Using malachite green and formalin, Questions...

[Nyquil Junkie]

I noticed what seems to be a few ick cysts on my goldfish fins. none of the other fish have these and they could be just scars, or slime blobs, but they look very much like ick.
So I figured, I'll take the careful path and give them some meds to kill it early.

I know how the life cycle of ick runs, but what I got (ok I admit I was in a rush at the store) was a bottle of ick and fungus cure that is malachite green and formalin. it sez one drop per gallon.

Ok I dosed the tank.... nice green color... I've used this stuff before so I didnt think about it to much, however I didnt have plants back then.

So I took a quick look online (thank you google) and jebus, alot of resuts say MG and formalin kills plants.... and kills off your biofilter.



I know well that the internet s not the best place for totally true info so I'll ask the fish people this question...

Will this stuff nuke my plants and bio filter??


Now as I understand it... and chances are to some degree i am wrong, BUT...
the ick parasite is only vulnerable to get killed by the chemicals once the little cyst sheds off the fish and goes free floating in its trip to the gravel to make more ick parasites, where it free floats back up and latches nto a fish again.

So... between the MG and formalin and afterwards, running a UV sterilizer for a few weeks the ick (if it is ick) should be gone.

but if its gonna kill my plants I gotta get them out of the tank asap and wash/store them in another tank.

What's the truth about Using malachite green and formalin ick cure?

thanks!

 

[Nyquil Junkie]

oh btw i did read the pge here on ich
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/articles/articles/29/1/Freshwater-Ich-Yuck-/Page1.html

but it doesnt mention killing plants...

Now I read elsewhere that the dose of 1 drop per gal wont kill plants, shrimp, or a biofilter (but it might put a dent in it).

The water temp I keep at about 80F, and the few spots I think are ich have actually been therefor many weeks now, longer than I thought (or I read here) that the cyst dont stay on the fish at warm temps.

Just to add some more info on the question, the tank has 2 black mollies, 2 black skirted tetras, a large pleco and 8 corry catfish.

I have checked them all very closely, none of them have any trace of ich spots at all, which had me thinking what I was looking at on the big goldfish was indeed, just scarring from those to pigs shoving around the stuff in the tank, as they get kinda rough sometimes.

Those 2 piggys are going out into a garden pond in the spring.

I read in the above link to jack the temps up to 86-87 for a week to kill it if its ich, which I shoulda done to begin with but I wasnt thinking and was preocupied with life.... ugh.

I have a UV sterilizer running in the tank, which when I noticed the spots I assumed the UV would sterilize any free swimming stage ich.

Its been running in there for 3+weeks with 80F water, wouldnt that have wiped out any ich by now on its own?

Oh and another q the link there didnt address, once the ich cyst pops on the fish, does the cyst itself dissapear? Or does it leave a scar?

 

[jsoong]

I have used MG/Formalin with plants & they came out OK. I only had hornworts then so YMMV. I suspect that plants susceptibility will be variable depending on what you got. But I think that you should be reasonably safe (with both plants & the biofilter) if you dose correctly.

Ich do not leave scars after they fall off. If you see spots that lasts weeks (esp. at 80F), it is unlikely to be ich. If you can post a pic of the gold's spot, we might be able to tell better.

 

[Nyquil Junkie]

Getting a good pic is tough. I'll try.

All my plants are anacharis.

I figured at 80F the spots would have shed by now. I wasnt sure.