Parasite guard plant safe?

[Visionist]

Will parasite guard medication harm plants?

Sent from my LG G2 using Aquarium Advice mobile app.

 

[BBradbury]

Medications

Hello Vis...

You should never put chemicals into the tank water. Fish, plants and the good bacteria can be harmed. The best thing for your tank is an aggressive water change routine. Just change half the tank water every week or so and do a good job of vacuuming the bottom material and your fish and plants will be fine.

B

 

[Mama Karoti]

I have used two of the ingredients separately, praziquantel and metronidizole, without harm to my fish and plants, and my fish's poop is a lovely brown now instead of stringy white. I cannot speak to the other two ingredients, though. Maybe Google them?

 

[mattcham]

Praziquantel and metronidazole have little effect on the biofilter. They affect mostly parasites rather than beneficial bacteria.

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[jetajockey]

Hello Vis...

You should never put chemicals into the tank water. Fish, plants and the good bacteria can be harmed. The best thing for your tank is an aggressive water change routine. Just change half the tank water every week or so and do a good job of vacuuming the bottom material and your fish and plants will be fine.

B

Water is a chemical.

And sometimes medications are necessary, a water change doesn't fix everything.

Re: the op, parasite meds don't have a record of affecting plants negatively, although salt will in elevated concentrations.

 

[anteatergoanna]

I have found no ill effects on my plants using parasitic medications, using salt is another story.


Sent from anteatergoanna's burrow

 

[BBradbury]

Using Meds

Will parasite guard medication harm plants?

Sent from my LG G2 using Aquarium Advice mobile app.

Hello Vis...

I've never put medications into the water in my tanks. You just never know how the fish, plants and good bacteria will react. Parasites live in most tanks. If you keep up on your water changes your tank will be healthy. Healthy fish are very unlikely to be infected by parasites. I'd suggest changing at least half the tank water every week or two. Then, there won't be any toxins building up in the water to make the fish sick.

Pretty simple.

B

 

[mattcham]

Parasites can also live dormant inside the intestinal tract of healthy looking fish. They can breed and spread to other fish when the right conditions are met (host becomes immune compromised due to stress). Hexamita and Malawi bloat are prime examples.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[jetajockey]

Hello Vis...

I've never put medications into the water in my tanks. You just never know how the fish, plants and good bacteria will react. Parasites live in most tanks. If you keep up on your water changes your tank will be healthy. Healthy fish are very unlikely to be infected by parasites. I'd suggest changing at least half the tank water every week or two. Then, there won't be any toxins building up in the water to make the fish sick.

Pretty simple.

B

I agree with the latter part of this statement. A good water change routine is never a bad idea. However, for the first part... Actually there is plenty of documentation on how the fish, plants, and bacteria will act with certain medications, so there's no need to be in the dark about it. And no, not all parasites are just sitting there waiting for a fish to get sick. Many need to be dealt with using the proper medication. Or they can be ignored and the fish will suffer/die and eventually they'll all be dead, or the ones immune to the problem survive (and become potential hosts aka typhoid marys).

Frankly, telling someone to do large frequent water changes to deal with a parasite infestation is like telling someone with a tapeworm to go out and get some fresh air.