# Fin Rot: Alternative to Melafix



## dahcmed (Oct 11, 2006)

Is there an alternative to Melafix for a fin rot? I noticed the fins of my guppies are on healthy, 1 died with all his belly fin colored black, another 2 have started to have black spots on their fins also.

The pet shop only have this med for fin rot, but it says to remove the plants when curing, so I did not buy it, cause I have a number of plants on my 15g tank. 

And I read somewhere that I can add some salt to help speed up the recovery.

By the way, the ammonia level is 0. Ph is 7.5 (couldn't find nitrite and nitrate testers). And the fin rot seems to not worsen, well at least from the time that the guppy died 5 days ago. Also, I've been pulling out and planting new plants to the tank while the fishes were in there, and the planting blurred out water, could this be contributing also?


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

I would say that the least you can do is do 25% water change daily with a dose of salt and Melafix to help your guppies recover from finrot.

Melafix is a natural antibiotic so the way it can harm plants is pretty much doubtful to me.

Use 1/2 teaspoon of aquarium salt per gallon of tank water. When you make those water changes, add salt again, but only to treat the water that was replaced. For instance, you will be changing about 5 gallons of water every day. This means you will add back 2.5 teaspoons of salt to the tank. It will keep the salt concentration the same, even after water changes. Use the Melafix according to the package instructions.

Melafix when use in heavy dosage tends to make fish flick a lot.:blink:


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## Rebecca (Aug 3, 2006)

Some products that people say have proved effective are: Fungus Eliminator (By Jungle Laboratories); CopperSafe (By Mardel Laboratories); Maroxy (Mardel Labs as well). When treating a bacterial infection, it is sometimes a good idea to get general antibiotics as well. Things like Maracyn and Maracyn 2 are both products the people use. (Although these sound alike, they treat different kinds of bacteria so they are *NOT* the same.

When using any treatment, it's a good idea to remove your carbon filters, otherwise the medication will cycle right out of the water. Also, you should use the meds for the *full* recommended treatment time, even if the disease appears to have gone away, since bacteria can linger even after physical signs have disappeared.. 

When your tank gets infected, you can "shock" the bacteria by using salt. This changes the water levels and can assist in killing off the disease.


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## dahcmed (Oct 11, 2006)

Well, I've been searching the lfs for melafix or the like, but all I found was something that has warning on it (Remove plants during medication ).

I've been doing a daily 25% water change, using a water conditioner (seachem something  forgot) during the change. I'll do the salt remedy with it.

Thanks!


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## Rebecca (Aug 3, 2006)

No problem, dahcmed. Hopefully we were helpful. I hope all goes well with the treatment.


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## dahcmed (Oct 11, 2006)

A friend of mine was able to get me melafix. I did a water change this morning, put in 6 tspns of salt, and added 6ml of melafix. The instruction on melafix says, remove the carbon if possible. The thing is I have a cheapo overhead filter that have the carbon and foam filter in one. 

If I remove it and replace it with a foam filter, will my ammonia spike up, because I'm replacing the filter with a new one?

Is it absolutely necessary to take out carbon when using melafix?

Pls advise.


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

Carbon is useless. They are used only for removal of meds, stains and tannins hence the instruction to remove it before dosing Melafix and other meds.

Nothing will happen even with the removal of carbon.


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## dahcmed (Oct 11, 2006)

Thanks blue. I'll just replace the foam+carbon filter pad with a foam/sponge pad.

(P.S. darn ISP at home still down, 5 days now!, so no chance joining the chats later)


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