Treating Velvet with Maracide

[oceanaria]

I am going to begin treating my fish Harvey for velvet today using Maracide. It said instructions would be included in the package but for some reason I didn't get any. If anyone is familiar with using this to treat velvet please let me know how I should go about doing so for a half gallon tank. Do I change the water every treatment and how often do I need to add it to his water? A small slip of paper came in the package that said "treat on days 1, 3, and 5," so I'm assuming I need to give this to him every other day for 5 days.

Cross your fingers for him, he hasn't been doing too well!


Thanks

[ana]

ive never treated velvet, but i always keep any fishes water immaculately clean when he's sick, so i would change the water on those days

the directions say every second day, so i would assume that

are you using an antibiotic to treat in case of secondary infection? you need to do that if you arent

i hope hes all better soon *fingers crossed*

and youre very welcome

[Crystal]

a general antibiotic to use would be Maracyn II/Maracyn (which ever you need) as it is compatible with the Maracide.

[Rachel - old]

On the Healthy Betta homepage under Illness & Cure Info - medications made easy - healthybetta.com/easymeds.html , it says that you should use one drop of maracide per gallon. What I would do for a 1/2 gal is put 2 tsp of treated water in a cup, add 1 drop of medicine, then put 1 tsp of the water into the bowl and save the other half for next time.

[Jenny]

Another important thing when treating velvet is to keep your betta in the dark. Light helps the velvet to grow. So you should wrap a towel around the tank, or put him in a closet or something.

[texasprincess]

If you have a half-gallon, but will be changing the water every other day when you give the doses, you could also get an empty 1-gal. water jug and put the medication/water conditioner/aquairum salt (and water of course!) in the jug... use half of it the first time you administer the treatment, and you could save the other half for the next water change.

Would this work? Or does Maracide tend to 'go away' after awhile?

I know Coppersafe which is also used for velvet does not 'go away'...

So for the more seasoned betta-medicine-givers, maybe you could tackle this one?

I hope your betta gets better soon!

[ana]

i would put 2 teaspoons of treated water, or any amount divisible by two into an airtight container (i use prescription medicine bottles that have been well cleaned and rinsed a few times with boiling water, remember the lid too, some have removable liners in the lid, clean under that too) and then add to that the dose for a gallon. added the proscribed portion daily or as directed directly to the water in the tank (in your case at 2 teaspoons of water, add one teaspoon every second day)

this can be edited to work with 10 gallon meds too, just add an amount of water divisible by 10 and go from there

i store the prepared meds in the refrigerator

[oceanaria]

Thanks so much for the help everyone. Harvey is actually eating now and seems to be a little happier since the first dosage of maracide. I've also been treating him with maracyn as it directs to on the Illness Info page. This site has been a godsend!

[ana]

im so glad

we all love to help when we can, and knowing he's getting better is a great feeling