melafix

[uscmizzy]

Has anyone here ever used Marine Melafix in an aquarium? My blue tang is having some fin issues and the guy at my LFS recommend it and I don't know anything about it. It says to remove all carbon and turn off your protein skimmer. Is this a smart idea? Does this stuff work?

 

[lmforbis]

It is an antibiotic, not sure how good it is. You definitely want to stop carbon as it will remove it from the water. Your skimmer will probably go a bit crazy and overflow when you add it. Generally best to follow the directions. Make sure you have plenty of water movement as many meds deplete oxygen.
You need to figure out why your tang has fin issues bacterial infections tend to happen when the immune system is weak. Is it water quality, is he being picked on, do you have a crab or shrimp nipping his fins while he's sleeping, is he stressed because he doesn't have enough space, these and other things can make a fish susceptible to bacterial infections. Always feed high quality marine fish food. With tangs offer sheets of nori regularly and make sure there is vegetable matter in the food. You can also add a vitamin supplement like Selcon to their food.

 

[beth]

I would never put an antibiotic in the display tank. Look for cause of the frayed fins. Can you post some pics? Post your water readings and diet for the fish? Is there aggression going on in the tank.

 

[uscmizzy]

It's just her and a clownfish in the tank with two snails. I have been feeding her a cheaper flake food the omega one brand and also using algae sinking pellets. I'm gonna head to my LFS and get a clip and some algae sheets and some better flake food and see if that helps. The brand my smaller LFS sells is a Cobalt brand is that brand any good?

 

[lmforbis]

I use hikari pellets. I also feed frozen food, an assortment of preps including mysis shrimp, spiralina brine, emerald enter, etc. I only feed pellets once or twice a week just so they keep eating them in case I need someone else to feed them for a couple days. Otherwise I stick to frozen and algae sheets.

 

[beth]

I would 2nd what imforbis said about fish food, and skip most flake food. Your fish is only going to be healthy if you offer it quality foods and a good environment.

 

[uscmizzy]

Well all that is sold at my LFS here is flake and then the algae sheets.....
You also asked for readings:
PH: 8.1
Ammo: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5
Salinity: 1.023
Temp: 80.1

So like stated earlier I am going to at least go get some algae sheets and a clip for her to eat on.

I also tried to get a picture but she hides in her little cave she has haha

Thoughts? Ideas?

 

[lmforbis]

Several on line retailers sell frozen. Marine depot for sure maybe BRS. Even ***** sells emerald entrée.

 

[uscmizzy]

The algae pellets I have been using are Hikari the brand you talked about. I'll look into online companies but shipping food stuff is something I have never trusted. So I'll def grab algae sheets and a better brand of flake and see how it works and if it doesn't then try an online source

 

[bang guy]

In my opinion you will have better success making your own frozen fish food.

The issue isn't that flaked food isn't nutritious, it's how much nutrition is delivered to the fish vs how much is simply dissolved into the water to pollute the tank.

 

[uscmizzy]

How would I go about that bang guy?

 

[beth]

You can get fresh seafood from your local grocery, use one of those small choppers to grind everything up, then freeze and use as needed. Make sure that whatever you get is fresh, nothing added to it such as salt, artificial colorings or flavors, and raw not cooked. A little goes a long way so you don't want to go hog wild and get so much that you have a year's worth of food.