Melafix

[parker313]

Is Melafix reef safe? I added my clownfish in the other day and he was looking a little sickly so I dropped in some Melafix as it clearly showed a SW fish on the bottle and said it was safe for all fish. Nowhere on the bottle did it mention having copper in it.

My 3 snails ALL almost immediately dropped off the rocks or glass and pulled in TIGHT. They would start to poke out again and clam back up. The hermit crabs seemed unaffected. I was worried about the snails and had an extra carbon filter from my big tank so I put it into the filter to get the Melafix out in case it was toxic for snails (never occurred to me that it might be b/c I have mystery snails in my FW tank and it never harmed them).......

This morning, 2 snails are back up and at 'em, no problem, but my astraea hasn't moved since last night and I'm pretty sure it's dead.

All told though, I'd rather lose a $2 snail than a $20 clownfish!

Thanks

 

[Navarre]

IM afraid i have never heard of the treatment sorry. I am however a little concerned that you treated the tank when you didnt know what was actually wrong with it (if anything).

I never put a treatment in my tank unless i can be sure of the symptoms. I would definately never put a treatment in the tank without researchng its properties first

You mention you dont want to lose a $20 fish over a $2 snail. the problems lie deeper than this as once you add something like copper into the system its practically impossible to remove it. The chemicals and toxins will imbed themselves into the sand, rocks etc and this will prove almost impossible to remove.
So the longterm is that to save a $20 fish might just mean that you will never be able keep inverts again in this tank without starting from scratch.

The good news is that some of the snails seem to have recovered. This leads me to beleive that it might not be copper based afterall. I Would do a large water change to reduce the stress on the inverts as it seems to have a major impact on their health.

 

[Navarre]

Ok Ijust did a quick search and found the product immediately.

Its mostly a Koi and pond fish treatment but there is a product that is for marine fish and i assume this is what you have cosidering the description you gave with marine fish on its label.

Its doesnt mention what is in the product (except chemicals from a teatree) but it does mention that its reef safe.

This means at the very mest it doesnt have copper in it which is a good thing but most companies will say its reef safe if there is no copper present even if other things might damage the reef somwhat.

I would still do a water change to help your inverts as its obviously had a reaction to them.
I would also advice that should any fish look a little under the weath in future that you try 1 of 2 highly recomended methods. Use a garlic additive to the food to help fortify their immune system or simply use a UV steriliser. Both are by no means 100% effective but they are reef safe and effective methods.

 

[chkltcow]

According to their web page, it's reef safe.

http/www.aquariumpharm.com/aqfish.html

MelaFix®

Heals open wounds & abrasions, treats fin and tail rot, eye cloud, mouth fungus and promotes regrowth of damaged fin rays & tissue. Will not adversely affect the biological filter, alter the pH, or discolor water. Safe for reef aquariums and live plants. For use in fresh or salt water.

Let's hope they're right.

 

[Navarre]

I just read you post in your nano tank diary. You mention the clownfish was not lokoing very good and swimming around the filter or heater. this is completely normal behaviour for them when you feel treatened etc. Put more liverock and give it a more natural environment and it should act differently. I have 2 clwons and they sit right at the front of the tank on a side of liverock and rarely swim far fromthis. If/when they choose to host something then they will hardly move from that position either

 

[3fsh]

I highly recommend Melafix, but only if it is for treating open sores/wounds. I have seen a dramatic increase in healing time when I use melafix (as opposed to without). My triggers bicker like 2 year olds when it's feeding time... That's why they are getting their own tanks. Spoiled rotten fish... *grumble, grumble, grumble*

 

[parker313]

I guess that's what I get for treating my SW tank like a FW tank. For FW tanks, Melafix is kinda considered a generic, can't hurt anything cure-all. I've used it for years with no adverse affects so I wasn't just throwing some chemical in the tank without being familiar with it (well, I guess in a way I was ) It even says on the bottle to add 1 tsp for every 10 gallons for 3 days when you add a new fish or handle your fish

Thank you very much for the tip about changing the environment... I can definitely do more LR, but for creating a more natural environment, to me that means an anemone and other corals but I was concerned that an anemone would wreak havoc in my small tank and that I wasn't established well enough to add corals in yet.... The tank has been up and running with LR since 29 September...

