Finding Methylene Blue Outside USA

[AlwaysLearning]

Lee,

I have a question regarding the Methylene Blue... I've been to a number of LFS trying to find medications that only list Methylene Blue in their ingredients (such as Interpet's Methylene Blue and Kordon's Methylene Blue), but to no avail.

This isn't too surprising since a lot of useful fish mediciations, such as Interpet's Anti-Parasite pond medication, disappeared off the shelves a couple of years ago when the Australian federal government changed the rules for importers (requiring expensive testing and registration of every product in every size variant).

Anyhow, I've managed to find one product that lists Methylene Blue - "Multi Purpose" by Science Products (who I'd never heard of until today). There's a PDF catalogue on the importer's site that gives the blurb (no product-specific page, sorry). It lists the following ingredients:

• Methylene Blue, 4.0mg/mL
• Acraflavine, 2.0mg/mL
• Malachite Green, 0.4mg/mL

I'm not too worried about Acraflavine, but something in the back of my mind says that Malachite Green isn't always good for marine fish. Is this mixture safe to use for freshwater dips? Having a much lower concentration of Meth Blue (4.0mg/mL is 0.4% versus the 2.0-2.2% you mentioned) does it require 50 times as much in the dip (100-150 drops per litre). Alternatively, can you suggest any Meth Blue meds that might be commonly available in Australia?

Thanks for any suggestions,
Anthony.

[AlwaysLearning]

... does it require 50 times as much in the dip (100-150 drops per litre)

Must proof-read before posting, must proof-read before posting...

That would be "does it require 5 times as much in the dip (10-15 drops per litre)?"

[leebca]

I moved these posts off of the FW dip thread since it was old and the subject may be of some value to others, overseas, faced with a similar challenge.

My best reply is to be honest and that is to say, "I don't know." I don't know if, in a FW solution, how that particular medication may react. I would have to get two answers: 1) Are the elevated levels of Acraflavin and MG in a 5X dose problematic for the fish, and 2) Are the effects from Acraflavin and MG the same in FW as they are in salt water?

I would not risk it without knowing the above answers. If you can, you might try to contact the manufacturer and pose those questions. However, you should truly exhaust all your options. By this I mean an Internet search.

On the outside chance Kordon's product may have escaped the search, write directly (e-mail) to Kordon and ask if their products are available in your country. (Make it sound like you want to acquire many of their products). Also ask if their medications, such as. . .MB. . .is available in your country. Take the opportunity to ask if they have any partners, connections, or can just recommend another source for their medications and supplies. You might be pleasantly surprised.

What I have done is put "Kordon Aquarium [your country]" in the Goggle search engine and get many hits. This doesn't mean that any of them are valid -- just an example of one way to look.

Don't totally give up even if your search seems to come up empty and the company's response isn't promising -- check for local marine aquarium clubs. Network with others in the hobby and you might find some of them have found a source.

Lastly, as a microbiologist I know the value of MB in microbiology. It is used as a micro organism stain. That is to say, it is very important in the field of microbiology. Check with schools, colleges, and universities as well as veterinarian schools, and veterinarians for leads and possible sources. MB is a powder and you can prepare your own solution, if you get some of the powder.

The above is about all I can think of. I hope one or more of the suggestions might help.

[AlwaysLearning]

Thanks, Lee.

I should've remembered that Google is my friend instead of beating the footpaths going from store to store. Googling around for a while found a couple of different brands that appear to be available in Australia:

• Aristopet Aquamaster Methylene Blue (12mg/mL)
• Aquasonic Methylene Blue (3mg/mL)

Given that MB is used for stains it would probably be commonly available through laboratory supply chains as well.