OP
OP
Amoo
Professional Thread Derailer
Sadly nem sickness does not have a name or a formal "scientific" lab style study. Essentially what we have found through testing is that typically when I nem gets "sick" it tends to respond best to a gram-negative anti-bacterial medication. We don't know exactly what the infection is, but we do know what it responds best towards.
All of the dosing medications and instructions have been based on trial and error on numerous different species of Nems. Mihn worked very heavily on the larger nem side, then I came along and worked heavily on the smaller nem side. I don't know the number of drugs he has tested, only he could answer that, but I know the number I have personally tested and it's pretty high. Everything from anti fungals to broad spectrum anti bacterial to even steroids. So far I've yet to reproduce the consistency of results that the Cipro or Cipro & SMZ&TP combo has provided.
If you googlefu how Cipro degrades, you'll find that one of the best ways to degrade it is with light water alone doesn't do much to it. This was also one of the side effects some humans were experiencing with the drug was light sensitivity.
If you notice in the treatment protocol after the first 12 hour lights out, every other treatment period involves Light. This means outside of your first 12 hour lights out treatment where the Nem is moved into a fresh tank, the concentration begins degrading (relatively rapidly), which is why I prefer the tank transfer method if you will. Some people will just stick it in a bucket and clean the main tank, which is fine, but the whole goal was to provide at least the 250mg/10gal concentration for 12 hours a day as that seemed to yield best results. The 12 hour lights on period was designed because we all know the Nem needs light to survive and thrive, the ability to degrade the drug in the water, helping minimize the environmental risk was an added bonus as opposed to treating for 12 hours, then putting it in a clean tank...etc.
One other thing to consider is that while the tank is dosed at 250mg/10gal, the nem itself dose not end up getting the full 250mg of medicine as it can only take up so much of that water into and out of it's system at a time. How much is dependent on the size of the nem, yada yada yada, we can't sit here and specifically write out a certain dosage for every kind of nem of all sizes like doctors do people, so as in the case of most aquatic medicines you try to come up with a dosing regimen that makes sense for everything. So far, I don;t feel either of us have run into a scenario where we felt the Nem died because we over-dosed it regardless of size.
If you're worried about dumping any water, simply let the water sit outside in a clear container for 48 hours (IIRC correctly would have to check again to be sure) and it will be completely inert.
So in essence, responsible use of the medication with proper deactivation via light can lead to LESS in the environment then even when humans are dosed with the medicine.
Whether it help ease you mind or not I don't know, but I know for a while Diver's Den actually started to Cipro their Nems as well. I do not know if they still do so, but I do know there was a period of time they did.
All of the dosing medications and instructions have been based on trial and error on numerous different species of Nems. Mihn worked very heavily on the larger nem side, then I came along and worked heavily on the smaller nem side. I don't know the number of drugs he has tested, only he could answer that, but I know the number I have personally tested and it's pretty high. Everything from anti fungals to broad spectrum anti bacterial to even steroids. So far I've yet to reproduce the consistency of results that the Cipro or Cipro & SMZ&TP combo has provided.
If you googlefu how Cipro degrades, you'll find that one of the best ways to degrade it is with light water alone doesn't do much to it. This was also one of the side effects some humans were experiencing with the drug was light sensitivity.
If you notice in the treatment protocol after the first 12 hour lights out, every other treatment period involves Light. This means outside of your first 12 hour lights out treatment where the Nem is moved into a fresh tank, the concentration begins degrading (relatively rapidly), which is why I prefer the tank transfer method if you will. Some people will just stick it in a bucket and clean the main tank, which is fine, but the whole goal was to provide at least the 250mg/10gal concentration for 12 hours a day as that seemed to yield best results. The 12 hour lights on period was designed because we all know the Nem needs light to survive and thrive, the ability to degrade the drug in the water, helping minimize the environmental risk was an added bonus as opposed to treating for 12 hours, then putting it in a clean tank...etc.
One other thing to consider is that while the tank is dosed at 250mg/10gal, the nem itself dose not end up getting the full 250mg of medicine as it can only take up so much of that water into and out of it's system at a time. How much is dependent on the size of the nem, yada yada yada, we can't sit here and specifically write out a certain dosage for every kind of nem of all sizes like doctors do people, so as in the case of most aquatic medicines you try to come up with a dosing regimen that makes sense for everything. So far, I don;t feel either of us have run into a scenario where we felt the Nem died because we over-dosed it regardless of size.
If you're worried about dumping any water, simply let the water sit outside in a clear container for 48 hours (IIRC correctly would have to check again to be sure) and it will be completely inert.
So in essence, responsible use of the medication with proper deactivation via light can lead to LESS in the environment then even when humans are dosed with the medicine.
Whether it help ease you mind or not I don't know, but I know for a while Diver's Den actually started to Cipro their Nems as well. I do not know if they still do so, but I do know there was a period of time they did.
