Paraguard

[sneeyatch]

I know Paraguard's been discussed for years, but if you really look into what it is and how it works and exactly what it treats, information is very limited. It actually amazes me that the information is so limited. I wanted to post this up to give some insight as to what my experiences are as well as have other chime in and give theirs:

From what I've seen on WWM - this product is mostly malachite green and gluteraldehyde. It is supposed to be a "safer" alternative to formalin although WWM states the somplete opposite. Seachem's website simply states that it's a "synergisitc blend of aldehydes, malachite green and fish protecting polymers..."

I started a QT tank (a 20 long with a simple Aquaclear HOB, a single MJ1200, heater, some PVC fittings, an ammonia alert badge and have recently added an airpump. Lighting is a DIY T5 HO fixture with beat bulbs) a while ago when I started my new set-up and purposely let it get funky, grow algae, pods, etc. pretty much just a saltwater cesspool and kept everything simple regarding filtration, etc. After a couple of months, I wanted to start my stocking, so I cleaned up the water, but left all of the algae and pods and filtration in there to keep it as biologically active as possible, knowing full well that my medications would have less than desirable effects on the microfauna. I also started dumping replacement foam pads for the HOB filter in my display's sump to colonize bacteria so I could change them out as needed.

I have been using Paraguard as the main medication and it's been in use in this particular QT for well over 2 months now and here's what I've noticed:

1.) I still get algae growth although it's slowed down considerably. Coralline algae is almost all dead.
2.) No noticeable changes in pH, alk or nitrates.
3.) My pod population has taken a beating. There are still pods but they are few and far between.
4.) My bacterial filtration in my HOB is holding it's own. I've tested for ammonia multiple times and there hasn't been the slightest change in color on the ammonia badge.
5.) I've noticed a foamy build-up on occasion on the water's surface - almost like thin skimmate. Sometimes it appears, other times it's not there. Can't figure that one out.
6.) All fish that have been through QT and the ones going through it now all appear to have no stress and all are eating well.

Dosing is down with either dips or added directly to the QT tank. I'm really not a big fan of dips for my own personal reasons so I've always added Paraguard directly to an area of higher flow directly to the tank. I've been dosing at 5ml / 10 gallons, so I've been dosing 10ml daily.

I've read that malachite is photosensitive, which is a slight concern to me and that it loses it's effectiveness quickly if dosed with the lights on. I dose in the early morning before the lights come on so like I said, that's only a slight concern to me.

I've also read that Paraguard is used up rather quickly (less than 24 hrs) which is why the need to dose directly to the tank daily.

Since a lot of people consider this product to be a "silver bullet", I'd like to hear from the folks who have used it with good and bad results, what happened, etc.So far, it's been a great product for me, easy to dose since there's no therapeutic level to maintain, etc.

 

[Jisung]

Thanks for sharing!

 

[geaux xman]

i have a 4.5" chrysurus angel that had a very bad bacterial infection that ate into the skin near the back fins. the bacteria infection took off about half the size of a dime of the angel's skin near the back fin/tail and showed flesh. i dosed the QT daily for a week. during that stretch, i did about 5 straight days of 1-2hr baths in the paraguard. after the bath, i just poured the water back into the QT, which essentially gave the QT the daily dose. i did dosed(during bath and in QT tank) more than the directions without noticing any stress in the fish.

it will take more time for the angel to fully recover, but the angel's condition looked much improved after the week treatment of paraguard.

i did do 1 treatment of Maracyn 2 after that paraguard treatment.

i really thought there was a chance i might lose the fish prior to the paraguard treatment.

 

[jhentr]

I've used it in the past too, but nothing conclusive as the fish were too far gone for it to help or that I've changed over to Cupramine+Prazi since I usually only counter ich and flukes.

I've done about three straight days of dosing once to a variety of fishes (firefishes, tangs, large angels) and see the same observations as your #6 listed. I usually dose every 24 hrs too.

