It should be noted that this remedy appears only to work on fresh ulcers.
Fish left with ulcers for any length of time will almost certainly die
during treatment. Notwithstanding that fish should not be left in this
ulcerated condition anyway. It is inhumane to say the least.
I wonder if other RML members are willing to try it ? and then report their
results and or opinions.
<Text begins>
TREATING NATIVES WITH NATURE
I may be writing this a little prematurely at the risk of being called a
goose (I've been called worse!) but I got a little excited when it actually
worked, so here we go. Just for the record, I'd like to share a little idea
I had about the treatment of ulcers on Rainbowfish. I got a bit sick of
destroying fish because of ulcers, so I'd been trying a few different
methods of treatment without much success. Then I thought about when I was
a young bloke and I would put Aloe Vera on cuts and scratches to stop
infection, so I tried it on the fish...
I have now treated three fish with excellent results. (one of which I
borrowed to continue the experiment as I'd fixed mine.) This is how it
goes, I cut a small piece of Aloe Vera plant, squeezed the sap and applied
it directly to the affected areas, then I kept the fish out of the Water for
a minute or so before releasing it back into the tank. It seems that
because the sap is so thick it coats the fish for a while after it goes back
into the water. I repeated this process every day for a week with
noticeable results after the first couple of days and then every second day
for a week dropping the remainder of the cut section into the tank itself.
I feel that for the above method to be most effective the treatment should
be started at the first signs of the ulcer appearing. The first fish I
treated which was a M. boesemani has had no signs of the ulcer recurring for
about a month at this stage.
I'm not saying that this is the end of the problem, the fish still have
small scars where the ulcer first appeared, it remains to be seen whether
the ulcers will recur, only time will tell. But for now I still have some
of my favourite fish... I hope it works for you as it did for me. By the
way if you can't get a piece of from a friend like I did (thanks Tim) you
can buy it from your local nursery fairly cheaply. meanwhile I'll continue
along these lines, if you try it yourself please let me know how you go.
By Robert McLean
7th July 1996
Editors note; Robert can be contacted by snail mail at:
2/62 Tharwa Rd. Queanbeyan 2620 NSW Australia
<End of text>
Please note that it is Robert and not I that should be contacted if and when
necessary. :-)
Results and or opinions may of course be published via this list.
Cheers
Alan
|__________________________________\|/_________________________________|
Alan Ford aford at pcug.org.au Canberra, Australia
Homepage: http://www.pcug.org.au/~aford
ANGFA ACT Homepage: http://www.pcug.org.au/~aford/angfa.htm