Malachite Green and Loaches PSA

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mgsickels
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Jun 06, 2015 6:26 pm

Malachite Green and Loaches PSA

Post by mgsickels » Wed Jun 10, 2015 11:56 am

Aloha Kakahiaka All,

I just wanted to share my experience with treating ich with malachite green. A few days ago, I was buying food at the local PetSmart when I saw a young clown loach (1.5inch) covered in a moderate condition of ich. This amount of ich doesn't happen overnight and when I approached a worker, they said that they never noticed it before, and would get around to it. The clown was the only one in the tank as unsurprisingly no one bought him.

I have raised dozens of clown loaches in the past and have a soft spot for them. So I bought the fish with hopes of getting him healthy and giving him away thereafter. (I'm not equipped to keep loaches long term in my college dorm) I have treated my former clown loaches with "Rid-Ich" and heating to about 82F in the past with great success. I mean the loaches would be clear in about 5 days at the longest.

So this sick clown was otherwise upbeat and vigorous. It took the store worker a good 15 minutes to catch him. And after patiently acclimating the loach to the treatment tank, he was eating. I proceeded to scour all the local aquarium stores for Rid-Ich. Well, none of them had it in stock!! Not a single store! I did not have the luxury of time to order it online. Instead, I settled for "Nox-Ich." It is pretty much malachite green in a dropper bottle. The label explained that you can treat loaches with a half dose. I have read in the past that this is possible so I gave it a try.

Well the clown loach died within 3 hours of administering the first half dose. Before he died, the signs of suffocation were evident. Very fast gill movement and a struggle to swim at the surface of the tank. Before dosing, the loach was completely normal in behavior. When I removed the body, I noticed that he was covered in a copious amount of mucus. Water test came back with no ammonia or nitrite levels with about nitrates at 10ppm. Given this, water seems to be eliminated as a variable.

I looked into the topic further, and sources say that the malachite green can irritate the skin of the loach causing it to produce excess mucus. The excess mucus can get attached to the gills and greatly impair breathing which can lead to suffocation. My experience seems to support this.

All in all, I am just warning about the use of malachite green on loaches. Be sure to read reviews on the use of particular medications on loaches. Although Rid-Ich also contains malachite green, they use a different, less toxic malachite salt and it has been used by many on loaches with great success.

Mahalo nui loa, and keep your loaches happy!

Diana
Posts: 4675
Joined: Wed Jan 04, 2006 1:35 am
Location: Near San Franciso

Re: Malachite Green and Loaches PSA

Post by Diana » Wed Jun 10, 2015 8:06 pm

Thanks for posting this. It has been a long time since I have had Ich in any of my tanks, but I have used Rid Ich safely in the past. Other parasite treatments have a worse record.

Sorry you lost the Loach. :-(
38 tanks, 2 ponds over 4000 liters of water to keep clean and fresh.

Happy fish keeping!

Crazyfishlady
Posts: 6
Joined: Sun Jun 07, 2015 10:56 am

Re: Malachite Green and Loaches PSA

Post by Crazyfishlady » Sat Jun 13, 2015 4:29 pm

I've always had great luck with using malchite green....but that's in the form of a kordon product Rid Ich Plus. I always dosed initially, next day water change, dosed, water change, dose....basically never letting it concentrate enough to cause huge problems. Raised 3 batches of loaches, and two batches came in with the Ich. This method worked each time. Knocked it out of them quickly and never came back.

I am thinking if you are not water changing in between each dose, that might lead to the problem mentioned.

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