OK "DragonKeeper" here you go,#1}when you see any of your fish that are sick take that fish out,#2} put it in a hospital-tank {works better in a 10gl.tank} filter running.#3} what you wanna do is get a "PEROXIDE" and not just any,has to be the kind that you would gargle mouth with.#4}put...8 tablespoons in the tank for the first two days once in the morning once at night,after two days 4 tablespoons once in the morning once at night.#5}Repeat 4 tablespoons until you fish is doing well....I saved at list 20+ African Cichlids this way,i dont buy over the counter stuff anymore. Also if you can ad "garlic juice" works faster.....trust me it works 99.9% out of time,sooner you catch the sickness better chance your fish will have.... GOOD LUCK!!!!

When you say "sick" what are we talking about here? Fungus? Bacterial? Parasitic? Also how did you come about your dosing strategy? I am curious because I have never heard this technique used before, and like you don't like to use OTC drugs and medications for my fish.

Keeper

Hmmm...never heard peroxide suggested before. How'd you learn about it? Luckily I don't have to treat sick fish very often.

Well talking about parasites it might have an effect on ich or external parasites (I have my doubts), but I don't see any reason why hydrogen peroxide would have any effect on an internal parasite.

I know the peroxide is a mild antifungal and antibacterial agent but I don't see it working on internal problems. I guess I could see it as an infection preventative for some thing like open sores or wounds, but I would be cautious because of a filter crash.

I would also be interested to know the rate of decomposition when subjected to light. Peroxide releases free O2 when it decomposes and nothing else.

Obviously in low doses it doesn't hurt the fish but I'm still curious as to where/who you got your facts and dosing strategy from.

Keeper

I've seen peroxide used in treating extreme fin/tail rot in Koi. The methods though are completely different.

For koi, (or larger goldfish too) they're placed in a shallow pan with water up to one side and a wet rag to cover the head. The peroxide is painted on straight with a q-tip or cotton ball, no dilution. You can tell it's working since you'll end up with blood or blackish scum on the cotton as well as an unpleasant looking foaming on the fish.

The fish needs to be then put in a clean hospital tank, and in my experience still needs to be treated with some other form of medication.

Same for after removing ulcers too, but for that you'd do peroxide and then some sort of waterproof bandage.

I'd be interested to see tests otherwise, but I'm fairly sure that peroxide alone won't take care of any internal parasites, worms, flukes or a number of other problems.

Interesting thread.

I have to agree with saint on the effectiveness on internal parasites. Peroxide is very reactive, and will kill most external parasites and may quench many infections in open wounds, but I'm thinkin' it would react with body tissue before it could be effective on internal parasites. Curious what size tank you were dosing; 8 tablespoons is a lot to be putting in a smaller tank, IMO, even the 3% concentration, over the counter stuff.

WYite

No one said you were feeding us bs....it is just a good discussion. Your experience and testament is worth a lot, but it lacks any scientific facts. Therefor people are not going to throw their selves at your ideas. I don't know as I have never tried it...I also would never try it mainly due to the fact that there are other meds scientifically proven to work. No doubt you feel comfortable using it and you should keep doing so.

You have also used it on, you say African Cichlids which are very hardy fish....what about scaleless fish or more delicate fish? I would warn anyone reading this to use caution on more delicate, scaleless species. I would also warn the newbie member to not use this method unless he/she knows what they are doing. Another point that needs to addressed is what the peroxide will do to water parameters and what do do if you don't have a QT/Hospital tank?

The Idea again is good but I think this subject needs to be elaborated on quite a bit more and the statements in the OP first post are too broad and need further discussion. I would also like to see some documentation or a log of these findings. I think they would be interesting. What is the time line for healing an open wound using peroxide? How fast will it kill ICH, or how long will it take to cure fin rot apposed to using other meds? I am interested to know things like this. There are many other questions....what have you found CichlidsRool in your experience with using peroxide?

Nice..on the wood carbon...I am sure a lot of folks could benefit from thew carbon...I personally am old school and just go Biological and mechanical.

Lots of good points and question brought up here, but the fact remains that there still is no scientific proof that this concoction works. There is a lot of personal experiences listed, which is fine, but I would rather see scientific fact in this case. Hydrogen peroxide is pretty mean stuff. In the wrong doses and applications it can actually cause more harm that good. Peroxide on a deep wound will cause tissue damage and scaring, not something I want on my fish.

I never said I didn't believe you CichlidsRool. I just like to see more scientific fact about stuff like this. I have no doubt that it works for you and you should continue to use it as such, but for me to start using it there are just to many variables and theories not based on scientific facts. That is what I'm trying to clear up here.

Keeper