Melafix & Pimafix?

[PeeperKeeper]

I think I posted that my flame angel has been having some problems that began with my shrimp goby picking on him and developed into an apparent fungal infection of his right pect. fin, then a little on his top fin and now his right eye has gotten cloudy. The goby has been out of the main tank since Thursday. I was hoping that with him gone, the decreased stress would help but the flame has continued to get worse.

Now I also see some discoloration on the orchid dottyback.

So yesterday I went to Austin Aquariums and they suggested a combination of Melafix ("antibacterial fish remedy") and Pimafix ("antifungal fish remedy"). They said it should be reef safe and that they'd had customers use it with corals with no problems. I don't have any SPS, just xenia, zoos, green star polyps and a tube anemone and a toadstool leather.

When I put the stuff in yesterday, everything immediately reacted by closing up, but a little while later everything but the GSP's were back open again. Now it's been almost 24 hours and all the inverts look happy except the GSP's, which are closed up tight.

I wouldn't really expect much improvement in the flame yet after just one day, but maybe his top fin is a little better. The eye is either the same or worse, and the same goes for the dottyback.

My concern is with the GSP's being closed. I'm kinda afraid to keep dosing it, but if it's going to save the flame and dottyback, I'd like to give it a try.

Does anyone have any experience with this stuff? It says to use 5mL's per 10 gallons once a day for 7 days. Active ingredient in Melafix is "Melaleuca", supposedly extracted from Tea Trees. It says it "rapidly repairs damaged fins, ulcers and open wounds and promotes regrowth of damaged tissue and fins".

Active ingredient in Pimafix is "pimenta recemosa" extracted from West Indian Bay Trees and it "rapidly treats fungal infections on body and fins. Safe for delicate fresh and saltwater fish".

I don't have a Q tank, and I tried to get the flame out earlier before I removed the goby and it was going to be imposible without totally breaking down the tank rock, and I think as much as I like the flame, I'd rather take a chance on losing him than take all the rock out at this point and still possibly lose him. :(

[JeremyGlen]

Any time you use medicines in your main tank you risk losing everything but the rock and fish most of the time. As everyone on here will tell you, Q tanks are the only way to go.

There are a couple of medications out there that are reef safe and I don't believe mela or pima are in that group. Ruby Reef makes a line of reef-safe products that work fairly well when over-dosed and don't seem to damage anything. I would look them up if I were you and tell the LFS guy he needs to do some research before telling his customers to use it in a reef. I was in there and they were willing to sell me a wrasse that had a little suspect spot on it and a bottle of melafix. I told them I wouldn't ever recommend adding any medicine to a reef tank.

The company website says its reef safe, but after you dosed and everything closed up I would be very very very careful about using it if it had that kind of effect.

[Shark_Bait]

I have used the Melafix. Had a tank similar to yours. Zoos and some softies. Used the Melafix to treat seahorses with no problems.