Colloidal Silver?
On another board someone recommends over and over putting a few drops of colloidal silver into the bag new fish come in, while acclimating them, as a way of preventing/eliminating disease, etc.  Claims always has healthy fish, never introduces disease.
Can anyone at WWM confirm this?  Has anyone done it?  Just curious.
<There were some fish medications that used to contain silver salts... there is need to be within a narrow margin of concentration of actual silver ions... so, no to "putting a few drops" into a "bag". Some folks still use Methylene blue (mainly for freshwater) or furan compounds in their shipping water... these are safe, effective. Bob Fenner>

Treating new fish 6/18/03
Hello Anthony,
<cheers, mate>
I thought about Formalin, but was worried about its effects on the filter (which is biological)?
<valid... but not so severe as many other meds (like copper, Methylene blue, erythromycin, etc)>
I will consider a formalin dip, the MelaFix was added because i had some and i thought it would be fine with the shark.
<agreed... I do believe it is safe for the shark... and safe for the parasites too <G>>
how lo would you say to lower the salinity by (if the shark was removed)?
<1.018>
I am completely struck on transshipped marines and i am due a list from Hawaii. Can you suggest any thing from there that is really good or worth having?
<many fine wrasses, a few dwarf angels... beautiful triggers and Tobies (dwarf puffers)...>
in my mind i am thinking flame angels, potters angel, Lemonpeel angels, yellow Sailfin tangs, chevron tangs - common but sought after!
<the tangs yes... very much. Great fishes and hardy. The Potters... no way. They are so delicate that many don't even make it to the US mainland. Not a strong fish under any circumstance... lets leave those beauties in the sea. Lemonpeels and Flames can be quite hardy once established though. Very fine.>
Regards, Sam
<best regards, Anthony>

Medication for adding fish  9/13/05
Bob, can you take a look at this message regarding the "secret formula". Do you know of any such thing?
Regards,
Salty
<I also know of no such "magic herbal remedy"... RMF>
Medication for adding fish
Hello:
About 6 years ago I started in the hobby of keeping a fish only marine aquarium.
Like most beginners, my luck with keeping the fish alive for an extended period of time (more than 1 year) was severely limited.
I never had any luck with certain species, specifically the Blue (Hippo) Tang... and not quite sure why.
I have a 125 gallon tank. With around 250lbs of live rock. Water quality was "theoretically" perfect, yet the Blue Tangs I would keep would perish within a few weeks or couple of months.
Anyway, about 3 years ago, I visited a local fish store and I was discussing this problem with the owner of the store and he sold me a "medication" to add to the tank when the fish were showing signs of stress or when I was adding a new fish to the tank. This "medication" was contained in 2 small (5 ml.) dropper bottles, labeled "Part A" and "Part B" - and was sold in a small clear plastic box. I was informed that this product was only available to the trade to assist in reducing stress on the fish after transportation. I have no idea what this product was (it was explained as a herbal-based medication)
The store owner said he wasn't supposed to sell this medication... although I'm not sure why - but it worked absolute wonders.
Anyway - to cut a long story short, I purchased another Blue Tang and used this medication when adding the fish to my tank. The fish showed absolutely no signs of stress (which is very rare for Blue Tangs). A couple of drops (of each part) of this medicine on day one, and another drop of each 4 days later helped this Tang tremendously. Also, a couple of other fish that were rather lethargic, were revitalized - especially a Harlequin Tuskfish.
The entire tank thrived for about 2 and a half years... until a "bad accident" that occurred when we had our house redecorated, wiped out the entire tank - which was, at the time, rather annoying and disappointing.
I am in the process of re-establishing the tank, and have had it set up for 6 weeks without adding any fish yet.
Do you have any idea what this "medication" was and where I can get it from - it really worked miracles.
Also, I plan to do fish-only again and want to select colorful fish that are quite hardy... in this case what would you recommend.
Any info you could provide is greatly appreciated. <Jeff, I know of no "secret" formula for stressed out fish. Will run this by Mr. Fenner for his input. As far as starting over, I suggest you search our WWM site, keywords, "startup" and "quarantine". If things are done properly, no special medication should ever be needed. As to fish, clowns, Dottybacks and wrasses are all quite colorful and hardy. James (Salty Dog)>
Thanks,
Jeff

Medication for adding fish  9/16/05
Would the product name "Reef Remedy" possibly be the product I'm looking for? <I've never heard of the product.>
I think this might have been the name of the product, since I found a piece of paper in my cabinet that had this name written on it.
Are you familiar with such a product? <No>
I just remember it working wonders for the fish, especially when  acclimating.
Finally, do you have any comments or opinions on the products Bio-Spira Marine (for saltwater) and Purigen (by Seachem) filter absorbent for organics and nitrogenous waste removal.  Both of these products have come highly recommended by my local FSH. <I prefer Chemi-Pure myself.  I've heard Purigen works well also, but never used Spira Marine and have heard nothing about the product.  James (Salty Dog)>
Thanks,
Jeff
 

