I have a female black molly who has repeatedly exhibited what looks like patches of fungus. She is treated and recovers in a 5gal hospital tank only to have her symptoms reappear a few days after returning to the main tank. The main 84gal heavily planted community tank has Neon Tetras, Congo Tetras, Australian Rainbows, Otos, Siamese Algae Eaters, Blue Gouramis and a Dwarf Gourami and Zebra Danios. I guess I need to treat the main tank. I was planning to use either Maracyn 2 or Pimafix. Will either of those hurt the plants? Please help.
Maracyn 2, Pimafix and plants
- Thread starter Gern
- Start date
I don't know. I can tell you that 5 days of Maracyn (not Maracyn 2) did not hurt my plants at all. Have you considered Kordel's organic treatments? I used one of these for ich and it worked just fine. Doesn't harm fish or plants.
Thank you to everyone who answered me with advice. The treatment has been done and all seems to be well in the tank. I opted for Pimafix. I was hesitant to use antibiotic (Maracyn 2) on fully healthy fish. At the start of the treatment I happened to be in an aquarium focused independent pet store, whose owner's advice I respect. He advised aquarium salt at 1 tablespoon / 5 gal. I asked about Otos, Tetras, and plants and he said that he uses salt at that concentration in all his tanks. I added the salt and completed the treatment. All seemed well. At the completion of the course of pimafix, I did a 25% water change but did not top up the salt. I was concerned about the effect on the plants, not that any ill effects were evident. I sat on the fence until the next 25% water change, but since all seemed well with plants, fish and snails, I calculated the salt necessary to bring the concentration back up to the recommended level and will maintain it there.
I'm glad you went the more conservative route with the salt and pimafix. I would not keep adding salt however. Other than the molly, those fish and plants would be better off I think if you added freshwater with future water changes , or at least decrease the total amount to one teaspoon per 5 gallons.
The molly probably does not benefit directly from adding table or aquarium salt anyway. It would need marine salt instead. It better simulates brackish conditions.
The molly probably does not benefit directly from adding table or aquarium salt anyway. It would need marine salt instead. It better simulates brackish conditions.