Methylene blue used in fish transportation bag?

[vaporize]

Hi Lee,

Just wondering if this will work or serve any purpose in terms of quarantine?

Let's say the typical time it takes me about 30-45 minutes from travelling from my LFS -> home. And methylene blues takes about 30 minutes to be effective and be absorbed into the skin and kill parasite.

So I am wondering if at the time of picking up my fish (mostly clownfish) from LFS, I add a few drops (2 -3 drops) of methylene blue in the bag water will do any good or anything bad?

I know that Jungle's bag buddies (that use to transport fish) uses methylene blue as one of its ingredient.

Thanks

[leebca]

It probably does no harm. It may do a little good. But if your LFS is packing the fish properly, I wouldn't bother. The downside is getting the proper concentration AND making sure it mixes right. Methylene Blue tends to striate (sink) out of solution.

I bought a fish that attracted me from an LFS I never bought from before. They put the 4" Tang in a gallon bag and proceeded to squeeze the air out of the bag so that the bag only had water in it up to the knot. I stopped the process and told them how to pack my fish. I was not welcomed back there since I made the 'fuss' while there were a dozen other customers and potential customers in the store. Anyway. . .

The gas-to-water-volume ratio should be about from 2:1 to 3:1 That is, for every gallon of water there should be 2-3 gallons of 'gas' above the water. People think the fish needs a lot of water, but what they need is to exchange gas through the water to the trapped gas in the bag, for that short trip home.

Ideally you want your LFS to maintain this ratio, providing enough water for the fish to turn around (for fishes below 4") and to use oxygen.

If the LFS puts oxygen in the bag to be the gas, and it meets the above ratio, then there is no need to add anything to the bag. If the LFS puts air in the bag, then adding anything is optional.

[vaporize]

Thanks for the lesson Lee, good that thing I learnt this trick earlier from Anthony Calfo earlier, otherwise I would still have packed my fish/corals with a bag full of water. Also after seeing how fish were shipped from Indo help, those guys basically send fish in bags that come in at almost 4:1 or 5:1 water to air ratio.

The ironic thing is that I usually bag my own fish/corals when I go to my favourate LFS (of course, other customers often think I am working there LOL).

The main thing I am wondering is if Methylene blue used as a 'bath' during transportation will help to kill some parasite like how it is used in a FW dip. Or is the methlene blue used in a FW dip serve more as a 'calm'-ing effect than a disinfectant?

Thanks

[leebca]

The use of the MB in the FW dip is for both purposes, actually. I can't say either is above the other in benefit. Both of its functions play a role. Its primary purpose was microbe control; its secondary benefit was carrying oxygen and the calming affect. Maybe this helps to answer your question? ;;

But keeping the fish in the chemical for an extended period of time just doesn't sit well with me. I'd feel better if there were convincing scientific studies done to show 'no harm' in the long term immersion in MB.

[anthias]

after reading Leebca's thread of QT and the use of MB in fresh water dip ,I realy injoied doing the fresh water Dip with MB for many fishes as wel as some anemones.
it seems that the MB calms down the fish ,and make it breath slowly .
most of the times when the fish comes in the shop bag it breathes fast and during the bath it becomes very quiet and breath in low rate with littel movement,then the fish returns to the normal breathing when releasing it to the saltwater tank.
the sales man in the pets shop told me that he is useing the fresh Dip to treat the whitespot and it is effective(as he said) , as I see all his fishes are in good condition but he is useing the UV unit too.

[vaporize]

after reading Leebca's thread of QT and the use of MB in fresh water dip ,I realy injoied doing the fresh water Dip with MB for many fishes as wel as some anemones.

Why are you FW dipping your anemones? inverts do not like salinity fluctuations (that speaks for anemones, shrimps, snails, etc)

[anthias]

Why are you FW dipping your anemones? inverts do not like salinity fluctuations (that speaks for anemones, shrimps, snails, etc)

wops......I did it anyway and they are perfect but the dip was for 5 mintues only for the anymones and 30 minutes for the fishes.
is it not recomended ?

[vaporize]

wops......I did it anyway and they are perfect but the dip was for 5 mintues only for the anymones and 30 minutes for the fishes.
is it not recomended ?

I would not recommend doing FW dip to inverts or corals (unless you know what you are doing and doing it for a specific purpose). Some corals such as zoos can tolerate FW dip in a short while to get rid of parasitic nudi, spider, snails. FW dip is used for clams that suffer from pinch mantle disase, however not to be administer. Not all corals/inverts can sustain such treatment and should not be used unless you know what you are doing.