Methylene blue

Jeff420 · Mar 7, 2021

Hi guys can you use methylene blue in a marine tank as you do with fresh water? Or is it not advisable to use methylene blue on marine?.... If I take everything out my tank and just leave the fish and rocks will the copper in cupramine still stick to my substrate and rocks?

hds4216 · Mar 7, 2021

1) You can use methylene blue as a dip, though I would not dose the tank with it. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/methylene-blue.257467/

2) Don't use cupramine in a tank with gravel and rocks. It will be absorbed by them and leach out over time, meaning that a) it's hard to maintain the correct levels of copper because it's being absorbed and b) copper will be leached out of the rocks over time.

What are you trying to treat?

vlangel · Mar 7, 2021

I agree, any copper treatment should never be used in a reef tank where inverts and coral will be. The rocks/substrate will absorb it.
A dip in methylene blue (for ammonia burn) or fresh water (for parasitic infestation of the gills) is the best way to handle those conditions.

Jeff420 · Mar 8, 2021

hds4216 said:
1) You can use methylene blue as a dip, though I would not dose the tank with it. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/methylene-blue.257467/

2) Don't use cupramine in a tank with gravel and rocks. It will be absorbed by them and leach out over time, meaning that a) it's hard to maintain the correct levels of copper because it's being absorbed and b) copper will be leached out of the rocks over time.

What are you trying to treat?

With the methylene blue i was just curious as i always use it in my freshwater tanks thought it might help with the ich like freshwater but didn't find a definite answer on the net with methylene blue use and saltwater tanks...
The cupramine is to treat ich but i dont have a QT tank to treat them in also seachem site doesn't really explain that you can't dose the whole tank and say that just add carbon to filter the copper out they never mention it would be absorbed into the sand and rocks to leach out at a later stage thats why i wantes to check first... How would I treat it in the tank though ?

vlangel · Mar 9, 2021

There is not a real good method to treat in the tank anymore for saltwater. Years ago there was Greenex (contained malachite green) that we saltwater aquarists used to treat ich in the tank but it has some copper in it and had been taken off the market now for over a decade.
Prazipro can be used but it is not as effective as copper based products. Also you can feed garlic soaked food and sometimes that will help.

fish farmer · Mar 9, 2021

Saltyanimals · Apr 29, 2021

Calculations are roughly 1ml per gallon as a bath. I followed and the water color is VERY blue. Royal Blue if i were to describe. Much more than some of the photos I've seen around.

Flame angel freaked out and keep trying to jump out of the bath which is exactly not calming for the fish as I've read. Makes me wonder if I somehow overdosed. Fish ended up staying in bath for maybe 5-7 mins at best.

Will monitor to see if I doomed the fish somehow. Has anyone else noticed very blue water or fish reacting in it?

hds4216 · Apr 29, 2021

Saltyanimals said:
Calculations are roughly 1ml per gallon as a bath. I followed and the water color is VERY blue. Royal Blue if i were to describe. Much more than some of the photos I've seen around.

Flame angel freaked out and keep trying to jump out of the bath which is exactly not calming for the fish as I've read. Makes me wonder if I somehow overdosed. Fish ended up staying in bath for maybe 5-7 mins at best.

Will monitor to see if I doomed the fish somehow. Has anyone else noticed very blue water or fish reacting in it?

I would fully expect the color to be a deep blue. Methylene blue is an extremely powerful dye. How did you measure a gallon?