Melafix - evil or unlucky?

[dw1305]

Hi all,
Matt wrote:

On the oxygen depletion bit. I remember reading a post by Neil from Pier Aquatics on their forum, he said that the tea tree oil in melafix coats the gills and kills the fish, presumably from not allowing gaseous exchange

Matt thanks for this, after I posted I was trying to think how it depleted the oxygen levels, and other than the possibility of some chemical oxygen demand I couldn't really come up with an answer. The oil would also form a layer on the water surface and reduce gas exchange, so it may well be a "double whammy".

The cloudy eye might be physical damage, but is often caused by poor water quality, so it maybe the filter was already struggling before the Melafix.
A possibility is that the water company has switched to using chloramine rather than chlorine?

http://badmanstropicalfish.com/fish_palace/tropicalfish_disease_identification.html

Frequent water changes a must to improve quality. Test for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates. Cloudy eye is a sign of a number of things, rather than a disease in its own right.

cheers Darrel