I got two juvenile clowns in a 25l sterile HT tank and I need to water change 75% every 3-4 days due to ammonia with premedicated water.
Chloroquine Phosphate *** The information contained here is subject to changes as I experiment and learn more about Chloroquine Phosphate ***
What It Treats – Marine Ich (Cryptocaryon irritans), Marine Velvet Disease (Amyloodinium ocellatum), Brooklynella hostilis and Uronema marinum.
How To Buy – Chloroquine phosphate (CP) is an antimalarial drug for humans which also treats external parasites that afflict marine fish (and possibly freshwater fish as well.) However, there are a few challenges to overcome with CP. The very first is obtaining it because a prescription is usually required to buy pharmaceutical-grade CP. While pharmaceutical-grade is not an absolute requirement, the closer the medication is to being 99% pure the more effective it is. Many CP failures can be traced back to buying the medication on eBay or from some other unknown source. The best strategy for obtaining CP is to ask your local veterinarian for a prescription which can then be filled by a compounding pharmacy: https://www.diamondbackdrugs.com/chloroquine/
A backup plan is to buy from this source, which has tested 94-96% pure for me (although I cannot guarantee every batch from this source will test the same): https://store.nationalfishpharm.com/items/view/616/chloroquine-phosphate
Sometimes CP is dispensed in tablet form instead of powder. The tablets are fine to use, but the downside is you get less “chloroquine base” out of them so you must dose more. The following was taken from Bob Goemans online book, THE LIVING AQUARIUM MANUAL:
How To Dose – In most cases CP is dispensed in powder form, and a digital scale is needed to accurately measure the dosage (more info on that below). This is the one I use:
How To Treat – Okay, so you’ve got your CP + digital scale and are ready to dose! Well, this brings us to the next challenge to overcome: Bacteria and biofilm. All medications (except copper) that you dose into water are susceptible to biodegradation. With Chloroquine this can be a major problem because the medication needs to be at a therapeutic level at all times in order to be effective. Therefore, I highly recommend following one of these QT protocols when using CP:
CP Protocol #1 (preferred): Dose 15 mg/L (60 mg/gal) into a bare bottom, rockless QT (see pic below) and treat for 10 days. The tank (and all equipment) should have been cleaned/sterilized beforehand and no biological filtration should be used! The point is to limit the bacteria/biofilm found in the aquarium which could degrade CP. Ammonia can be controlled by dosing Prime/Amquel every 24-48 hours, or by doing water changes. (A Seachem ammonia alert badge can be used for active monitoring.) However, when performing a water change it is very important to dose CP back into any replacement water before adding it to the QT. This ensures that the concentration of medication in the QT remains therapeutic at all times. After 10 days, transfer the fish into an observation tank (see Posttreatment below) at least 3 m (10 feet) away from the QT.
CP Protocol # 2: If you must treat in an established QT with a working biofilter, then you should redose the medication to compensate for possible biodegradation. Start off by dosing 10 mg/L (40 mg/gal) and then subsequently dose 1 mg/L (4 mg/gal) every day thereafter. Daily redosing is ideal, but if that conflicts with your schedule then redosing 3 mg/L or 12 mg/gal every 3 days (for example) should still be adequate. CP has a wide therapeutic range (20-80 mg/gal), so the objective is to keep it within that concentration at all times. After 10 days, transfer the fish into an observation tank (see Posttreatment below) at least 3 m (10 feet) away from the QT.
Posttreatment – To ensure treatment has been successful, transfer the fish into a nonmedicated observation tank for 2-4 weeks. Never transfer the fish directly into your display tank! The point of the observation tank is to ensure treatment has been successful, and symptoms of parasites do not resurface. One way to accomplish this is by housing black mollies (more info) in your observation tank. A freshwater black molly will have no immunity whatsoever to marine diseases, thus making it probable for visible symptoms to show. And evidence of ectoparasites (e.g. ich, velvet, brook) will show up as white spots on a black molly or translucent if a tankmate has flukes.
