# malachite green kills plants?



## BelieveInBlue (Jul 17, 2011)

*Does malachite green harm plants?*​
yes240.00%no00.00%potentially360.00%


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## BelieveInBlue (Jul 17, 2011)

So about 2 weeks ago my 50 gallon caught ich, and I began treating with this medication called "Nox Ich" which contained malachite green and sodium chloride. And about 5 days ago I noticed my plants have started to die. I've been doing half dose. So, does the malachite green actually harm plants?


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## Aulonocara_Freak (May 19, 2011)

The sodium chloride aka salt, will kill the plants!!! Also the malachite green will kill the plants.


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## mccluggen (Jul 5, 2008)

Malachite green is a copper carbonate, so if you have copper sensitive plants it can damage them. Sodium chloride is basic table salt, and can cause damage, but probably not at the level present in the medication, combined with the copper though it could be an issue, especially with vascular plants.

If the ich is taken care of at this point I would try some water changes and carbon to remove the rest of the medication. You may have just shocked the plants and they may sprout again after a good pruning and some tlc.


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## BelieveInBlue (Jul 17, 2011)

The ich's not completely gone yet >.< Still like 2-3 spots on one of the cardinals...


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## mccluggen (Jul 5, 2008)

I would suggest the salt method to cure your ich, but if you plants are already shocked I would skip it as different plants have far different salt tolerance. I have used methylene blue (another common ich med) in the past to treat ich successfully, but it can have other side effects like staining driftwood and certain types of substrate.

I treated two tanks with it several years ago, and it tinted the silicone in one a light blue and the other was a planted tank with porous clay "aquasoil" that was stained with a blue tint. It killed the ich and didn't hurt my plants though, so there's that.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

A hospital tank is helpful for situations like this. :thumb:


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## BelieveInBlue (Jul 17, 2011)

DJRansome said:


> A hospital tank is helpful for situations like this. :thumb:


True, but I don't have space for another tank, plus about 75% of the tank was infested so I figured I should just treat the entire thing.


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## BillD (May 17, 2005)

Indeed, the tank has to be treated in cases of ich.


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