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Hey guys. A good few weeks ago I had an outbreak of ich amongst a few of my fish, and I treated it with ich medications containing formaldehyde and malachite green as active ingredients. I thought I should share my experience on how strong these medications really are. I'm not going to name the specific medication I used, as there are plenty of them out there which are commonly suggested and easily found medications which contain both formaldehyde/formalin and malachite green.
Before I continue, I must note that yes, these two chemicals mixed together are indeed effective in treating ich and most likely other parasites or fungus. But that is not the point of the topic
I dosed the tank as directed to the letter, so the experiences were not due to my misuse of the medications.
During that time of treatment, my heater shorted out, so granted I had my hands in the water for a good while as I changed out the old heater and placed in a new one. I suffer from sensitive skin and a hypersensitivity disorder, just to note.
During the time my arm was in the tank, my arm itched like mad in a stinging kind of way. I immediately took a shower after my arm was out of the tank to rinse off the medicated water. the next morning, my arm was extremely dried out, especially around the knuckles and elbow. I knew just then that this stuff is pretty potent. I have no idea how the fish handle it.
Unfortunately, some of them didn't handle it at all. I suffered 3 casualties along the way. All three of them being my beloved raphael catfish. I tried to save them as soon as they were showing signs of stress, but they didn't make it.
After all of this happening, I took into some research on the active ingredients malachite green and formalin/formaldehyde. Apparently both are very dangerous to handle on their own. Thankfully both are pretty diluted in the medications. Putting both of them together increases their potency in some way from my understanding. I read from one source that the FDA may even ban malachite green from medications due to how harmful it can be, it's supposedly known to cause cancer and is harmful to breath and touch, especially for pregnant women.
I also found that these medications are more potent at higher temperatures and more acidic conditions, and malachite green is light sensitive, and should best be used with the tank lights off. None of these warnings are labeled on the bottle of the medications, and some of them even tell you to turn the tank water temperature past 84 degrees, which would be good to help speed the cycle of ich, but with sensitive fish, it's a death sentence.
I've noticed that a lot of posters in the emergency forums are saying not to use salt in a tank with catfish and to use these medications instead, but the fact of the matter is, the common medications aren't any better. I had plenty of successful treatments using salt instead of medications, but was turned away from all the over whelming sources saying that it's bad for catfish and to use x medication instead. And I lost my catfishes because of that.
I just thought I'd throw in a bit of my findings and experiences.
Before I continue, I must note that yes, these two chemicals mixed together are indeed effective in treating ich and most likely other parasites or fungus. But that is not the point of the topic
I dosed the tank as directed to the letter, so the experiences were not due to my misuse of the medications.
During that time of treatment, my heater shorted out, so granted I had my hands in the water for a good while as I changed out the old heater and placed in a new one. I suffer from sensitive skin and a hypersensitivity disorder, just to note.
During the time my arm was in the tank, my arm itched like mad in a stinging kind of way. I immediately took a shower after my arm was out of the tank to rinse off the medicated water. the next morning, my arm was extremely dried out, especially around the knuckles and elbow. I knew just then that this stuff is pretty potent. I have no idea how the fish handle it.
Unfortunately, some of them didn't handle it at all. I suffered 3 casualties along the way. All three of them being my beloved raphael catfish. I tried to save them as soon as they were showing signs of stress, but they didn't make it.
After all of this happening, I took into some research on the active ingredients malachite green and formalin/formaldehyde. Apparently both are very dangerous to handle on their own. Thankfully both are pretty diluted in the medications. Putting both of them together increases their potency in some way from my understanding. I read from one source that the FDA may even ban malachite green from medications due to how harmful it can be, it's supposedly known to cause cancer and is harmful to breath and touch, especially for pregnant women.
I also found that these medications are more potent at higher temperatures and more acidic conditions, and malachite green is light sensitive, and should best be used with the tank lights off. None of these warnings are labeled on the bottle of the medications, and some of them even tell you to turn the tank water temperature past 84 degrees, which would be good to help speed the cycle of ich, but with sensitive fish, it's a death sentence.
I've noticed that a lot of posters in the emergency forums are saying not to use salt in a tank with catfish and to use these medications instead, but the fact of the matter is, the common medications aren't any better. I had plenty of successful treatments using salt instead of medications, but was turned away from all the over whelming sources saying that it's bad for catfish and to use x medication instead. And I lost my catfishes because of that.
I just thought I'd throw in a bit of my findings and experiences.
