Melafix - Melaleuca Oil

[Rotaripsnoc]

Does anyone make their own version of Melafix with tea tree oil ?

At Wal-Mart last night, I was picking up some more Melafix and Dechlorinator, when my wife wanted to pick up some tea tree oil for her face. The ingredients are both essentially the same. Melafix = 8 oz with 1% Melaleuca Oil, the Tea Tree Oil = 1 oz 100 % Melaleuca oil. The only differentiation I can find online is the Melafix likely uses a specie of tree from the Philippines where as the pure oil looks to be from Australia.

Melafix at our store is $8 a bottle, vs this Tea Tree Oil which was $5.50 ish I plan to dilute it as the Melafix was, which will give me 12.5, 8 oz bottles or roughly $2.27 a bottle vs the $8.

I'll probably pick up a few mollies, and test it on them, we wanted to add mollies to our puffer tank, their size should deter the puffer for a year or more if he decides to nip at their fins.

 

[FreshyFresh]

What is that product used for?

 

[Rotaripsnoc]

Melafix ? Melafix helps fight bacterial infections \ fin rot, as a natural antibiotic it helps fish recover faster.

Tea Tree Extract ? It's a natural remedy to fight bacteria, my wife combines it with Glycerin and uses it to control her acne. The ingredient in both products is Melaleuca.

 

[FreshyFresh]

Thank you Sir! Good to know.

 

[Rotaripsnoc]

Just an Update:

So I've been using the pure tea tree oil, diluted in an 18 oz bottle ( old bottle of melafix ) at 1 %, it has roughly the same methanol type smell, but it's more ... "woody". It smells like freshly cut pine + methanol. It also will float on the surface of the tank if not diluted and mixed well, as you would expect an oil to do.

I don't dose my tank daily, but as a test I noticed a split in the tail fin of my Oscar, and dosed my tank at 5 ml / 10 gal in my tank, the fin was healed in 16 hours. His tail fin is roughly 0.75" long, the split was about 0.5" in length.

About a week later he had another split about 5 mm lower than his last one, about the same depth, this time I did not dose the tank, and kept a very close eye on it. It did heal, but took about 4 days.

Now anytime I change water in the tank, or notice a tear or split in the fin I dose about half the tank and they seem quite happy.

My plants seem to be unaffected, as do my snails.

 

[FishDad]

I can just see it... "Here honey, take this fish stuff and rub it on your face."

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Cool - thanks for sharing your observations with it. I really like the smell of Melafix and it sounds like the tea tree oil is similar.

One of the great things with Melafix (and tea tree oil, apparently) is that it doesn't hurt anything if given unnecessarily.

 

[Rotaripsnoc]

I can just see it... "Here honey, take this fish stuff and rub it on your face."

lol, I tried convincing her to use it, but it didn't work out