Question regarding Potassium Permanganate

[discus2501]

Hello everyone, I was advised on this forum not to use potassium permanganate because it causes damage to the fish's gills but my discus doesn't seem that active or hungry when I depend just on water changes.

I was planning to use potassium permanganate once a month at least as a way to reduce the organic bioload since I can't do 100% water changes every day. If there are any similar chemicals, please let me know. I can't use formaldehyde since it's not so readily available.

On the other hand, potassium permanganate is recommended all over the internet. Even some aquatic vets recommend it but not more than once a week. Many discus breeders all over the world use it every week or once every 2 weeks. So why do so many recommend it?

[captainandy]

If your discus don’t seem active or hungry then something else is going on.
While I’ve used pp in the past, it doesn’t sound like your situation warrants it use.
Would be helpful if you filled out the form for sick fish/ medication forum

[discus2501]

They are not sick. They are just fine. I have noticed after a pp bath, my discus used to get very active and hungry.

[Iminit]

so your fish are normal and healthy and you’d like to add a chemical to make them more active and hungrier? REALLY! This is what everybody seems to be preaching. Sounds kind of crazy to me. I’ve never used pp. I’m constantly amazed how many do use it. You only hear about their success till of course they have a problem. Then you don’t hear from them anymore. Yes some breeders do use it when the fry are at a certain age. But if you know a breeder that has to do this regularly to there fish wouldn’t that be a problem? I think I’d avoid buying from them. Not everything you read on Facebook is correct .

[discus2501]

so your fish are normal and healthy and you’d like to add a chemical to make them more active and hungrier? REALLY! This is what everybody seems to be preaching. Sounds kind of crazy to me. I’ve never used pp. I’m constantly amazed how many do use it. You only hear about their success till of course they have a problem. Then you don’t hear from them anymore. Yes some breeders do use it when the fry are at a certain age. But if you know a breeder that has to do this regularly to there fish wouldn’t that be a problem? I think I’d avoid buying from them. Not everything you read on Facebook is correct .

Well I am not saying I want to use a chemical to make my fish happy. What I meant was maybe my tank gets more dirty than I can clean and pp kinds of clears up that a bit. So, maybe the fishes feel great. I was just asking what people might think. Many says pp cause gill damage and I thought the same when all my discus died but then I bought a second batch and they died too without the use of pp, it seemed that it was just the extra chlorine than the water conditioner could handle that killed my fishes. Now when I used extra dechlorinator and also aged the water a bit, (now I use HMA filter), the discus are doing great and even growing.

So that made me think people were accusing the pp usage which I agree can be harmful but that wasn't the case at all. It was the excess chlorine.

[discus2501]

I haven't used pp yet but I need a very good reason for not to use it again. Would it be too harmful in the long run if used as a preventative measure every few months?

[Iminit]

It seems to me that pp is becoming popular because so many meds have been taken off the shelf so people are looking for something else. The good results are like you people whose fish are fine but they think something is wrong. They use it and hey their fish didn’t die! Success!! I have pp but have never used it. It was explained to me how breeders use it for fry and for me as a last choice if there was a problem in the tank. For me clean water has kept my fish alive. Only bad things that happened to me were from new fish. You must qt everything. And qt in another room with its own equipment.

[LizStreithorst]

I use PP, but rarely. I've heard some importers say that they give a does once a month...that it makes the fish feel better. I only use it when I suspect external parasites. I haven't noticed it do anything but what I used it for,

If I were convinced that it made my fish feel better and do better, I still wouldn't use it more than once a month,

[dspeers]

I am curious, what is it you are theoretically treating or prophylaxing against. How old are your fish and what was the feeding regimen?

[discus2501]

I am curious, what is it you are theoretically treating or prophylaxing against. How old are your fish and what was the feeding regimen?

Well I don't have any issues with my fishes. It's just that they don't go crazy for the food like when I bought them. They eat well but not with extreme enthusiasm. It makes me worry what if they might catch a disease soon. Because when I used pp as a preventative treatment, the discus used to pounce for food and they didn't have any illness nor death for more than 2 years. I didn't have to treat for else anything either.

[discus2501]

I use PP, but rarely. I've heard some importers say that they give a does once a month...that it makes the fish feel better. I only use it when I suspect external parasites. I haven't noticed it do anything but what I used it for,

If I were convinced that it made my fish feel better and do better, I still wouldn't use it more than once a month,

Thanks for the input.

[discus2501]

It seems to me that pp is becoming popular because so many meds have been taken off the shelf so people are looking for something else. The good results are like you people whose fish are fine but they think something is wrong. They use it and hey their fish didn’t die! Success!! I have pp but have never used it. It was explained to me how breeders use it for fry and for me as a last choice if there was a problem in the tank. For me clean water has kept my fish alive. Only bad things that happened to me were from new fish. You must qt everything. And qt in another room with its own equipment.

You are right in a way but I haven't killed any fish from pp treatments. I actually use very less. Lighter than light pink and I keep it less than 30 minutes. I used to do this weekly before but not anymore. I am just relying on clean water for now.

[bluelagoon]

Do you age your water? And if you do when do you put in the conditioner? Where does your water come from? What kind of chlorine remover is used? How big is the tank and what's in it for fish or plants or if it has substrate? How much (%) and how often do you actually change water? Just curious here.

[bluelagoon]

They are not sick. They are just fine. I have noticed after a pp bath, my discus used to get very active and hungry.

If you just do a bath in another tank and place them back in water that is unfavorable to discus, then you would be putting them right back in the same situation. Not to mention netting your fish, which can cause some stress. If you do the whole tank then you will kill off the BB and cause more issues. I would think using PP would be my very last resort.

[discus2501]

Do you age your water? And if you do when do you put in the conditioner? Where does your water come from? What kind of chlorine remover is used? How big is the tank and what's in it for fish or plants or if it has substrate? How much (%) and how often do you actually change water? Just curious here.

Thanks for your concern, I use HMA filter before putting tap water into the tank. No water conditioning. My tank is 75 gallons and I do 50% water change everyday.

But the thing is my fishes are active again and eating hungrily. I removed the driftwood (spider wood) that I bought recently and did a water change. I don't know how the driftwood kind of made them less active.