Pros – Gentle on most fish. (DO NOT USE with Hippo Tangs, anthias and flasher wrasses.) CP treats most external protozoa, and is probably the closest thing there is to a “wonder drug” in our hobby.
Cons/Side Effects – Expensive, hard to get (requires a prescription), powder is heat & light sensitive – so store in a cool, dark place. CP is quickly removed from the water if carbon is used and even by certain filter pads which are made from polyfiber. The medication is also susceptible to biodegradation, which makes dosing in an established QT somewhat unpredictable.
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Thank you very much for your reply. We do get chloroquine here in India with ease. I have a 20g QT where I added my Scopas yesterday and my Hippo today in the morning. From what I read on one of these posts, they mentioned Chloroquine is not safe to use with Hippo tangs.is that true? Your reply have been very helpful Jay. I intend to follow the instruction on the link you’ve added in your post. Thanks again.Hello, Humblefish is no longer on this site.
I also would not use Cuprion. The ionic coppers are a lot more difficult to use and have more toxic reactions. I prefer Coppersafe or Copper Power. If those are not available in India, then chloroquine is certainly an option. I can't help you with the dose unless you know the amount of active ingredient in those tablets. Sometimes, tablets have binder and fillers that lower the effective dose from 100%. But, lets say they are 100% chloroquine. The formula to find out how much to add is this:
tank gallons multiplied by dose in parts per million divided by 266 equal grams of medication. So - for a 180 gallon tank dosed at 15 ppm, that would be: 180 * 15 / 266 = 10 grams or 20 500mg tablets.
Here is an article I wrote on chloroquine:
Aquarium Fish: Chloroquine: A “New” Drug for Treating Fish Diseases
While not a panacea or miracle drug, chloroquine is experiencing resurgence in popularity for use in fish-only aquariums and quarantine systems to treat a variety of problems ranging from Cryptocaryon to Aiptasia anemone infestations.
Jay
I made a mistake when I wrote that message earlier. My DT is 180g. My QT is 20g.Hello, Humblefish is no longer on this site.
I also would not use Cuprion. The ionic coppers are a lot more difficult to use and have more toxic reactions. I prefer Coppersafe or Copper Power. If those are not available in India, then chloroquine is certainly an option. I can't help you with the dose unless you know the amount of active ingredient in those tablets. Sometimes, tablets have binder and fillers that lower the effective dose from 100%. But, lets say they are 100% chloroquine. The formula to find out how much to add is this:
tank gallons multiplied by dose in parts per million divided by 266 equal grams of medication. So - for a 180 gallon tank dosed at 15 ppm, that would be: 180 * 15 / 266 = 10 grams or 20 500mg tablets.
Here is an article I wrote on chloroquine:
Aquarium Fish: Chloroquine: A “New” Drug for Treating Fish Diseases
While not a panacea or miracle drug, chloroquine is experiencing resurgence in popularity for use in fish-only aquariums and quarantine systems to treat a variety of problems ranging from Cryptocaryon to Aiptasia anemone infestations.
Jay
I prefer using chloroquine as opposed to copper. Unfortunately, Hippo tangs (for some reason) and many wrasses do not respond well to chloroquine. Most other fish respond very well to chloroquine.
I added my Hippo tang to the QT with the similar issue. Should I still use CP?
Thank you. I will start doing that right away.
The quickest international delivery for coppersafe to India is around 3 weeks. I don’t believe I have that much time. Cupramine is available and I have cuprion however most of the people on here advised me not to use it hence CP might be the only option.
The dose is 40-50mg per gallon (10mg per liter). I dose it one time and add the correct dose to water changes if you do them. I wouldn't worry about the fillers in the tablets (I would hope they would be fit for human consumption), but if they are 20mg tablets for example, there is 20mg in each tablet.
Like this
I did the same. Prime and 20% wc every other day. I cured a porcupinefish and lionfish of velvet.
I usually leave my foam filters in the sump of my DT when not in use so they establish a bacteria colony.
