3.1 Use of Potassium Permanganate in Biofloc Farming

• Potassium Permanganate

Potassium permanganate is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula KMnO4. It is a purplish-black crystalline solid, that dissolves in water to give intensely pink or purple solutions. In a layman's term, it is a moderately strong  "chemical" that will react with any organic matter in a biofloc fish tank, and oxidize them. Therefore it is used extensively by fish farmers to disinfect their ponds or fish tanks to get rid of any microbial lifeforms like algae, bacteria and kill them and purify their ponds or tanks. 

It is available in pharmaceutical stores in small sachets and packets of around 50 grams, and it can be cheap or a just a little bit costly depending on the locality. You can find it in crystal forms or powdered form and the colour varies from very dark pink to purple which become deep purple when dissolved in water. 

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• How to use it :

1. Buy a small pack of Potassium permanganate from any pharmaceutical shop, you can buy as much as you want but you won't need a lot of it, so you can store it for future use. I use the product shown below. 
   
2. Open the pack, you'll find a purple or dark pink coloured powder. Take just a small amount of it, about 3-4 grams. 
   
3. Dissolve the powder in a bucket full of water, it will easily dissolve in water resulting in a purplish solution.
4. Spray or pour the solution all over the walls carefully.
   
5. Wait for a about 30 minutes and wash it off thoroughly with clean water. Let the water drain out totally.
   
6. Fill it with clean water up to the desired mark and proceed with the next step. 
   

• Other uses of Potassium permanganate :

I use a solution of 1 gram of Potassium permanganate powder in 20 litres of water to sterilize the fish seed before releasing them in the tank. This helps in getting rid of the unwanted pathogens that the fishes carry with them. I do it by taking the fishes in a net and dipping them in the solution for about 10-15 seconds, and then dipping them in clean water and then releasing them. I have noticed that this process helps in getting rid of  many extremely lethal parasites like Ich.

• Tips :

• Potassium permanganate stains skin and clothing and should be handled with care. Clothing stains may be washed away using acetic acid (vinegar). Skin stains usually disappear within 48 hours.
• Potassium permanganate rapidly loses its potency when exposed to light and air. So keep any solution you make up well away from light and in a airtight container.
• Ensure you clearly mark any such container as POISON and keep it well away from children. 
• Wear rubber gloves and use masks when handling Potassium permanganate. 

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Hand Gloves

Use Hand gloves to avoid stains

Face Mask 

Face masks to prevent smell of the solution because some may find it nauseating

Sprayer

Sprayer helps in easy application of the solution to the tank walls

That's all for today, we'll see you again later.

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