The way it's advertise, it seems like it's a silver bullet, but I think it's like a jack of all trades, but a master of none.

 

[geaux xman]

My angel actually got the bacti infection during cupramine+prazi treatment. i had already did 2 treatments of prazi and was right around 20 days of cupramine.

I've read a few comments on here that the baths are much more effective. The daily dose is so much less than the baths, so i think there might be some truth in that.

5ml per 10g for daily dose.

3ml per 1gal for baths. I was doing about 10mls in a 2gal bucket after following the directions on the 1st couple of baths.

 

[MrTuskfish]

Just an observation. It didn't kill all of the pods. Would it kill all free-swimming protozoan parasites? Close isn't good enough when treating for them.

 

[Omega_rains]

I have had an constant up & down battle with Ich for a year now... I had introduced a Morish Idol last Sunday. By Tuesday is showed signs of Ich - started treating with ParaGuard on Wed and by this morning the Ich is almost gone. Only side effect was my Urchin was killed and my Plate Coral took a beating. None of the shrimp or other corals are worse for wear. I have a ton of Zoos and various hard corals, what can I say Paraguard rocks in my book I have a 90 Reef - I am switching everything over to a 180 soon so I hope the issue is behind me ....

 

[MrTuskfish]

I have had an constant up & down battle with Ich for a year now... I had introduced a Morish Idol last Sunday. By Tuesday is showed signs of Ich - started treating with ParaGuard on Wed and by this morning the Ich is almost gone. Only side effect was my Urchin was killed and my Plate Coral took a beating. None of the shrimp or other corals are worse for wear. I have a ton of Zoos and various hard corals, what can I say Paraguard rocks in my book I have a 90 Reef - I am switching everything over to a 180 soon so I hope the issue is behind me ....

I hope you're right. New ich infestations often "disappear"; then the next generation appears in massive numbers. Read the ich stickies at the top of the disease forum and you'll see that the normal ich life-cycle follows your timeline. Ich cysts are almost certainly living in your tank now, unseen. It's way too soon to declare ich defeated. Absolutely nothing can wipe out ich in just a week. Sorry to sound the alarm. BTW, did you really add an Idol without a QT regimen? If you're upgrading; why not QT and properly treat your fish and tank at the same time? You can get rid of the ich battle once and for all; and this is a battle the ich (almost, CMA) always wins----its just a matter of when.

BTW, I really like SeaChem products and their tech support. But Paraguard seems to be more of a short-term "catch-all" product. Its web site only says it kills ich "on the fish"; whatever that means. Ich is only "on the fish long enough to bury itself "inside" the fish---and nothing kills it there. Paraguard claimed to be effective on "parasites; as well "bacteria, fungal, and viral infections". That's a bit much. This sounds much more like a product to help with secondary wounds. SeaChem does not endorse using Paraguard with inverts. I'd call SeaChem tech support, helpful & knowledgeable people. (888-seachem, I think). SeaChem also makes Cupramine, a real ich cure....but that must be done in a QT.

 

[Omega_rains]

Idol is doing great no sign of ICH have had these battles before. Only damage caused is my plate corals took a beating. But the are bouncing back over the past week.

 

[geaux xman]

After my bout with velvet/oodinium, i've done quite a few formalin treatments. now i'm thinking 1hr formalin dips is more effective than paraguard.

 

[MrTuskfish]

After my bout with velvet/oodinium, i've done quite a few formalin treatments. now i'm thinking 1hr formalin dips is more effective than paraguard.

Why the formalin? Copper works extremely well with velvet. BTW, I'm convinced that a lot of velvet (not yours) is being mis-diagnosed as ich. Velvet is much more common than the number of posts on our forum would indicate.

 

[geaux xman]

well i had pulled 4 of the angels out(5 died in 48hrs) and had them in .4-.5ppm cupramine. even after a week the fish was still flashing bad. so i gave them ~1hr formalin dips every other day. did it about 3x. dipped them for an hr then put them back in the cupramine.

the cupramine alone would've probably been okay but i wanted to get aggressive.

