# Melafix



## emski (Jan 13, 2007)

I was just wondering if anybody uses or has used malafix and what you think of it? I read in a lot of places that malafix was brlliant, how it cured a list of illnesses or wounds. Well i tried this when i purchased a red fin prochilodus from a local fish shop, it was ok for a day and then its fins started wearing away and it had cotton wool growths all over its face. I assumed it was a bit of fin rot and a bit of fungus, i gave the pet shop a call and asked what would be best to use and they advised malafix. After around 6 hours of me putting this in all of the fish looked reak ill, the next morning most of them were dead I was not sure if it was the melafix or if it was some sort of super bug for fish:hmm: I then used it again when another fish of mine was poorly and the same happened, within hours it was dead. I have never again used melafix and now only seem to use intrapet if anyhing happens. But i was just wondering if anyone else had any storys about melafix wether they are good or bad?


----------



## bret (Feb 18, 2007)

you only need the tiniest amount of this, and usually i house the fish seperately and change the water every day with fresh meds etc. because some fish are intolerant to it 

bret


----------



## sami (Oct 23, 2006)

We've found it helpful in the past.

Bret, Are you saying you do a 100% water change every day on ill fish?


----------



## bret (Feb 18, 2007)

Yes, i do 100% every 1-2 days with fresh de-chlored water & fresh meds so any parasites in the water or anything else can be disposed of and more can be killed


----------



## Andyman (May 16, 2005)

Isn't that abit stressing for the fish .


----------



## DaveM (Oct 18, 2006)

juust a bit :lol2:


----------



## emski (Jan 13, 2007)

you see its strange because you guys have found it helpful and a lot of other people i have spoke with found it helpful. When i rang the place that sold me it, they said that it could of been a dodgy batch which was worrying. I dunno its a mystery :lol2: as for changing a 100% water i would not do that, if i need to change it all, i will do it in stages, say take half out and then fill it up and then take another bit out etc.. Fish can get a chill from the water temp decreasing and this can bring on white spot, plus my tank is rathier large so i would be there all day!!!:lol2:


----------



## bret (Feb 18, 2007)

Oh yeah, i dont change t ALL at once, i change it over the course of the day with 4 25% changes.


----------



## mike515 (Sep 12, 2006)

best medication that doesn't empty your wallet.

My medical kit is, Melafix, Pimafix and WS3 (possibly the best whitespot treatment I've ever tried)


----------



## serpentkid100 (Mar 7, 2006)

its amazin stuff, really works on fish that have been bashed a bit by others....


----------



## emski (Jan 13, 2007)

so strange, i wonder why it killed the fish.. do you think it could of been a dodgy batch?


----------



## mike515 (Sep 12, 2006)

most likely an overdose


----------



## emski (Jan 13, 2007)

i followed the directions on the bottle exactly as it said, i always read the instructions and use a pipet thing..


----------



## Lillydafish (Mar 2, 2007)

i use Melafix all the time and i swear by it, its never given me any problems. it sounds like you fish over dosed on it but as you followed the directions on the bottle it cant be that . what was your water readings ?


----------



## serpentkid100 (Mar 7, 2006)

prob just one of those things, i find its best for healing cuts and scratches, but its worked for a funny fungus i found in my gf's tank the other week


----------



## sami (Oct 23, 2006)

we have melafix and pimafix, depending on what the problem is... 

luckily, we've been ok for ages... and have really hardy fish now. 
we just keep Oscars, and fish that can live with them... 

sami


----------



## mike515 (Sep 12, 2006)

there's no reason why melafix would kill your fish. it was either an overdose or some other problem


----------



## emski (Jan 13, 2007)

the water readings were all fine and i know for sure that i did not over dose. The reason for using it was, i got a few new fish from a shop and put them in my tank. Within 2 days all the fish were sick they had what looked like cotton wool growths, red fins, and clamped fins and fin rot. I took one of the dead fish back to the shop so they could tell me what it could be and they dident have a clue. So they advised me to use melafix i put that in, next morning woke up to find majority of my fish dead. I put this down to the desease that they had and thought nothing else about it, a few days later i had a outbreak of white spot, which i treated with intrapet white spot treatment which worked. Anyway i had no problems after that, until 2 of my fish had damaged their fins, so i removed them from the tank and put them in with some melafix (measured correctly) it was the same bottle i had used before, within 1 hour both fish were dead. that is why i thought it was the melafix, i looked it up on various fish forums and there was a lot of mixed feelings about it. Fourtuantly i have had no problems in months and all my fish are healthy, i was just curious about melafix really.. I have also learned a valuable lesson, allways quarrenteen new fish!!