 

[Navarre]

You dont need an anemone for clownfish. They will be just as happy in a Leather coral or any other form of coral etc.

Here is a photo of my Maroon clown in a leather mushroom.
(Far easier and less problematic than trying to keep anemones... they dont have a habit of eating your fish either ).

 

[parker313]

Awwww! Those are great pics

Is my tank established enough for a leather mushroom or other sort of coral? I know I also need to upgrade my lighting before I'd add a coral b/c I just have the standard 10g fluorescent light...

 

[Navarre]

The photo this was taken from as a 40 gallon tank. That mushroom was my 2nd coralin the tank and it went in 2 weeks after it was setup.

Leathers are very undemanding to be honest and a great starting coral for beginners. You will need to upgrade your lighting but you could probably get away with a 2nd tube and not go for more expensive lights. I have a friend with 2 normal sized florescent tubes and they have really nice growing soft corals.

 

[parker313]

Good The lfs is closed on Mondays so I can get there tomorrow or Wednesday...

If I decide to do more than just add a 2nd fluorescent tube, they had 2 options that were only $50 and $60 and I think the $60 had an actinic bulb in it. I forget exactly what they were b/c I didn't think I'd be adding in corals for a little while longer.

Oh and good news, my astraea snail is not dead He's got his feelers out and is starting to come out completely

 

[chkltcow]

Well this certainly got off topic Navarre, that looks NICE! I had asked the LFS owner about getting some of that, but he didn't have any when I was in there last time. For now, all I have is a rock with some button polyps on it. They've really started spreading since I put them in there last Wednesday. First day when I put them in, I got worried, because a lot closed up and didn't open back But now, every day, more and more are open.... and some of the ones that were bleached white the first day are full of color and looking good again.

So what exacly is that coral called so I can ask the LFS owner to get me some. He mostly has SPS corals and mushrooms in his reef tank for sale. These came out of a smaller tank that has a few rocks with button polyps like this, and a few pieces of Xenia. Nothing that looks like that, unfortunately I'd love to have something so that the wife can have her clowns and something they can play in.

 

[parker313]

Wow, those button polyps are cool too

 

[Navarre]

What you have there is a form of Zooanthid (im pretty sure).
Very easy to keep and very undemanding. At feeding times, try turning off the flow and placing some food on them, they should close up around it and eat it! Thisis not a requirement for them of course as i rarelyt feed mine and they still grow.

A word of caution though, Zooanthids (most of them) carry a toxin called Palytoxin. Its a very dangerous muscle/nuerotoxin that has no known cure

Now before you go throwing it out the window in panic I would like to add this it cant hurt you if you wear gloves (a good practise in any marine tanks cosidering we dont know about half the stock we have). It only harms you if it can get undr the skin and into the bloodstream to the chances of this are rare. Its wise to never handle them if you have breaks in your skin though as the mucus might well carry the toxin.

Ok now for the corals in my tank.

The Clown is playing in a Sarcophyton (Leather Coral)
Very undemanding and grows easily. Onceit gets too large it can be cut up and fragged easily to make new ones!

Beneath the clowns are a form of Pulsing Xenia, again very easy to keep. It spreads like wildfire though and after a few months you will see this in a new light! No longer lovely looking coral but a nasty bloody weed that should be erradicated from the face of your tank! Serously though it gorws fast but if you can find someone to take it off your hands then you can earn a little bit of money from this stuff! (it bought my tank and halides )

The purple bubble mat thing is a closed up Green Clavularia or simply Metallic green starpolyp (Most shops sell this as xenia buts its a misnamed coral)

The purple branch thing is a Gorgonian. Not that easy to keep if its the "non" light loving variety (which this is )

Hope this helps a little )