Chloroquine Phosphate

[Dr. Reef]

I have tried 10, 20 and 40. All 3 doses produced results. I have not tried anything less.
Of course 60 and 80 didnt work out for me so I abandoned the doses halfway or fish didnt make it.

 

[Halal Hotdog]

I am going to try 10mg/gallon and see how it goes. I might have to add an observational QT to make sure there isn't something lingering after treatment.

 

[CMO]

@Dr. Reef is there a reason related to the use of CP that you indicated to ensure use of a reliable refractometer on the QT? Is perfectly constant salinity required with CP or was that a more general comment?

Thanks

 

[Dr. Reef]

It's more of a general comment.
I am not aware of a relationship between salinity and CP.
What I might have been relating to is that CP is very harsh on fish. Thus keep as perfect of Natural Sea Water characteristics would be a good idea. Not to add extra stress.

 

[CMO]

It's more of a general comment.
I am not aware of a relationship between salinity and CP.
What I might have been relating to is that CP is very harsh on fish. Thus keep as perfect of Natural Sea Water characteristics would be a good idea. Not to add extra stress.

Okay thank you. But I guess I'm a bit confused now though because the big thread by humblefish on CP says that it is gentle on most fish but you are saying that it can be very harsh. I was specifically going to use CP over copper since copper is described as a poison from what I read while CP was indicated as gentle for most (with a few exclusions). Thanks for any clarity you can provide on these different views.

 

[Dr. Reef]

In my experience CP is much harder on fish. They quit eating, become lethargic and act loopy.
It's also not compatible with a lot of fish.
Copper is pretty much safe with all fish. It also suppresses diet but not as bad as CP.
They are both poison, you just got to choose a milder one.

 

[lakai]

I am not aware of the reason on why Wrasses dont do well in CP. But in my experience they usually quit eating which leads to death. In my experimentation I have subjected some wrasses to very low levels of CP with success but I am not confident to post that for new or novice hobbyists to try. I rather see them use copper. Low dose between 10-20mg/gal

Could it possibly have anything to do with osmoregulation ? I recall using my hanna salinity pen in a QT dosed with 45mg/g CP in 1.025 saltwater and it read 1.034. Perhaps dropping salinity to 1.018-1.020 before dosing CP might work. Afterall isn't CP a type of salt? Thoughts?

 

[Manthanol]

I have tried 10, 20 and 40. All 3 doses produced results. I have not tried anything less.
Of course 60 and 80 didnt work out for me so I abandoned the doses halfway or fish didnt make it.

Doc, I was getting similar results with 40 for 30 days. Lately every batch of fish I get has come down with velvet after 2-3 days in the QT. Instead of going low dose I went high 80 for 14 days followed by 30 days of observation with good results so far. All fish made it thru and are in the DT. I also noticed with the 40 mg/gal for 30 days caused some change to some fish like the way it behaved in the tank followed by some mortality.

 

[Dr. Reef]

Could it possibly have anything to do with osmoregulation ? I recall using my hanna salinity pen in a QT dosed with 45mg/g CP in 1.025 saltwater and it read 1.034. Perhaps dropping salinity to 1.018-1.020 before dosing CP might work. Afterall isn't CP a type of salt? Thoughts?

Absolutely good point @lakai
I overlooked that part. Thank you for pointing it out.
Yes CP is a type of salt and thus it might increase salinity which may have negative effects on fish.
I will have to experiment with it to see how much salinity it increases in 1 gal if used in normal dose of 40mg/gal.

 

[lakai]

Absolutely good point @lakai
I overlooked that part. Thank you for pointing it out.
Yes CP is a type of salt and thus it might increase salinity which may have negative effects on fish.
I will have to experiment with it to see how much salinity it increases in 1 gal if used in normal dose of 40mg/gal.

Perhaps if salinity truly is reason why certain fish don't do well in CP I'd imagine the possibility of a hyposalinity/CP approach might be worth testing.