----------



## billmac (Mar 26, 2007)

when using pimafix or melafix, it is better to underdose. An overdose will kill the fish, certainly by the morning.
When using either, observe the fish for about an half hour to an hour, and if any of the fish come to the surface for air, or starts gasping for air, you have an overdose on your hands. If that happens, do an immediate 30% to 40% water change, then you will find your tank back to normal.


----------



## YELLOWFISH (Mar 30, 2007)

Melafix is just a fancy name for tea tree oil. It has exaclty the same active ingredients and is a natural antiseptic/cureall. I have used it before on my bettas and cichlids after they've "settled their differences" and have had nothing short of miraculous results. I suspect you may have had a dodgy bottle. I suggest you contact the company with the batch number and they might be able to help.


----------



## mike515 (Sep 12, 2006)

yellowfish, what cichlids have you kept?

also, im liking the fish tank display pic lol, i got the t-shirt of that


----------



## YELLOWFISH (Mar 30, 2007)

I have managed to keep and breed Firemouths, Blue Acaras, Jewel Cichlids (As a matter of fact, I still have about 50 large fry left if anyones interested) Kribensis etc. I am scrounging around for a large Malawi set up but that's on hold until after my holidays are done. 

Glad you like my avatar.


----------



## mike515 (Sep 12, 2006)

nothing special cichlid-wise then. No offence meant of course, but the stuff i've got, i got bored with firemouths and jewels etc a few years ago


----------



## YELLOWFISH (Mar 30, 2007)

Might I ask what species you keep mike?


----------



## mike515 (Sep 12, 2006)

I can't find the link with all the numbers etc but ill just tell you the species:

Currently
Pikes (8 different species)
Peacock bass
Dovii
Jags
Frierichstahlii
Mots
Firemouths
Both species of texas cichlid (cynoguttatum and carpinte)
Herichthys Bocourti
Uaru
Heros Severus (normal severum, also got a pair of golds)
Heros Notatus
Heros Rotkeil
Hoplarchus Pssiticus (true parrot)
Green terror
red terror
8 species of acara
Oscars (got these buggers yesterday, 2 big 14 inchers (red and tiger), plus a group of 6 inch tigers and albino tigers
convicts (purely for a food supply, i breed them raise the babies to feed to my dovii. I rescued him and he often refuses anything else, got him onto pellets and stuff like whitebait but he only takes them sometimes) 
also a lot of babies at the moment

i think thats all my americans

Africans
9 species of pseudotropheus
6 different lab species (caeruleus and hongi mostly, but a few things like permutti etc)
2 species of nimbochromis
cryptocara
Maylandia
Metriclima
Frontosa
Tropheus
Cynotillapia

Also 19 orange chromide from asia.

Im pretty sure thats it at the moment. My collection changes quite a bit, due to loaning out fish to friends for breeding etc. Also had a few new fish recently.

also kept alot of more normal fish and my discus are out on loan at the moment


----------



## YELLOWFISH (Mar 30, 2007)

I take it that you have a massive fish house then  Or do you live in the garage?


----------



## mike515 (Sep 12, 2006)

nah, a friend of my dad has a fish room, which he doesn't use anymore. It's cheaper for him to run it, with contributions from me, then it is to have it stripped out. But yeah loads of tanks in there


----------



## YELLOWFISH (Mar 30, 2007)

Nice!  

I wish I had that sort of capacity. But because we are limited in terms of space I can only have a few relatively small community setups.


----------



## mr dolittle (Apr 4, 2007)

i used it in my marine set up previously and it wiped my whole tank out lost about £1000 s worth of live stock any my beautiful emporer angel fish i was sooo gutted never used since


----------



## mike515 (Sep 12, 2006)

why would you medicate a marine tank like that?

I would never treat an entire tank of marine fish. Isolate the sick fish and treat it in a seperate tank


----------



## YELLOWFISH (Mar 30, 2007)

Agreed. Hospital tanks for the win!


----------

