Medicated Food Interactions

[LobsterOfJustice]

I have a few fish with chronic white stringy poop for several years now. I have hit the tank with prazi-pro maybe half a dozen times and the stringy poop continues. I have also tried a course of pellets soaked in focus+metroplex but still see white stringy poo.

I am giving the focus+metroplex another try - this time feeding medicated food twice a day, once pellets and once frozen (thawed, medicated, and re-frozen). I have also ordered NLS Hex-Shield which is a medicated food for internal parasites - not sure if I'm dealing with worms that are prazi+metro resistant, or I just didnt keep up with the metro long enough or feed enough of it last time.

I also have a few spots of ich that come and go on certain fish's fins. They've been living like this for at least two years so it's not something I'm super worried about. I did try to remove and treat all fish last year and I was unsuccessful so I'm living with it for now. That said, I'm also hoping the focus+metro will suppress the ich, and I ordered NLS Ich-Shield pellets as well.

Anyway, on to my question: Is there any issue feeding metroplex-laced food at the same time as feeding NLS Hex-Shield and NLS Ich-Shield? Potentially also while Prazi-pro is in the water? I'm hoping to use as many tools at my disposal at once to suppress ich (I know this strategy won't cure it) enough to let the fish's immune system get ahead of it, and I am hoping to fully cure the internal parasites. I'm just thinking that I've used some of these tools in the past unsuccessfully, but hoping by adding in a few more and doing them all at the same time, I can at least get rid of the white stringy poo issue.

Ich-Shield active ingredients: I,4-Pentanediamine, N4-(7-chloro-4-quinolinyl)-NI,NI-diethyl
Hex-Shield active ingredients: Magnesium Sulfate, IH-Imidazole-I-ethanol, 2-methyl-5-nitro-(443-48-1).

 

[aykwm]

Since you are already adding metroplex to the food, i would suggest you add kanaplex too, it also help fight internal parasites caused by bacteria. Im not sure about mixing different medications ill leave it for the experts, i think its better to treat each disease separately, so first start with the internal parasites then after its done treat for ich. But again experts will advise you whether they can be used together or not.

 

[ngoodermuth]

^I wouldn't worry about antibiotics at this point, since you already have a few other issues to deal with first.

For the ich- I'm going to say what you already know. The only way to cure it is to get everybody out and run fallow. Since you have decided on ich management, there are some other tools you might consider...such as a UV sterilizer. And feeding selcon-soaked frozen and fresh/live foods over pellets/dry foods whenever possible.

For the internal worms, metro-laced food is usually the weapon of choice. It takes a minimum of 10 days, feeding twice a day...but it could take up to 2-3 weeks for particularly stubborn cases. Prazi dosed to the water won't quite cut it for internal worms, but you might consider feeding General Cure instead since it has both prazi and metro in it. I've never done it personally, but I have read of others doing so.

 

[Maritimer]

I fed General Cure with Focus three times a day (frozen, pellets, frozen) for two and a half weeks.

During that time, no food entered the tanks that didn't have GC in it.

I also added Selcon (supplement) and garlic (appetite enhancer - or so they say) to the food, and the fish all took to it well.

~Bruce

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

Follow up question... it looks like the Ich-Shield contains CP, or some form of similar compound. I know wrasses are sensitive to CP treatment - do you think I should avoid this food with wrasses as well?

 

[aykwm]

I currently have wrasse under treatment with cp, i did it to experiment since some people had success with cp or wrasse. So far no negative signs, but honestly i dont advise you to do it, many people lost their wrasse due to cp.
Also never heard people dosing cp in food, ill check that out when i get home, but since there is no test kit for cp i dont advise it, you will not know how much is in the system and you might overdose if its indeed cp

 

[aykwm]

Ok, so the active ingredients is n4-(7-chloro-4-quinolinyl)-n1 which is very similar to CP. The fish needs to eat the food in order for the medication to work according to the company claim, so it won't work if fish doesn't eat it. CP taste horrible and fish might not eat it, although it looks like they add some flavors, but honestly I don't recommend it. Better just dose copper or CP directly. I don't recommend using the food in a reef tank or with other inverts, if CP leached out of the food the inverts won't be happy and most probably die.



Also this is a good post by HumbleFish

There is both a medicated food and treatment powder version of New Life Spectrum ICK Shield. Both supposedly contain Chloroquine phosphate (CP) as an ingredient - which does eradicate the free swimming stage of most external parasites including ich - so we're off to a good start at least. However, as usual, the devil is in the details. :smokin:

I have had great success using pharmaceutical grade 99% pure CP in a bare bottom, rockless QT. When dosed in a DT with rock/substrate the same CP almost always fails probably due to absorption. CP is also a strong algaecide, and IS NOT coral/invert safe. I've seen threads on RC where people buy CP off ebay or some other online source; sometimes it works, sometimes it fails. I think it all comes down to whether or not you are getting the "good stuff" (i.e. pharmaceutical grade), or something that has been watered down with various fillers. Now which does Life Spectrum ICK Shield contain? :noidea: I've been thinking of calling them to see what they'll say, but even then I'd need to see a chemical analysis to be sure they weren't lying to me. (Sorry, but I'm a skeptic of anyone who tries to sell me something without proof of what they say.)

Now about the food... even if it were properly soaked with pharmaceutical grade 99% pure CP, I highly doubt it would work because CP has only been proven to successfully target the free swimming stage of external parasites. Which is why you must dose the powder in a QT. There is no proof it is effective on trophonts feeding on the fish. Even if food soaking were somehow effective on preventing trophonts from attaching, you'd have to be sure each & every one of your fish ate it for 72 consecutive days (same as going fallow.) No small feat considering how bitter tasting CP is. When I use the powder on tangs in QT, they usually stop eating fresh nori after about an hour... presumably because CP has soaked into it.

If you'd like to read more on CP, look here: https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/fish-disease-treatment-diagnosis/192309-chloroquine-phosphate.html

 

[Humblefish]

Follow up question... it looks like the Ich-Shield contains CP, or some form of similar compound. I know wrasses are sensitive to CP treatment - do you think I should avoid this food with wrasses as well?

I would avoid it, since CP dosed into a QT has killed some wrasses in less than one week.