Mardel Maracyn

[Mayu]

the directions are to use 2 cap fulls per 10 gallons of water (so 30 gallons would be a total of 6 cap fulls) on day 1, day 3 and day 5. and that's all the directions say other than, may make the water cloudy for 30 minutes...

do I do water changes on day 3 and 5 before redosing, or do I wait to do a water change until day 7... then re medicate if needed?

 

[WILDER]

Never used the med so couldn't say.

Post in tropical discussion as alot of members have used the med. Will get alot more help over there.

 

[sumtin_crazy]

the directions are to use 2 cap fulls per 10 gallons of water (so 30 gallons would be a total of 6 cap fulls) on day 1, day 3 and day 5. and that's all the directions say other than, may make the water cloudy for 30 minutes...

do I do water changes on day 3 and 5 before redosing, or do I wait to do a water change until day 7... then re medicate if needed?

Ive used that befor and it says to use 2x per 10 gallon FIRST DAY and 1x per gallon second day and so on you dont do a water change until you treat for one week and then do a water change make sure u have alot of airation in the tank because that med reduces oxygen in the water but that stuff is good it worked awsome for me

 

[Mayu]

nope, that's not what it says. Directly from the bottle it says:

"use 2 cap fulls per 10 gallons of water. treat on days 1, 3, and 5. use as soon as first signs of disease is noted. Water may appear cloudy for the first due to the presence of microspheres; 30 to 1 hour after treatment, the cloudiness should be gone. Maintain NORMAL filtration and air."

 

[Tolak]

If it's a liquid it's Maracyn Plus, by those directions that is the protocol they suggest.

Their dosage is correct, the frequency is not. Redose daily after a 50% water change for 7-10 days.

 

[Mayu]

ok so today I should do a water change and add 6 more cap fulls, then tomorrow do a water change and add 6 more cap fulls?

 

[Mayu]

Just an update...

the spot on the tail seems to be all but gone... and the giant fluffy spot on the anal fin seems to be falling apart. It's much much smaller and less fluffy as it was before.

I was going to separate Haruko and put her in the main tank since I have room and she would do good with most of the fish in the main tank... but I noticed she had a similar spot on her tail fin that I think I didn't notice before because it was smaller and kind of blended in with her normal markings... so I kept her in the tank while I treated it. She seems to be getting better too...

so it must have been a bacterial thing as Wilder thought.

Both have been doing great during treatment... in fact, their colors are much more vibrant than usual, and they're more spunky. One is even venturing into the cave, something neither of them were interested in when I first got them...

the only thing... Since I started treating the tank... I noticed this rust color starting to creep over the cave and the plants. Now it's pretty prevelent... I looked it up online and they said it's brown algae that usually comes when a tank is not finished cycling... but the tank was fully cycled before I bought the fish... do you think it's caused by the treatment?

 

[WILDER]

I think I would do another round of maracyn before you add them back to the main tank.
Don't want to cut the med to short that is flares back up again.

Noe sure about the rust.
As it only happened since using the med.
Maracyn does alter water stats so it could be to bad water quality.

Check water stats.
Antibiotics seem to protect fish in bad water quality.
But you still need to do water changes if the reading are creeping up to much.

 

[Mayu]

let me clear up what I meant...

I didn't have a sick tank cause my extra tank started leaking. So I was going to move the one into what I call my main tank (Because at the time my other tank was a betta only tank. So I had the betta tank, and the "main" tank.)

but because she had a spot on her tail, I decided to treat them both in their tank. So even after treatment they're not being moved in with the other fish... they get the 30 gallon tank all to themselves.

I know the pH is still a bit high for these fish (I'm going to add peat moss AFTER treatment cause I don't want to upset the balance too much while they're recovering.)

Nitrites are zero, nitrates are zero... Ammonia is the only questionable one. The water should turn yellow if it's zero, and a yellowish green if its .25... but it's not as yellow as usual... and it's not quite the .25 color either... it's closer to yellow... but not perfectly yellow. so there may be some Ammonia creeping in. I'm doing 50% water changes daily as Tolak recommended... maybe I'm doing too many changes?

I don't know.

all I know is, minus the rust, they're looking really healthy and the spots are disappearing. When I did a water test today I noticed that even the giant anal fin fluff Hachiko use to have is almost gone, and Haruko's tail spot is starting to shrink... and their colors are beautiful.

Plus they eat really well. Hachiko gets really excited when he sees the turkey baster... he waits at the front of the tank waiting for me to dip it in, then sucks on it like a baby bottle waiting for the food to come out. (I've been feeding mostly bloodworms while they recover and flakes every so often... cause I hear protien helps them more than the flake food alone.)

I can live with a little rust. I can always clean it off later when they are healthy again.

I read it could also be too little lighting. I did have to go out of town for 3 days (before I started the treatment)... and I forgot to buy an automatic timer for this tank, so this tank's lights were off the whole time, and it was the bedroom where the shades are drawn and theres no natural light... so it probably started that way, and its just noticable now... may have nothing to do with the treatment.

once they are back to healthy, I'll clean the tank from head to toe, wash the decorations off, vaccum the gravel, add the peat moss to the filter, and maybe move in an appropriate algae eating tank mate.

I was wondering about Gary's babies... (they are starting to grow now... and I was curious if they'd make good tank mates for Blue Rams...) but I know they make good cold water pond snails... and do well in moderate temp. betta tanks like mine...

but I'm not sure how well they'd do in a ram tank since rams need temps between 80 and 83 degrees. so I have to research that.

 

[WILDER]

Plus they eat really well. Hachiko gets really excited when he sees the turkey baster... he waits at the front of the tank waiting for me to dip it in, then sucks on it like a baby bottle waiting for the food to come out. (I've been feeding mostly bloodworms while they recover and flakes every so often... cause I hear protien helps them more than the flake food alone.)


That's so cute. LOL.
Soak there flake food in garlic juice it will boost there immune system.
Don't over feed the bloodworms. We don't want the fish bloating up.

As for gary's baby's not sure. Never kept rams so know nothing about them.
Ask in tropical discussion.

 

[Mayu]

That's so cute. LOL.
Soak there flake food in garlic juice it will boost there immune system.
Don't over feed the bloodworms. We don't want the fish bloating up.

It is kind of cute. And a relief considering I got the wrong fish to begin with (they were suppose to be Bolivian Rams), and I honestly thought they wouldn't make it through the first day.

but it's been a few weeks now and they seem to be going strong. And I think they've gotten so use to me sitting there staring at them to get a good glimpse of the spots... that they're use to me. They don't go darting away to hide anymore. Now they'll actually swim to the front of the tank and stare back.

I feed a few bloodworms every other day (just what they'd eat in 30 seconds) and on the non-blood worm days they get tropical flake food, and yes it is soaked in garlic first.. (I hear the garlic advice all the time when it comes to sick fish... so I automatically do it now.) but I wanna make sure I get that protein in there too.

 

[WILDER]

That's sounds fine to me.