# Maracyn-Oxy: Does it work?



## RoxieStClaire (Aug 24, 2012)

Ok, so now that Tudor's life-threatening issues have been safely taken care of, I think it's time to address his fin rot. It's very minor, in fact for a few days I wondered if it was even fin rot or if he just naturally had black tips on his rays, but after doing a water change today I noticed a few of his tips had broken off and were laying at the bottom of the bowl.

I know a lot of people have said that just changing his water every day and adding a little aq. salt for a few days should be enough, but since I already had Maracyn-Oxy on hand I thought I'd give it a try since it says it treats fin rot. It says it's non-antibiotic, so I'm wondering what it does, if it DOES do anything.

So my questions are: Is it safe to use? And does it actually work, or is it just snake oil?


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Bacteria in aquariums can not handle salt and copper what do you mean by snake oil?


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## RoxieStClaire (Aug 24, 2012)

Snake oil: A reference to the 1800s when you could claim a medicine could cure everything when in reality it did nothing. Snake oil as a miraculous cure-all was one of the most common ones.

The bottle says the active ingredient is "stabilized chlorine oxides", for whatever that's worth. I haven't put any in yet, Tudor seems to be doing fine so far with just clean water and salt, and I haven't seen any more of his fins fall off.

I just wanted to know if this med actually helped, or if its not worth trying.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

RoxieStClaire said:


> Snake oil: A reference to the 1800s when you could claim a medicine could cure everything when in reality it did nothing. Snake oil as a miraculous cure-all was one of the most common ones.
> 
> The bottle says the active ingredient is "stabilized chlorine oxides", for whatever that's worth. I haven't put any in yet, Tudor seems to be doing fine so far with just clean water and salt, and I haven't seen any more of his fins fall off.
> 
> I just wanted to know if this med actually helped, or if its not worth trying.


Thanks not good with expressions medicions kill inveterates and scaleless fish like cories so the medicine take advantage of bacteria vulnerabilities.


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## RoxieStClaire (Aug 24, 2012)

Hmmm now that I think about it, if it's "stabilized chlorine oxides" then wouldn't that be essentially the same as adding chlorine to the tank? Gosh, I put Stress Coat+ in to REMOVE the chlorine, can't see this one helping much. 

I think I'll just set this one aside and just do the water changes with salt, and re-examine the medication issue if he's not any better in a few days.


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## RoxieStClaire (Aug 24, 2012)

Yep just read the full instructions: "Should the fish exhibit signs of distress, neutralize the medication by using an aquarium dechlorinator."

I'm pretty sure that means this medication is useless to have if you have to dechlorinate your fish's water with or without treating it for illness.

"Snake oil! Getcha snake oil hereeeeee! Good for what ails ya!"


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

RoxieStClaire said:


> Yep just read the full instructions: "Should the fish exhibit signs of distress, neutralize the medication by using an aquarium dechlorinator."
> 
> I'm pretty sure that means this medication is useless to have if you have to dechlorinate your fish's water with or without treating it for illness.
> 
> "Snake oil! Getcha snake oil hereeeeee! Good for what ails ya!"


I can believe and get that.


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## Tikibirds (May 26, 2011)

It depends on what you are using it for. I tried it for columnaris because that was the only thing I could find at the time - but it didn't help at all. So I'm gonna say it wont fight gram negative bacterial infections like columnaris but it is supposed to be effective aganist fin rot and true fungal infections.



> *Active Ingredients:* Stabilized chlorine dioxide.
> *Symptoms:*
> *Fungus*
> Whitish tufts of cotton-like material found on fin, tail and body at sites of injury or on developing eggs.
> ...


Also, the betta did not show any distress from using it which I was also worried about since the stuff is made from some form of chlorine.



> I'm pretty sure that means this medication is useless to have if you have to dechlorinate your fish's water with or without treating it for illness.


 your water should already be conditioned before you add this stuff. Your not supposed to put more conditioner in unless the fish is showing signs of distress


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## RoxieStClaire (Aug 24, 2012)

So if my understanding is correct, the meds are already dosed for after you've conditioned the water? 

I add a dose of stress coat with his water changes because that's what a post on fin rot said to do in order to treat it. I know it says it also removes chlorine, which is why I was wondering if it would even work if I used the two in conjunction.


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## Tikibirds (May 26, 2011)

> So if my understanding is correct, the meds are already dosed for after you've conditioned the water?


That is also how I understood it. I would think you would put in the stress coat and then add in the maracyn-oxy. At least that's what I did. I'm thinking if you added the maracyn first then the stress coat, the stress coat would deactivate whatever is in the maracyn oxy. 

Stress coat won't treat the fin rot but it does help with fin regrowth. 
How bad is the rot? If its not bad or agressive, the best treatment is clean, warm water with 1 teaspoon per gallon of aquarium salt with 100% daily water changes. This is easiest to do in a 1 or 2 gallon tank. You can use medication if you want as well. I think I would use API's TETRACYCLINE for fin rot if you can get it. There are other meds out there as well but this one I have used before










> *API Pro Series; TETRACYCLINE HYDROCHLORIDE- $8.29*
> Jump to Shopping Cart
> 
> 
> ...


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## RoxieStClaire (Aug 24, 2012)

That's exactly what I've been doing. He's in a 3/4 gallon bowl right now that gets a water change with salt and stress coat every day, and he's been doing fine so far. Like I said in my first post, its very mild, and I've only seen about 3-4 bits of fin fall off over the course of 3 days, and nothing broke off at all today, so I think he's recovering nicely either way.

I just thought that since I already have the bottle I might try using it if it could help. I'll try adding a bit tomorrow and see how he does with it.


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