Emperor Angel, Breathing and Vertical  - 5/11/06 Hi All, <Dave> I am a long time reader, first time writer who is (or more accurately, whose fish is) potentially quickly running out of options.   I purchased a changing Emperor Angel from saltwaterfish.com.  I have never before had any troubles with them other than this.  I followed my usual acclimation procedure.  I opened the bag and dripped for four hours to acclimate him to my QT system.  The acclimation container was dosed with Para Guard. This took place last night.   <... four hours? ParaGuard has a toxic component> Since I opened the bag and first looked at him, he has been breathing very heavily and bobbing in a vertical position, head down. <Did you match the pH of the drip water with that in the shipping bag?> The vendor assured me that the fish is merely in shock from the stress of shipping and that he would calm down. <Something to hope for> I don't believe that; I have seen this sort of thing happen before and an shocked fish usually comes around within 12 hours.  This fish has been in the tank now for over 24 hours and has shown no signs whatsoever of improvement. <No quarantine?>   He continues to breathe at give or take 170 gill movements/minute, and bob head down, <Very bad signs> usually at the top of the tank but will occasionally move down some. The current seems to toss him around and when it gets him completely upside down he rights himself only to resume his vertical position.  He is refusing food.  He is sharing the QT system with an Assasi Trigger (separated by eggcrate, of course) who is eating fine and seems to be in perfect health. <Oh! Good> I am worried that I am dealing with disease, possibly the early stages of Marine Velvet. <Mmm, not likely>   The fish has shown no physical signs other than what I described though; no spots, no off colors, no scratching.  I don't want to dip him if unnecessary as I don't want to stress the fish any further.  I have not seen any feces to know if internal bacterial may be to blame.   What action would you recommend, if any? Thanks in advance, Dave <Is a bit late, but to have matched the pH... Please see here: http://wetwebmedia.com/acclimat.htm Particularly the Guerilla piece below... This is highly likely the root cause of trouble here... shock, hemolysis from pH shift, endogenous ammonia... perhaps with a Malachite burn to boot: http://seachem.com/products/product_pages/ParaGuard.html ... I would try to stabilize this animal, leave the lights off... and add a pentose or hexose sugar as proscribed on WWM. Bob Fenner> Re: Emperor Angel, Breathing and Vertical  - 5/11/06 Bob, <Dave> Thanks for your quick reply.  I might not have been completely clear in my message, but wanted to address your concerns to clarify if I had done something wrong.   <Let's do... am a bit blurry from travel/ing> Unfortunately, the fish died overnight.  I am working with the vendor. However, I think it prudent to do a "post-mortem" on my acclimation procedure to make sure I did what I should have done.   <Good idea> First, I acclimated over four hours, but only introduced Para Guard during the last hour of the acclimation.  I followed the directions on the bottle to the letter.   <Mmm, am still (as you will find... from long practice) not a fan of using Malachite... the principal ingredient, other than "aldehydes" in this fine SeaChem product... in dips for newly arrived marine fishes> Second, the drip water was from the quarantine tank which had in turn come from the main tank, which was already at 8.3.  You are correct in assuming that I did not test the PH of the bag water and match it to the tank water. <You will find as well that this is an incredibly important step in moving marines around in "long time" conditions... bringing livestock from one system quickly (let's say an hour or so) from/to another is a very different matter> I have never performed that step, but after perusing the acclimation guide (quickly) it looks like you are talking about a FW dip. <Mmm, no... this is a different concept/idea... protocol> That is not a step I performed.  I acclimated him to the QT tank's seawater.   Third, the fish exhibited this behavior even before I removed him from the bag.  Nothing changed about his behavior at any time, what I saw when I peered into the bag even before cutting it open is what I described, ergo he did not take on this behavior during the procedure, but rather he arrived this way.   <Yes... not unusual for marine angels, most marine fish groups to exhibit this sort of behavior... indicative of "shipping stress"... low pH, coupled with low dissolved oxygen, likely high CO2/carbonic acid concentration...> Fourth, when I say the fish has been in the tank for 24 hours I mean the quarantine tank, but I think you realized that further on in my message. <Yes> Given these clarifications, would you still say something was wrong with the way I did things, or was the fish doomed from the start?   Thanks again for your help so far!   Dave <Mmm, a matter of speculation/s and a few possible inputs, but if you had a hundred, a thousand such fishes to process, you'd find that using Methylene Blue, eschewing the use of Malachite Green, and especially adjusting/matching the shipping water pH to the acclimation/dip water would save a significant number of animals... this has become an "industry practice" of high regard... largely due to the efforts of Phil Shane/Quality Marine and the fine folks at TMC in the UK... to give credit where it's due. Bob Fenner>

Freshwater bath add-ons ... good ideas   5/26/06
Hello,
<Jonathan>
A strange thought occurred to me today.  I was remembering that marine fish 'drink water' to maintain their osmotic balance, thus you can use a vitamin supplement in their water and they will passively absorb some.  And fish often times initially come in underfed / malnourished.
<This is so>
Do you think it would worth it if a put some VitaChem or liquid gold in their freshwater bath?
<Can help... though minimally due to the short duration of such dips/baths>
Its usually only a bath for about 7 minutes duration, but in that time I can see their gills are really pumping and their probably taking in water faster than normal, being that their stressed / surprised.
Also I'm thinking that besides the load parasites that meet their doom in the freshwater, a fish also sheds off some of its slime coat while in the freshwater bath.
<Yes>
Do you think wise to place the fish in a bucket of tank water with NovAqua or any other artificial slime coat product?
<As a S.O.P. I have done this for decades in commercial settings, yes>
  I ask to place in a separate bucket afterwards because I assume if I take a squirt of NovAqua while a begin the bath it will negate some of bath, the artificial slime coat benefiting the parasites as they hide beneath it.
<Mmm, no... For the most part all get sloughed off...>
  I suppose I could squirt in a little NovAqua toward then end of the bath.  What do you think?
<Is what I do, endorse... Please read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/acclimat.htm>
[p.s. Do you respond in email to questions or do I look them up on the site?]
<Both. Cheers, Bob Fenner>

Guerilla Acclimation Techniques  7/5/08
Does this page exist anymore?
<Mmm, yes... renamed: http://wetwebmedia.com/acclimat.htm >
I have read the acclimation page, but in the FAQs people seem to reference another method (guerilla) and several chemicals not used in the acclimation technique on the current acclimation article page. Thanks
Matthew Harless
<Re-named Commercial instead of Guerilla... more PC? Bob Fenner>