Can I Do Water Changes While Using Melafix?

Last Updated on December 19, 2021 by cmoarz

Can you do water changes while using melafix to treat things like finrot? Will it dilute the mixture and make it less effective?

The important thing to consider when treating fish for most things is you need clean water. Having clean water is the basis for any treatment.

So it makes sense to keep you your scheduled water changes during melafix treatment right?

Well actually, No. And it’s easy to see why some people might have that misunderstanding.

It would almost seem counterproductive to stop doing water changes, but the truth is you need to follow the instruction on the bottle, which say to treat for 7 days before doing a 25% water change.

If you do water changes in between that time frame, You’re diluting the medications and making them less effective.

And trying to get a proper dosage to replace what you lost is harder than just sticking to the instruction on the bottle. You may end up overdosing your fish too easily as well.

So, if you’re treating your fish with melafix, follow the directions on the bottle and don’t do water changes until the 7-day mark. After that, do a 25% water change as the instructions say.

After that, You can continue on with regularly scheduled water changes as normal, or continue with the extended treatment regime if your fish needs it.

You Can Do a Water Change Before You Start the Treatment

By doing a very large water change before you begin the Melafix treatment regimen you won’t need to worry about doing mid-treatment changes.

This will ensure that the water will already be as clean as possible before you medicate. It prevents the need for mid-cycle water changes and helps with the healing process.

You should also take this opportunity to do a really good gravel vacuuming to make sure you are getting as much of the junk out of the gravel as possible.

It will help your fish heal faster knowing that they are not swimming around in their own waste all day long. If you remove some of the waste then there is less chance of the infection getting worse.

Also, remember to remove the carbon from your filter if you are using it. Although that’s there in the instructions, it’s always good to remind people of that.

Carbon will suck up the medications and remove them from the water column.