180
people found this helpful, as of 2023
ranked #189,690 most helpful
out of 571,544,897 reviews
★★★★★
Great for ick and fin rot - but usually takes 3 days to work
I get most of my fish through mail order. By the time they get to me they are often starting to show symptoms of any disease they've EVER been exposed to. This helps. I have successfully treated fish with ich, fin rot and body fungus.
You do need to keep the treatments up, though - just putting in a dose for one day won't be enough. The directions are to use one capful for every 10 gallons daily. "Repeat as long as required as long as fish show no signs of stress." You can also use this as a preventative dip for new fish (which I highly, HIGHLY recommend) by putting half a capful per gallon of the dip.
The good news is that not only do you not have to take the charcoal out of your filter and you do not have to worry about snails or shrimp, either. I did a heavy series of doses on one tank that had cherry shrimp in it, and not one died or even looked sick.
If you keep fish, you really need to have medications on hand to treat them when something breaks out. Early treatment is key. I keep this and maracyn 2 on hand so I can nip diseases in the bud. Prazipro has a good reputation, too, but I have not tried that.
Maybe there is a better broad spectrum treatment available than ParaGuard, but I have not found it yet. I would definitely like to hear people's feedback if they've found something that works better.
By the way, this is what the bottle says: "ParaGuard is the only fish and filter safe aldehyde based (10% by weight) parasite control product available... contains no formaldehyde or methanol and will not alter pH... employs a blend of aldehydes, malachite green and fish protective polymers... effectively eradicates many ectoparasites (ich, etc) and external fungal/bacterial/viral lesions (eg, fin rot)."
October 2012 · Unknown · verified purchase