Melafix ?

[tankgrl88]

I wonder how others feel about this product. Please give me your opinions.
I saw a video that it is good and safe but have after using it read online it surly isn't.

-Last Tuesday I started a full daily dose (&removed the carbon filter).In my tank 4tsp is a dose. It occured to me after a loss and another weakened male guppy, which I placed h him in my other tank, that the dose might be too powerful. Thursday I cut it to 3tsp. All the tests (liquid API master kit) show these guys are in healthy water. The foamy top has me concerned as well the research online wasn't completely positive. The grp seems lively and they have appetites.

This bottle is a product of Mars, which I found at Walmart. My API products are also registered as Mars co. So I reasoned this is an API product. Should I quit treatment or resume? Opinions please. I have 2 out of my 12 still with ragged tailfins but if the cure is more harm than good, I will quit promptly. Thank you for any replies.

 

[lksdrinker]

both melafix and pimafix are pretty natural. They are barely considered medicines. However, the ingredients (the clove and tea tree oils specifically) are/can be used to euthanize fish in a high enough concentration. They can help for very minor issues like fin rot; but then again so can keeping up with lots of water changes and making sure your parameters are ideal. I've never really heard of any negative side effects from using these so long as the dose was proper (other than perhaps they did not help out as much as one might hope).

 

[tankgrl88]

TY for your reply. This makes me a bit relaxed. To be safe perhaps I will just dose half and carry it out a bit longer. The smell and foam could be toxic when too strong. Again, thank you for taking the time to rrply.

 

[Matt68005]

My honest opinion on this product.... Its a ripoff. Its just a money making product for API that every pet store pushes to sell to noobs and make $$$... its pretty useless if not even harmful to the fish because of the oils.
External tail rot or fungal infections usually point to a serious bacterial infection.
The only time this stuff MAY be useful is in a hospital tank for something like a fresh wound or some simple tail rot like on a guppy from lack of blood flow or old age or again a wound or nip. personally i would not use it nor reccomend it and thats like 8 years of experience with fish and mostly concentrating my free time reading about antibiotics and parastie diseases.
According to studies, its mildly effective against certain types of primarily Gram + aerobic bacteria.
Most fish disease causing bacteria is Gram - and alot are anerobic, meaning you and your fish (but maybe not your carpet) Would be much better off with a simple methylene blue bath or hospital tank for some simple wound healing.

 

[Delapool]

My experience has been fish can be sensitive to it and from research that a half dose is pretty much as effective as full. Mainly as it is just a tweak to lift a fish back to full health.

It's pretty cheap here so I've used it in large tanks on fish that are off looking but too active to catch quickly.

I've never lost a fish to the foaming effect but I suspect the product has been improved over time.

 

[StrangelyNormal]

I've read that melafix can lower the concentration of oxygen in the tank which may explain your guppy death.

Personally, I do not use these products either. The one time I did it was for a fungus, and to be honest the fungus just kept returning until the 4th dose or so. I do not trust their potency.

 

[Aces11]

I've had melafix work wonders on fish with torn fins. However, I don't normally use the full dosage. I have also read that it lowers the oxygen levels, but i do believe its harmless to the good bacteria in your filters.

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