rip_van_winkle

Yea, I certainly will not be useing Melafix on him now that I know the dangers. When I used it with my betta I didn't water it down and he's fine. Weird. Oh! *smacks forehead* there's carbon in my filter! No wonder it didn't hurt him! Well, thank goodness it didn't. I'll have to remember to take the carbon out and use a regular filter cartrige when i'm treating with meds.
~Hannah

nmwierman1977

Good thing you forgot, you saved your Beta's life. I too have Lost a Betta due to Melafix. He happened to die a few days after Marty died Roses Betta). We had both been treating them on itand my Betta Mr. Red was on it for a month before I found out the danger's of it. Natalie

Eskielvr

He was on it for a month It only says to treat up to 7 days and then stop.

nmwierman1977

It could've actually been 2 weeks that he was in, but it seemed longer. I lose track of time. I had him on the melafix by itself for a week and then the melafix/pimafix combo another week. It say's on the bottle to treat for 7 days, but it also say's if needed to you can use it longer then that. It's a natural medication, so it's safe to use if needed longer. Now that I think about it I had only been using it for 2 weeks. He was on Bettafix before that for a week, so I think that's why I said about a month because it's pretty much the same kind of med only at a weaker dosage. Natalie

captain_bilbo

Wow... That's awful (mental note, blah blah). I hope your fish is okay!

nmwierman1977

No, he passed away a few month's after we found that melafix and Bettafix were dangerous for them. He was taken off of it as soon as we found out, but by then it was pretty much too late. He died a few days after another member's died from the same med. He's missed very much, but he's in a better place now. Natalie

Fishface

* "It cannot be diluted to mimic Bettafix as that dilutes the rest of the active ingredients to the point of being ineffective."


There is only one active ingredient in melafix. I use it with my bettas and they are all perfectly fine, and pimafix too. I have a 20 gal, though, so maybe that's it. Regardless, I am now off to buy bettafix. : )

I'm so sorry about your betta.

Ashley

Eskielvr

Me too, and all the Betta breeders on another forum use it and have never had any problems, either. As far as it killing bettas if overdosed, anything can kill bettas, or any fish for that matter, if overdosed. If you go by the instructions on the bottle it's fine. If you have a tank smaller than 1 gallon, Bettafix is better because you use so little, but if you use bettafix on a 5 gallon tank you'll go through the bottle in 3-4 days. So, for larger tanks, Melafix would be more economical.

Like the above post, I have also used Melafix/bettafix and Pimafix, and yes, salt, and none of them have caused problems at all. In fact, they were the only meds that have worked! Again, overdosing with anything could kill your fish. It also doesn't make sense to market a product specifically towards Bettas if it did kill them. The company would go under if everyone's fish died from using their product, or there would be a recall on it or something. All I know is that these products have saved my Betta's life!

Fishface

Okay. I just totally changed my mind.


Chickadee, I read the articles.

Because one of my female bettas was a wound/fungal infection, i treated her with melafix and pimafix.

Tonight, she started suffocating and trying to jump out of the water, and JUST died.

Because those meds are said to affect LABYRINTH fish, it must affect the labyrinth organ, thereby suffocating them. That is surely what her death looked like.

two words. never again.

mojoman101

the oils may act to disable the organ. AS a muscle relaxant they may lose their ability to use the organ. Tea tree oil, clove oil, bay tree oil, all probably not good for bettas. Thank you for the warning i would have never thought about it.
mojo

SombreDesir

Amorinthe

Again, with another LFS rant. After reading this, I was in a very new, fancy, store by my place looking for tiny plants for the front of my tank, thought i'd pick up a new test kit, when i heard the LFS clerk recommending Melafix to a betta owner.

I tried to be very polite and kind and tipped her and the clerk off to your information. His response, "well, i've been using it for months", I said, "on betta's?" to which he said, "no, but I'm sure it'd be fine."

Right. Great. I hope that gal did not take that ding dongs word. He even affirmed he had read the warnings online as well, but still insisted it'd be fine.

chickadee

I have not posted this topic to cause so much problem with debate. I have been so surprised at the number of people who have read the articles and yet still insist on trying it out on their fish just to prove that the articles are not accurate. Those of us who did lose fish purely by innocent actions before knowing of the problems will never forget the agony they went through and it is so sad that a "supposed" expert (which is sadly what most buyers in the petstores see the salesclerks as) would recommend this product as AFTER reading the article. It is nothing but pure capitalism in trying to sell something. It is really terrible when there are safe products that he could just as easily have recommended to her and he was too stupid or lazy to do so.

Had I been there I would probably have found another store that security would have been tempted to escort me out of.

Rose

Phloxface

When I went to Big Al's to get stronger meds for Lava last week the sale guy suggested I use Melafix. I said "No, he's a Betta and they cannot have Melafix". He said "Oh, it's a Betta, okay" I don't know if he really believed that Melafix was bad for labrynth fish but at least he didn't argue with me. I explained to him that Bettas, Gouramis and so on should not use Melafix and he said "Oh, okay, yeah". Hopefully if another Betta or Gourami parent asks for suggestions for meds he remembers that. Besides that Melafix is not a very strong med and I would not risk my fish's life on it even if it was safe. The few days wasted on a weak ineffective medication could mean death to the fish.

I too do not understand why people here* or elsewhere insist on tempting fate and using Melafix in spite of people posting their own tragic experiences with it. It's not like it's the only choice they have. There are lots of other meds that are much stronger and safer.

I have the same problem with people who insist they can make an all female Betta tank work in spite of all the experiences to the contrary. They'd rather believe teenagers on other sites who set up a female Betta tank and post that everyone gets along (yeah for the first couple days maybe...) and then never follow up weeks later to say how many fish have been killed. I guess they feel too foolish but they are not doing any of the other female Bettas out there who'll suffer the same fate any favors.