I get most of my fish through mail order. By the time they get to me they are often starting to show symptoms of any disease they've EVER been exposed to. This helps. I have successfully treated fish with ich, fin rot and body fungus.
You do need to keep the treatments up, though just putting in a dose for one day won't be enough. The directions are to use one capful for every 10 gallons daily. "Repeat as long as required as long as fish show no signs of stress." You can also use this as a preventative dip for new fish (which I highly, HIGHLY recommend) by putting half a capful per gallon of the dip.
The good news is that not only do you not have to take the charcoal out of your filter and you do not have to worry about snails or shrimp, either. I did a heavy series of doses on one tank that had cherry shrimp in it, and not one died or even looked sick.
If you keep fish, you really need to have medications on hand to treat them when something breaks out. Early treatment is key. I keep this and maracyn 2 on hand so I can nip diseases in the bud. Prazipro has a good reputation, too, but I have not tried that.
Maybe there is a better broad spectrum treatment available than ParaGuard, but I have not found it yet. I would definitely like to hear people's feedback if they've found something that works better.
By the way, this is what the bottle says: "ParaGuard is the only fish and filter safe aldehyde based (10% by weight) parasite control product available... contains no formaldehyde or methanol and will not alter pH... employs a blend of aldehydes, malachite green and fish protective polymers... effectively eradicates many ectoparasites (ich, etc) and external fungal/bacterial/viral lesions (eg, fin rot)."
This stuff works great!
Of course it will not work on everything because it is very BROAD SPECTRUM and that is the trade off. For instance, at the advice of my local fish dealer, I used it in conjunction with erythromycin to treat a particular illness. For the record, I also talked to SeaChem tech support, and they say they don't recommend mixing it with most things as unintentional toxic compounds may be created if you don't really know what you are doing.
This product is also really nice in that one doesn't have to take the carbon out of the filter like one has to with most tank medications (the carbon removes them from the water quickly). This is probably my favorite thing about it.
Also keep in mind that the main thrust of this product is parasites and fungus, and the bacteriological and viral infections that can piggy back on them. This product doesn't get inside the fish very quickly or in high concentrations, and so is not a good choice when one needs the fish to ingest the meds (in this case, you should use Seachem's Focus product in conjunction with either their Sulfathiazole, Kanaplex, or Metronidazole (the choice depends on exactly on what is wrong) in this approach, the meds are mixed in with the fish food, and the focus product helps chemically bind the med to the food for maximal ingestion).
And no, I do NOT work for SeaChem I have just had great experiences with a lot of their products! I am a doctoral candidate in hydrology through, so I sorta know my way around these things)
Oh, and in case it is not clear already in the description above, do NOT use this in marine tanks unless they are fish only, don't have a sump, don't have live rock, and don't have a substrate which would hold nitrifying bacteria. This is why they say this product is for freshwater tanks only.
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I've been using Paraguard to treat Ich. In just 3 days, one fish is completely cured and his bitten fins are starting to heal. Another fish is no longer hiding and has started eating again, the ich is still visible, but getting better. The best things about this product are: 1) it's safe for tetras and scaleless fish, 2) it doesn't change the water color or PH, 3) you don't need to use carbon to 'clean' the medicine out of the tank once the ich is gone. The ich cycle (eggs hatching, etc.) lasts 21 to 27 days, so it's recommended to use the product for 3-4 weeks to be sure all the ich is gone. I highly recommend this product!
-a 30 year freshwater aquarium owner
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must have if u have alot of fish does not mess with my ph level ....price is great too. seachem
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I added a few black neons to my tank that came with no visible Ich spots, but within two days every fish in the tank was infected. Ordered this, and lost three fish during the two days of transit time. As soon as I added this the remaining fish stabilized, and within a few more days it was all cleared up!
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Let me start by saying 20 gallons is in fact the limit on the stand, not 24 or 23 or 29 but 20. This is fine though because that's what is says. OK so why the three stars? The design of this stand is not so good. I have two gripes with it. First is those poles you see in the pic do not go all the way through the shelf to the base. What you see in the pic is it, so basically all the weight is on the two side pieces on the bottom. What happens is over time it causes the middle shelf to bow. This then causes the doors to not close or not open depends on your use.The second thing is if you get this thing wet and it sits for any kind of time (like 5 mins when doing a water change)it ruins the finish, it starts to blister. This is stupid seeing as it's purpose is to hold a box of water basically. So if you get any of it wet clean it up ASAP.