 

[Halal Hotdog]

I want to provide an update with running lower dose chloroquine phosphate. I tested it on 2 powder blue tangs and 1 clown tang. As most of you know these fish are parasite magnets. All three were purchased from an online vendor, sight unseen, which has a reputation of sending out whatever they have regardless of health, but they do offer a guarantee. Both powder blue tangs came in skinny. One of the powder blue tangs presented with bilateral elevated, inflamed, red circular areas at the base of the pectoral fins. This could have been trauma, but I wouldn't expect it to be bilateral. It could have been a bacterial or parasitic infection. The tank was dosed at 9-13mg/gallon CP. The powder blue with the pectoral fin defect passed away within two days. The other powder blue was VERY skittish and constantly hid. The first few days he was only by the bubble wand and by high flow, which makes me believe he may have had a parasitic infection, but I did not see any physical signs. The clown tang was big and fat, but also very skittish. By day 3-5 the powder blue was no longer only in the high flow/bubble wand area, but hiding at a low flow area. After 7 days API general cure was added. After 9 days the fish were moved to a DT as my QT is very sterile with some PVC, one power head, one heater, and a bubble wand. Most sensitive fish do not thrive in this environment. Also the reflection off the glass was causing unneeded stress on the fish, and they were not eating. I did not do a second dose of API general cure. We are on day four in their isolated DT area, and so far they have started eating and are less lethargic. I wanted to keep them longer in QT, but it seems the stress would have caused premature death. The QT is still running in case they need to be pulled and remedicated. Currently I am not seeing any signs of a parasitic or any other infection. The clown tang is mostly eating live black worms and a little bit of frozen mysis. The powder blue tang is only eating film algae off rock and glass. He did eat some mysis but then quickly spit it out. I think it will take a few more days before he will eat prepared food, but I think it is definitely possible.

At this time I am not planning to add any more fish into my tank. If I would there are a couple of things I would change.

1. Add sand and rock to the tank and add a little more CP to make up for any absorption that would happen.

2. Daily smaller water changes, rather than 30-40% every three days.

3. Would have liked to get 10-14 days minimum in medicated QT.

4. Would have liked to do a second dose of API general cure 5-7 days after the initial dose.


Overall I am content with the level of CP that I used, and time will only tell if the fish have any lingering infection.

 

[Halal Hotdog]

Final update. 11 days since transfer into DT. No signs of infection. Appetite has significantly improved. Clown tang is eating aggressively. Powder blue tang is filling its belly with different kinds of algae. He is also eating mysis shrimp. I am confident at least one of the fish had a parasitic infection going into QT, but treating at 9-13mg/gallon seems to have been effective. This is all anecdotal, however I feel there is definitely validity in lower dose CP treatment. Less sensitive fish I would try to get closer to to 30-40mg/gallon but sensitive fish this definitely something to consider.

 

[Dr. Reef]

I agree with @Halal Hotdog
I have successfully cured many fish with mild to medium infection with 20mg/gal
Also I do 14 days them move fish to observation.
I find fish to diteriate in health after 14 days and start to act loopy.

 

[Snoopy 67]

Has anyone used Chloroquine Phosphate as an algaecide & if so @ what dose?

 

[Nathan Milender]

Has anyone used Chloroquine Phosphate as an algaecide & if so @ what dose?

I am not sure that cholorquine is coral safe and I would be careful putting it into a DT. I use it in QT and that tank never has algae but is often emptied, has no rock or sand. For algae consider fluconazole. It has worked well for me on bryopsis (takes about 1-2 weeks), for regular algae I have had good luck with vibrant. Keep in mind, vibrant takes a couple months to work and it did kill off almost all of my chaeto ball.

 

[Halal Hotdog]

CP is an algaecide, but definitely not reef safe. It will kill corals and invertebrates. It will also kill bacteria in your system and cause ammonia issues as well as a new cycle. There are definitely a lot better algaecides like hydrogen peroxide than CP.