Interceptor without Water changes or Carbon?

[IPT]

I just started a Interceptor treatment. Day one of 3 doses to be spread out a week apart.

What doesn't make sense is some people recommending Water changes and carbon use 24 hours after the dose? You would be effectively reducing the medication levels until the next dose. If I dose on Sunday, and do a WC and Carbon after 48 hours, say on Tuesday, what happens to the new hatch of eggs that occurs on Wed - Saturday?

I guess they get killed by the next dose on Sunday, but what if a few eggs are laid by the one or two stragglers right before the 3rd and last dose? That might kill the parents but allow a new "hatch" to occur without medication being present or used again.

My plan (unless someone gives me a good reason to alter it) is no water changes or carbon until the end of 3rd week after my first dose. I may do a 10% WC 48 hours after the first dose just because I expect that to have the highest kill rate and most potential at adversely affect my water quality.

Good plan? Bad plan? Am I overlooking anything?

 

[Troylee]

The medication has a very short half life.. it’s done its job within 6 hours or so.. people choose to run carbon to get the toxins out from the death and try to save shrimp etc.. I just ran my frag tank through a cycle I don’t use carbon or change water for the 3 weeks.. that’s just me but either way would work.

 

[IPT]

The medication has a very short half life.. it’s done its job within 6 hours or so.. people choose to run carbon to get the toxins out from the death and try to save shrimp etc.. I just ran my frag tank through a cycle I don’t use carbon or change water for the 3 weeks.. that’s just me but either way would work.

Interesting. Do you know what causes the degradation of the medication? If it was light for example it might make sense to dose right before lights out.

 

[IPT]

So, I found this. I seem to remember the vet saying something about this as well, but she only knew what happened once it was inside of the animal. I'm not sure of (and I doubt it has ever been studied in Saltwater because it is not the intended use) the stability and rate of degradation it has (if any) in a ReefTank environment.

"Heartworm medications like Interceptor (which uses Milbemycin oxime) have a half-life, meaning they degrade and are eliminated from the body over time. Milbemycin oxime specifically has an elimination half-life of roughly 11.6 to 11.7 hours."

 

[djf91]

I thought I remembered reading that someone added their cleaner shrimp back to their system a week after the treatment and they lost the shrimp. Can’t remember who it was or the details though. It would make more sense to me that it degrades quickly but I think some people have also reported it can last awhile.

 

[IPT]

This a direct quote from my Vet. Of note, she was intrigued by this and posted it in a Vet only forum in the Aquatics section.

"I think the reason for the water changes and carbon is due to concerns about the milbemycin's possible adverse effects on the coral and trying to minimize its exposure. I know the research you have done doesn't document harm but every vet who commented in the thread I posted had concerns about that based on the drug's mechanism of action and coral also being an invertebrate so recommended caution with dosing, etc. We definitely have a do no harm mentality in vet med so even if the chance of potential damage is minimal I am sure that's why its recommended.

As far as the half life - the half life of milbemycin via other routes/environments is closer to 20 to 24 hours. I have not seen any studies on its duration of effect in tankwater. Someone needs to get out there and do more coral research!"

 

[therman]

You definitely cannot successfully add shrimp back any time soon after running interceptor. Usually months later you can try, at least in my experience.

 

[Big E]

The water changes and carbon are used as you are killing good pods too so you don't wipe out your whole population over a 2 week period. They'll recover faster as well.

There could be also other affects on bacteria in the system short term. You may also get a small nutrient spike.

Over the years people have done numerous variations of the original directions.

Years ago when all acro colonies came with good acro crabs I would take them out and put them back in the colony. They always were fine as I followed the original protocol after the treatments.

FyI-- original directions from Dustin Dorton------------

MilbemycinOxime (Interceptor™)​

• Manufacturer: Novartis AG
  
• Treatment protocol developed by Dustin Dorton.
  
• Comments: Store milbemycin oxime at room temperature.

Interceptoris a medication marketed for treatment of canine scabies, eye worms,roundworms, hookworms, whipworms, and heartworms in dogs, and it hasbeen found to be effective against at least some parasitic copepodtaxa.


Accordingto Dorton, 1 Interceptor™ tablet (intended for large dogs weighing51-100 pounds) weighs one gram and contains 23 milligrams ofmilbemycin oxime. One tablet is ground to powder and 25 milligrams isadded to a small container of aquarium water and mixed (this mighttake quite a bit of stirring). This water containing 25 mg of thetablet is sufficient to treat 10 gallons of actual watervolume in the aquarium. In other words, 1 tablet containing 23 mg ofmilbemycin oxime will treat 380 gallons, according to Dorton (400gallons according to my calculation). A local school or university,laboratory, or larger water or wastewater treatment plant will havean analytical scale (or balance). They might perform weight analysesfor you.*

Remove all shrimp and crabs from the aquarium. Remove mechanical filtration and activated carbon. Turn off UV sterilizers and protein skimmers (but water should still circulate through these vessels in order for these volumes of water to be medically treated as well).

• Add a sufficient amount of medication to the aquarium. Allow treatment to proceed for 6 hours, and perform a 25% water change. Resume use of carbon, skimming, etc.
  
• Repeat this procedure 7 days later, and again after 14 days.
  
• * Dosage is apparently not as critical as suggested by Dorton, as time has confirmed that higher concentrations (5x or more than that recommended by Dorton) of milbemycin oxime does little, if any, harm to corals.

 

[alindell]

When I did it I think I waited a few days. The medicine I think becomes ineffective after that. You do a big water change to remove the crap. It's toxic to alot of things in your system

 

[alindell]

You definitely cannot successfully add shrimp back any time soon after running interceptor. Usually months later you can try, at least in my experience.

Not true. Do a water change run carbon skimmer you are fine after a week. I've done this treatment multiple times