Maracide formulas...

[Nerina]

Greetings all~

Due to a recent outbreak of ich in my 55 gallon tank I was researching the best treatments for a tank with loaches. I stumbled across the loaches online archives and saw quite a few people talking about the original maracide formula as a preferred choice. Then I found out that they replaced it with a new formula!

Well...I went searching online and found what appears to be the original formula at Dr. Foster and Smiths labeled as "Maracide Concentrate" with the ingredients "trisaminomethane, and aniline green". Are those the correct ingredients for the original formula?

I ordered it and should get it early this coming up week. I figured I would share that find with you all in case it is the old formula and no one was aware they sold it.

I hope it is the original maracide and I appologize if this is old news.

Nerina~

[shari2]

Welcome to the forum Nerina. I don't know, personally, but someone around here will.

[Nerina]

Thanks for the greeting. I hope this med does the trick for my fish. It looks like I caught it early and am treating with Ick Guard II since it was the only thing available locally. I just don't have very much of it, enough for two treatments. So I ordered new meds online and am crossing my fingers.

Nerina~

[cybermeez]

I stopped using Maracide several years ago after the formula change because I found something I felt was a safer at worked better. My preferred treatment for ich is Para Guard made by Seachem. It's another one of those that you'd probably have to order through the mail (Drs. Foster & Smith carries it), but you might find it at one of the smaller fish stores that caters to saltwater and more advanced freshwater aquarists. Don't wait to treat the fish because of this though. Like you did with the Ich Guard, once you get the Maracide use it and see how it works for you. If it doesn’t rid the fish of ich then I'd suggest you give Para Guard a try.

[Nerina]

Hey,

Thanks for the info...Most of the lfs stores are chainstores and the few small businesses are pretty bad. They simply don't stock a very good selection of fish, medication, heaters, pumps, etc. Almost everything for my tank I end up purchasing online except for food and some fish. I will look for para guard if the maracide doesn't work out.

I barely have enough ick guard II but I didn't want to wait to treat either. I've been performing water changes every other day and have dosed twice with ich guard since Friday, but am out as of today. All the new meds should be here Tuesday. I hope that will be in time to take care of the ich. I don't like using chemicals in the tank but I have a huge pair of gloves now so I avoid handling the water.

What was your opinion on the old Maracide before they changed the formula?

Nerina~

[cybermeez]

What was your opinion on the old Maracide before they changed the formula?

Nerina~

I think the old formula was more effective. I don't remember off hand, but I think what was taken out was the malachite green. Don't remember what they replaced it with. A lot of the fish medication manufacturers changed their formula for parasite meds. California passed a labeling law that said, in effect, if it causes cancer in anything (rat, rabbit or amoeba) there had to be a carcinogen warning in bold letters on the packaging. Manufacturers though it would turn California people off to using their meds. Since they weren't about to make one formula for California and another for the rest of the world, they just changed to the California formula for everyone.

[Nerina]

I saw Quick Cure had a label saying it could cause cancer. In my first post I listed the ingredients of the maracide I just bought..."trisaminomethane, and aniline green". The new one lists "Malachite Green and Chitosan". I wasn't sure if the one I purchased was the original forumula or not, and I don't know if those ingredients are "Cancer" causing, but many of the ones I saw in the store recently were marked with those warning labels. I was trying to avoid using malachite green but the Ick guard II has formalin and victoria green (Isn't that the same thing as malachite green?).

All I can think to do is keep the gloves on and avoid contact with the water for a long while.

Nerina~

[Blue]

I saw Quick Cure had a label saying it could cause cancer. In my first post I listed the ingredients of the maracide I just bought..."trisaminomethane, and aniline green". The new one lists "Malachite Green and Chitosan". I wasn't sure if the one I purchased was the original forumula or not, and I don't know if those ingredients are "Cancer" causing, but many of the ones I saw in the store recently were marked with those warning labels. I was trying to avoid using malachite green but the Ick guard II has formalin and victoria green (Isn't that the same thing as malachite green?).

All I can think to do is keep the gloves on and avoid contact with the water for a long while.

Nerina~

A lot of medicines, unfortunately, are carcinogenic.

[Nerina]

Okay....the meds came today. It says to dose 1 drop per gallon of water and I went ahead and did 50 drops for my 55 gallon (had to consider all the decor and substrate). I had been performing water changes of about 25-30% every other day over the weekend to keep the water quality as clean as possible.

The ich was definately getting worse and I am very concerned. I don't know if it's supposed to get worse before it gets better, but I hope this does the trick. I don't want to lose any of my fish if I can help it.

Thanks all for your input. I will let you know how it goes.

Nerina~

[cybermeez]

Ich does tend to look worse before it gets better. The phase of the parasite that is visible on the fish is not the truly vulnerable point in the lifecycle. It's the one you can't see that swims around in the water looking for a host (your fish) that the medication works on. So, even if your fish looks good you will want to repeat treatment once or twhice after the initial round to make sure you get all the free swimming parasite you can't see. You also probably have multiple generations in there each at a different life stage. How long it takes to go through the total lifecycle depends on temp. Keep up your partial wate changes and on the days you do them, do the change prior to the daily dose of medication. Clean water goes a long way in helping your fish's natural defences. BTW, you probably know this, but make sure during treatment you are not running any carbon in your filter. It removes the mediacation.

[Nerina]

Thanks for all that info...I was starting to worry at the amount of ich on the dojo's. I wasn't sure if I should keep up the water changes once I started the new meds, but if you think it won't interfere with the effectiveness of the medication I will continue to do so.

I did make sure to remove the active carbon...and when I performed my water change, before the new meds, I really vacuumed the gravel like crazy to get as many of those icky little guys as I could. So far it seems the dojo's are the worst off...particularly the golden dojo's. I turned up the flow to max on my canister filter to make sure they are getting plenty of oxygen through all this. They all still seem to have a healthy appetite and that's encouraging.

Thanks again,
Nerina~

[cybermeez]

Follow the instructions on the maracide bottle regarding water changes. There are 2 strengths of maracide out there, regular and concentrate (will say concentrate if it is) and each has slightly different instructions.

[Nerina]

Mine is the concentrate and it doesn't mention water changes on the directions. My poor rainbows are now getting a body fungal issue! Maracide says its safe to use with Maracyn so I am now dosing that too...what a mess.

I hope I don't lose any fish from this.

Nerina~

[cybermeez]

You can do water changes with the concentrate. The active ingredients in the maracide and maracyn are not cumulative in the water and keeping the water fresh will help heal the fungus. Incidentally, in adittion to treating ich, Para Guard also treats fungal, viral and bacterial infections such as fin rot. It's one of the reasons I swear by it for freshwater fishkeeping. If it were me I'd keep up with the maracide treatment and order the Para Guard to have it on hand if the maracide doesn't work well.

[Nerina]

Thanks for all the advice. I just performed a 25% water change and dosed the meds. I did lose two rainbow fish as of this afternoon though.

Two others don't look so great and didn't seem interested in dinner so I am worried. The strangest thing is how the dojo's seem to have the most ich on their bodies yet are still fairly playful and eating well. My kuhli's came out for dinner and really don't seem to have many ich...some don't appear to have any at all. The danios don't seem to be affected by any of this nor the SAE.

I will look into the Para Guard next time (hopefully there won't be) but if there is I will try that and see how it goes.

Thanks again,
Nerina~