Melafake

I have always read that people consider Melafix pretty hit and miss. It's considered by many to be the fish disease-treatment equivalent of chicken soup for a cold. Nevertheless, I decided to do some research, as I knew it was 'Tea Tree oil', and I personally find the Tea Tree oil I use as a human cure-all, brilliant stuff.

I discovered that it is not, as a matter of fact, Tea Tree oil. Melafix is made from Cajeput oil, from the tree Melaleuca leucadendron. True Tea Tree oil is made from the Melaleuca alternifolia tree. While both have antiseptic and healing properties, according to research, Tea Tree oil is the most effective antimicrobial.

While researching, I also discovered that people have been making their own version of Melafix, dubbed 'Melafake'. Well, no need to tell me twice. I had all the ingredients right here at home! The only thing that didn't sit right with me was, well, people were advocating the mixing of oil and water, and nothing else. I didn't understand how something at a dangerous concentration that would sit on top of the aquarium water could possible help fish. I decided to research further, as an idea was brewing.
I had here at home something called 'essential oil dispersant', and I got to thinking, well, this stuff is designed to be used in baths to make oil blend into water so it is obviously safe for humans, what about fish? All the company would tell me was that it was 'all natural', not what it was made from. Further research into all this yielded the knowledge that a dispersant had been used with TTO in other tests, and proved to be a satisfactory medicine.
I just so happened to have a fish that was going to die if I did nothing, so I went ahead and mixed:
0.6ml Australian Tea Tree oil
0.6ml Dispersant
58.8ml Distilled water


It certainly blended well. My main concern was safety at this point, and efficacy as a secondary point (as in, even if it kills germs, it is of no use to me if it kills fish also!), so I did a 50% water change on my sick fish's hospital tank, and added the same dosage rate that Melafix recommends to the new water.

I can't scientifically claim that my Melafake is better than Melafix, nor can I claim it 'cured' my fish, as I was using both salt and daily 20-minute Nitrofuran baths as an adjunct. All I can say is that the fish never showed any distress, and that after treating the fish for 6 days, her symptoms have gone.

I will be using this stuff again. I know the healing property of TTO very well, and can't see why its wonderful properties wouldn't translate to water-borne illnesses.

Most importantly, it doesn't kill your fish!