As a user of Colloidal Silver on occasion I have often wondered if one could use it to treat sick fish but looking at what 'experts' mention on various forums I have always been hesitant to use it as a treatment
Then a few weeks ago my wife purchased 5x Albino Swords which I discovered to have fin rot a few hours after she had added them to the 200 Liter tank
On discovering this I immediately added a shop bought treatment to the water (all my other fishes fins were fine) but by the next morning the 1st Albino Sword turned into a floater
Realizing that there may be more than fin rot involved I moved the remaining 4x Albino Swords to the 10 Liter (just over 2 gallons) hospital tank
Added some sea salt and again some of the treatment
The condition of fins kept deteriorating and a fish a day (in the hospital tank) kept dying
Down to the last fish I decided to add some Colloidal Silver (almost no fins left) 15ml to the 10 Liters as a last resort
He was still alive the next morning. I added 15ml more Colloidal Silver for the next 2 days and he kept going (all together 45ml to 10 liters)
I realized that the 200 liter can also be infected and added 15ml to the 200 liter (way less than in the hospital tank) as a precaution
Then looked around at what the 'experts' had to say regarding Colloidal Silver's effect on the bacterial colonies within the system
There are a lot 'doomsday' warnings regarding Colloidal Silver as many claim it will destroy all the bacteria, good and bad…
Luckily I have another hoby making natural ferments, both drinkable and edible which rely on the presence of the good bacteria to be more than that of the bad bacteria. That way you gain the probiotic effect these food and drink provide when consumed which has kept me away from the doc for almost three years
If Colloidal Silver killed all bacteria, both the good and bad, I had the ideal testing ground available to which I could add the Colloidal Silver
If Colloidal Silver killed all bacteria, there would be no bacteria available for fermentation to take place
And to my amazement... Fermentation still took place. As a matter of fact it fermented faster possibly because only one of the 2 groups of bacteria survived. Good or Bad?
The type bacteria (good or bad) is usually identified via smell and any possible mold that can form during the fermentation process
It passed all the tests, smell, almost zero mold and tasted great (which does not happen with bad bacteria)
Back to the tank
The sole surviving Albino Sword is happily back her new friends in the 200 liter tank. None of the other fish have gotten sick (or turned blue). The water is crystal clear.
I have even overfed for a few days an all is still normal which means that the Colloidal Silver attacks the bad bacteria rather than the good
I am adding around 5ml every time I do a water change just to ensure that the Colloidal Silver stays present be it at a very low PPM rate
Once can of course use it in a separate tank only when treatment is required
It appears that there is definitely a misconception regarding the usage of Colloidal Silver as a treatment in aquariums
And like with all treatments… remember to follow the correct protocols
Feedback, read in context will be highly appreciated
Then a few weeks ago my wife purchased 5x Albino Swords which I discovered to have fin rot a few hours after she had added them to the 200 Liter tank
On discovering this I immediately added a shop bought treatment to the water (all my other fishes fins were fine) but by the next morning the 1st Albino Sword turned into a floater
Realizing that there may be more than fin rot involved I moved the remaining 4x Albino Swords to the 10 Liter (just over 2 gallons) hospital tank
Added some sea salt and again some of the treatment
The condition of fins kept deteriorating and a fish a day (in the hospital tank) kept dying
Down to the last fish I decided to add some Colloidal Silver (almost no fins left) 15ml to the 10 Liters as a last resort
He was still alive the next morning. I added 15ml more Colloidal Silver for the next 2 days and he kept going (all together 45ml to 10 liters)
I realized that the 200 liter can also be infected and added 15ml to the 200 liter (way less than in the hospital tank) as a precaution
Then looked around at what the 'experts' had to say regarding Colloidal Silver's effect on the bacterial colonies within the system
There are a lot 'doomsday' warnings regarding Colloidal Silver as many claim it will destroy all the bacteria, good and bad…
Luckily I have another hoby making natural ferments, both drinkable and edible which rely on the presence of the good bacteria to be more than that of the bad bacteria. That way you gain the probiotic effect these food and drink provide when consumed which has kept me away from the doc for almost three years
If Colloidal Silver killed all bacteria, both the good and bad, I had the ideal testing ground available to which I could add the Colloidal Silver
If Colloidal Silver killed all bacteria, there would be no bacteria available for fermentation to take place
And to my amazement... Fermentation still took place. As a matter of fact it fermented faster possibly because only one of the 2 groups of bacteria survived. Good or Bad?
The type bacteria (good or bad) is usually identified via smell and any possible mold that can form during the fermentation process
It passed all the tests, smell, almost zero mold and tasted great (which does not happen with bad bacteria)
Back to the tank
The sole surviving Albino Sword is happily back her new friends in the 200 liter tank. None of the other fish have gotten sick (or turned blue). The water is crystal clear.
I have even overfed for a few days an all is still normal which means that the Colloidal Silver attacks the bad bacteria rather than the good
I am adding around 5ml every time I do a water change just to ensure that the Colloidal Silver stays present be it at a very low PPM rate
Once can of course use it in a separate tank only when treatment is required
It appears that there is definitely a misconception regarding the usage of Colloidal Silver as a treatment in aquariums
And like with all treatments… remember to follow the correct protocols
Feedback, read in context will be highly appreciated
