Are clownfish sensitive to API Melafix?

[Alex733mhz]

So I've pretty much had the worst fish day of my life today. I had in ich outbreak in my tank affecting my tangs and basslets. I have been treating the tank with Kick ich and rally with little improvement over the past week and half. I have only however lost a purple basslet due to the outbreak that I'd had for a year which was already heartbreaking enough. After reading about API Melafix and that some people have dosed in combination with kick Ich I decided to give this a try. Huge mistake.. I woke up to my year old skunk clownfish trying to gasp for breaths of air at the top of the tank only to die minutes later before I could do a thing for him. The other skunk was nowhere to be found and my other clown died before I could do a water change... these fish had no signs of ich and completely healthy before dieing the next morning after dosing with melafix.. I feel completely awful and responsible for they're deaths as I put this med in combination with kick ich.. But my question is why just the clowns? I have chromies, firefish, tangs, lawnmower, and a basslet all of which survived just fine..

 

[TokiHacker]

Did you move them to a quarantine tank? or were you treating the display tank?

 

[Alex733mhz]

I was treating them all in the main tank, trying to avoid stressing all of them even more with a tank tear down. But this was the first time ever trying that product.. I did the water change at 1am went to bed got up at 7am to find just the 3 clown fish in serious trouble and ready for death. The day before these fish were eating and healthy.

 

[TokiHacker]

What are your parameters

 

[Dealseer]

I'm not aware of much if any success using kick ich or melafix to cure ich. Recommend the proven methods like TTM or hypo salinity.

 

[Alex733mhz]

75gallon, I have a cheap test kit but I never pickup any nitrate or nitrite, 0 ammonia I'm sure theres a little but I do regular water changes. 10-11DKh 480 calcium, ph 7.9 not sure about magnesium but I use aquaforest for salt. and finally running at 1.024 salinity. I certainly won't be using any API medications in the future but again.. this is probably my fault the medication says its safe for use with all other API meds. I however used in combo with kich-ich and it was like an instant overnight kill to my clownfish population. I miss those guys...

 

[TokiHacker]

melafix to my knowledge is not for ich its for bacterial infections, and ich is a parasite. Now as far as kich-ich or whatever you called it I have never used and don't trust ANYTHING like that in a reef (since that is all I have).

for future knowledge moving them to a quarantine tank will help prevent this issue, along with making it easier to go hypo for them. That is by far the best way I have solved it. I was making sure that their wasn't an incredible amount of ammonia. Ph is a little low but they should be ok which would explain why you have high alkalinity. If I had to take a guess you don't run a skimmer? But ultimately ich treatment should be treated in a quarantine tank and with hypo or TTM according to preference. I use hypo but to each their own..

On that note, be aware of what you are mixing and treating. Bacterial cures won't do anything for parasites. Ask a question on here first before dosing a tank too. If I had to take a guess that melafix probably killed some good bacteria in the tank also. But that is just a guess.

Don't hesitate to ask questions here, we don't bite.

 

[Sk8r]

Now you should move all fish (not inverts or corals) to a treatment tank and observe them to see what they DO have---ich, being most likely. One safe treatment for ich is described in the TTM or Tank Transfer sticky above. If there were ANY treatment that actually works IN the display tank to cure ich, believe me, we would hop on it: these treatments in a bottle are worthless. You can also use hyposalinity, but it's not as effective as TTM. You have to be careful treating clowns that have an anemone, because some treatments strip slime coat off the fish, which is their protection against infection and parasites and anemone stings, and if that's gone, their own nem can kill them. So sorry you've had such a rough go: there is NO FDA rule against false advertising on meds for fish you simply love---only if the intent is to EAT the fish, then the regulators care.

 

[Alex733mhz]

No anemones.. just a dunkin coral one of the clowns used like a pacifier.. Someday I will add a different species of skunk clowns.. I only used the melafix to help with all the scratching wounds.. Anyhow thanks for all the advice, That makes sense about the bacteria.. Have you ever smelled melafix? It smells just like paint thinner.. I'll never add anything to my tank that smells like harsh chemicals or paint stripper again.. some of my corals are not happy.. like my green star (grass) polyps and the favia looks part bleached.. -a pic of the tank in happier times...

 

[Sk8r]

Just never ever ever add a medication to your tank at all. You risk killing the bacteria that process waste, and if that goes down below a certain level, the result will be ammonia in the water, which is lethal to fish. Do all treatment in a proper OTHER tank with heater and aeration and, unlike the dt, filtration.

 

[monkeysee1]

Sk8r is 100% correct -
The only way to get rid of ICH in your tank FOR GOOD (that is, IF in fact it does have it) is to take the fish out, put them in quarantine with hypo OR copper (NOT both) and let your main tank run fallow for eight weeks.
Stinks, I know. But the parasite in your main tank will need to be starved to death if you're not going to completely hoe everything everything out of it, dismantle it and the plumbing completely and disinfect everything, and start everything over again. And quarantine EVERYTHING next time.
:sad2:

 

[tmnigat]

Move everything to a Hospital Tank and treat them there. Tank transfer method and 10g tanks has worked well for me. Leave the DT fishless for 72 days (this part sucks). I tried to rush it after my first ich outbreak and skipped QT on my new tank. Now i'm having to go through it a second time

 

[Alex733mhz]

All pets club mngr is an idiot...

All pets club mngr is an idiot...

This is why I won't do all of that, nothing is 100% guaranteed to work. Not saying it doesn't work but its easy to mess something up. I will focus on keeping my fish healthy. Anyhow I just got back from the all pets club where I bought that Melafix junk. I tried to return it. She wouldn't because I used it and then told me I shouldn't be doing small 25% water changes every week or even month for that matter. So she basically told me I killed my fish doing too many water changes... I didn't know what to say to to her had to just walk out..

 

[Sk8r]

10% water changes a week is fine; 20% is a bit much but won't hurt. Putting the fish into 100% water change water won't hurt them. The lady is quite wrong. Suggest you start with the 'starting up' red arrow sticky at the top and get the chemistry down pat: it's pretty easy. Also read through the ich life cycle (another sticky.) It's perfectly beatable, but right now there's probably ich camped in the dt sandbed. It may die out, but it's also possible it will target another fish: it's kind of like fleas in the carpet: it looks for a new host.

 

[heathlindner25]

I do very large water changes a week and have no problem at all

 

[roostertech]

+1 on TTM

For smaller fish like clown that can fit in 5g bucket it is super easy.

Match your salinity and temp and fish won't mind 100% water change (which is the point of TTM)