show during the normal quarantine period or necessarily recognized as such.
Most "diseases" we see with new fish are related to stress and compromised immune systems. Plus most of them are "acquired" by the fish during their journey into our tanks.
"Luckily" (for us) most fish that were already sick when collected will likely not make it through the strenuous journey and die somewhere along the way. But that doesn't necessarily prevent them from passing it on to some of their fellow captives.... and some of those diseases may have long incubation times...
In essence you have to do your best to prevent diseases and parasites entering your tank but you need also be prepared for this effort to fail. Catching fish out of a decorated tank can either be easy or next to impossible - it largely depends on the fish you need to catch.
ThRoewer
New member
After a while they may learn but usually a good fish trap is largely invisible to fish and they don't connect the dots.
I also found that if you use a mirror instead of food fish will be less cautious. They see their mirror image and let all caution go because they want immediately to fight off this intruder to their territory. I was able to catch sixline wrasses this way that otherwise would be too cautious to go for the food in a trap.
I also found that if you use a mirror instead of food fish will be less cautious. They see their mirror image and let all caution go because they want immediately to fight off this intruder to their territory. I was able to catch sixline wrasses this way that otherwise would be too cautious to go for the food in a trap.
cool tip! so you put a mirror at the inside back of the trap? this wouldn't work for none aggressive fish though right?
CoralsAddiction
Active member
Many fish medications are great products and work very well in treating diseases. Most however are designed to work in bare quarantine set ups. They can be harmful not only to corals and invertebrates but also smaller organisms belonging to biological filtration. It is best not to use fish medications in reef tanks. Even the ones that are labeled reef safe are not worthy of our trust due to potentially harmful effects on animals other than fish and their ineffectiveness to battle fish parasites.
Similar threads
