Metronidazole

[Daniel cahen]

Israel!

 

[brwaldbaum]

If I can't obtain focus from.seachem in my country, what a product easily affordable can I use to bind metronidazole to frozen food?

Unflavored gelatin.

 

[Daniel cahen]

Thank you! I'll try it tomorrow...today i mixed metro with frozen artemia and paraffine oil.. But I'm not sure that paraffine oil is doing the job!

 

[The Reefing Scotsman]

Excuse me @Humblefish , there is a method described in Noga, Fish Disease: Diagnosis and Treatment, to soak brineshrimp in a 1% solution of metronidazole for 3 hours before feeding to the affected fish. It is not clear how many times this should be fed to the fish per day, and over what duration. Can you make a recommendation please?
The fish have suspected flaggelate parasites.
Thanks.

 

[Humblefish]

Excuse me @Humblefish , there is a method described in Noga, Fish Disease: Diagnosis and Treatment, to soak brineshrimp in a 1% solution of metronidazole for 3 hours before feeding to the affected fish. It is not clear how many times this should be fed to the fish per day, and over what duration. Can you make a recommendation please?
The fish have suspected flaggelate parasites.
Thanks.

Feed 1x daily, for 3 weeks. Internal parasites (flagellates) can be very difficult to fully eradicate so that is the reason for the prolonged treatment.

 

[The Reefing Scotsman]

Thank you very much for your reply.

 

[Daniel cahen]

Thank you very much for your reply.

If I use this method, will it harm the invertebrates in my tank? I don't have any corals but sea anemones and lysmata shrimps...

 

[The Reefing Scotsman]

If I use this method, will it harm the invertebrates in my tank? I don't have any corals but sea anemones and lysmata shrimps...

I believe you would have to use Seachem focus to make the medication reef safe. This information is in post number one of this thread.

 

[The Reefing Scotsman]

Hi @Humblefish , I am hoping for some more advice if you don't mind?

The fish which are suffering have now stopped eating. They have previously been treated with Praziquantel (3 x bath trestments at 7.5mg/l) and Metronidazole (1 week as a water borne treatment and 1 week as described above).

I am thinking about trying an alternative. I believe I can source Fenbendazole as granules. "Panacur" for cats and dogs 220mg per gram of product. I have seen you refer to trialling fenbendazole for worming, and you also recommend it as an alternative treatment in cases like this in the first post. Have you used this as a water borne treatment before? I have the reference from Noga which (off the top of my head as I don't have the book in front of me) gives 2mg/l per week for 3 weeks. Would you follow this regime?

I can also source Levamisole and Flubendazole sold as dedicated fish treatments if these are preferable.

Any guidance gratefully received.
Thanks very much.

 

[Humblefish]

Have you used this as a water borne treatment before? I have the reference from Noga which (off the top of my head as I don't have the book in front of me) gives 2mg/l per week for 3 weeks. Would you follow this regime?

That's the same dosage I have used, but IME (so far) fenbendazole works better if soaked in food.

 

[The Reefing Scotsman]

That's the same dosage I have used, but IME (so far) fenbendazole works better if soaked in food.

Thank you for the confirmation. Unfortunately as the fish are not eating that is out at the moment. If they start again then that would be the plan.
What recipe have you been using for a food soak?

 

[Humblefish]

What recipe have you been using for a food soak?

1 tablespoon frozen or pellets
1 "scoop" of Seachem Focus to bind the medication to food
1 scoop of fenbendazole (I use the same little scoop as is found in the Focus bottle)
A pinch of Epsom salt (to help push the worms out)
Enough Selcon or Zoecon to wet everything and turn it into a paste

Fish seem to love that formula and go nuts eating it.

 

[The Reefing Scotsman]

1 tablespoon frozen or pellets
1 "scoop" of Seachem Focus to bind the medication to food
1 scoop of fenbendazole (I use the same little scoop as is found in the Focus bottle)
A pinch of Epsom salt (to help push the worms out)
Enough Selcon or Zoecon to wet everything and turn it into a paste

Fish seem to love that formula and go nuts eating it.

Great, thanks Humblefish.

Unfortunately here in the UK we have no suppliers of Focus. I have read of people using gelatine as a binder in lieu of Focus. Do you happen know how this is done?

For your recipe above, is that a scoop of pure fenbendazole, or a product like the "Panacur" I mentioned which is 22%?

Sorry for all the questions .

Thank again.

 

[Humblefish]

Unfortunately here in the UK we have no suppliers of Focus. I have read of people using gelatine as a binder in lieu of Focus. Do you happen know how this is done?

You can use unflavored gelatin or Agar (made from red algae). Just use a small amount per 1 tablespoon of frozen or pellets.

For your recipe above, is that a scoop of pure fenbendazole, or a product like the "Panacur" I mentioned which is 22%?

I use pure fenbendazole, so you'd probably need to use a little more if the product is only 22% pure.

Two things of relevance here:

1. The amount of medication and binder you use doesn't have to be exact. When in doubt underdose, because fish will usually refuse to eat food that is too laced with medication.
2. The reason you can underdose when food soaking medication(s) is because you will need to feed it for 2-3 weeks anyway in order to fully eradicate the pests. It's not like dosing the water where the free swimming stage is only susceptible if exact therapeutic conditions are met. Treating internal diseases is more like a marathon than a sprint.

 

[Humblefish]

@The Reefing Scotsman FYI; check out this thread: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/uk-alternative-to-focus-metroplex.444976/

 

[The Reefing Scotsman]

@Humblefish
Thank you very much for the advice and for the very helpful link.
As you know, here in the UK we are sorely lacking in certain types of medication. One can normally order most things via eBay, but they take some time to arrive from the U.S. Not ideal when time is of the essence.
I have been trying to compile a list of sources for the common medicines in the UK. Thankfully it is relatively easy to come by CP, but antibiotics are more or less impossible to obtain without prescription. I did not know we could access Metro via General Cure over here. That is excellent news.

Once again, thanks for the help.

 

[HotRocks]

This Sticky (Original Post) has been edited with new info. Reflecting up to date procedures and currently available products etc.

 

[LovesDogs_CatsRokay]

Does metroplex cause inaccurate results with the API ammonia test kit? And can it be mixed with Prime?

 

[atp0726]

Followed the metro/focus protocol for almost a month, basically until the mixed up food with meds was gone. Now I notice the poop has gone from white and stringy to brown and stringy. Would it be safe to add him to the DT at this point. Been in QT for 2mths and no other signs of any disease.

 

[dvbrien]

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