 

[MrTuskfish]

well i had pulled 4 of the angels out(5 died in 48hrs) and had them in .4-.5ppm cupramine. even after a week the fish was still flashing bad. so i gave them ~1hr formalin dips every other day. did it about 3x. dipped them for an hr then put them back in the cupramine.

the cupramine alone would've probably been okay but i wanted to get aggressive.

Sorry about the Angels, velvet is really nasty stuff. The formalin does provide some temporary instant relief to fish with oodinium (velvet) too. Although I don't push it, I treat on the aggressive side too. Personally, I feel more fish are lost "by waiting for it to go away" or "afraid of chemicals'' (and can I add, "its too much work' or I don't have a "HT"?) responses to parasites than by parasite infestations themselves. With bugs like velvet or brooklynella; fish ARE going to die fast unless quick, serious action is taken. When I hear of quick tank wipe-outs by ich; that's another reason I feel velvet is often misdiagnosed as ich. A quick wipe-out is almost always velvet in these cases, IMO & IME.

 

[TheVisionary78]

I used this paraguard in my planted aquarium when I had an out break of some sort of fish lice/ parasites. The fish were always ichy but never got ich. I then notice on the glass of the aquarium there were little mite / bug creatures. Cured my tank in about a week of daily dosing. I would be afraid to try this product my reef tank. Then again I have no fish in my reef so no worries.

 

[sneeyatch]

I'm going to revive this old thread.

Last time I used Paraguard, I had excellent results IMO - this was a few years ago when I was setting up a new system. Since then, I've torn down that system and took a break from the hobby. Now that I'm back in and quarantining new fish, I did some things a little different and I wanted to document my experiences with this new QT tank.

I set up a 10 gallon QT tank this time and I added some "disposable" live rock from another tank that had some invasive grape caulerpa growing on it. Additionally, there is a small piece of red monti cap that was encrusted on one of the rocks that I considered "disposable" since the entire colony has been transferred into the display. It's only 3 small rocks - maybe 5lbs total. Since the rock came from another one of my systems, it is loaded with micro fauna, brittle stars, pods, etc.

The fish that are in QT right now (scheduled to be finished this Saturday) are (2) ocellaris clowns from my other system, a small lawnmower blenny, a royal gramma and a yasha goby. A lot of fish for a small QT, but everyone is fine and I keep a close eye on what's going on in there. All fish appeared healthy, were eating fine, etc. I take NO chances with disease since like many others, I've been down that disease path a few times and will never go down it again if I can help it. All fish are QT'd and treated whether they show symptoms of disease or not.

Anyway - my QT system is bare bones like most - tank, hood with fluorescent light, heater, HOB filter (I keep replacement sponges in my display's sump so they can easily be changed if needed without upsetting the bio filter) and a small powerhead. Bare bottom with just those few pieces of macro covered LR.

I specifically placed the one rock with the small monti cap close to the front so I can watch progress.

After the very first day of treating with Paraguard, the monti started to lose color. By the third day, it was dead. Not surprising. Small snails, brittle stars not happy at all and some dying. By the end of the first week, I didn't notice any invert life - except the macro was still kicking. All fish appear fine, eat well, no aggression, etc. Slight levels of free ammonia, so I did a water change, siphoned out the bottom and changed the sponge in the HOB.

This was pretty much the case after every week - slight ammonia levels, water change, siphon, change filter. Macro algae turning brown and dying slightly more and more each day.

All in all - no disease issues that I was able to notice and I look into this thing all day long - it's in my office on a shelf directly in front of me about 8' away. No flashing, all eating well. I can't say for sure if any of the fish were even carrying disease since I trust my LFS and I don't take chances anyway. I have noticed some aggression just last night with the lawnmower and yasha but just a little chasing around. Probably just close quarters getting closer and closer...