Seachem MetroPlex

Earl Karl · May 21, 2018

Any thought on mixing it with food? How well does this method treat ich? I have copper sensitive fish, so I'm wondering if MetroPlex is an effective way.

Brett newell · May 21, 2018

Metro is not for ich. It does a good job for internal issues and if dosed to tank will aid in bacterial infections after ich. If its ich you're dealing with copper, tank transfer, or chloroquine phosphate. If you're lucky hypo will work but I hear there's lots of hypo resistant strains out there. Cp is the way to go for sure, kills virtually every parasite. You can get it on amazon NLS ick shield.

Earl Karl · May 22, 2018

That's weird, on the label it said MetroPlex was for ich? Are they lying? Plus I have wrasses, I don't think CP is good for them. I also have copper sensitive fish. So it is either TTM or medicated foods, which I prefer medicated foods.
http://www.seachem.com/metroplex.php

Josh Kraft · May 22, 2018

Sensitive does not mean intolerant. Slowly ramping up your copper to therapeutic levels on sensitive fish is okay. Especially with a Hanna copper checker. I have a wrasse in copper right now, what other fish are you trying to treat?

Earl Karl · May 22, 2018

My purple tang and Desjardini tang, which for some reason are INTOLERANT of copper, no matter how slowly I raise it up. My blue tang is fine however. I don't know why these particular tangs hates copper. They do like medicated foods however. So is metroplex really not a solution? The fish are all new arrivals. Right now I have my purple tang (has visible ich), desjardini tang, blue tang, cbb, flame angel (has visible ich), earlei fairy (has visible ich), mccosker flasher, and valentini puffer (has visible ich). I am QTing all of them before they go to the main display as all new arrivals go through QT. All are eating very well. How can I treat the fish from ich? CP and copper don't seem to be a solution unless I buy another tank to use both meds in different tanks, which I don't have the room for as my fish room is crammed. Is medicated foods not the way to go? What other treatments are out there that is safe for these fish?

HotRocks · May 22, 2018

Earl Karl said:
My purple tang and Desjardini tang, which for some reason are INTOLERANT of copper, no matter how slowly I raise it up. My blue tang is fine however. I don't know why these particular tangs hates copper. They do like medicated foods however. So is metroplex really not a solution? The fish are all new arrivals. Right now I have my purple tang (has visible ich), desjardini tang, blue tang, cbb, flame angel (has visible ich), earlei fairy (has visible ich), mccosker flasher, and valentini puffer (has visible ich). I am QTing all of them before they go to the main display as all new arrivals go through QT. All are eating very well. How can I treat the fish from ich? CP and copper don't seem to be a solution unless I buy another tank to use both meds in different tanks, which I don't have the room for as my fish room is crammed. Is medicated foods not the way to go? What other treatments are out there that is safe for these fish?

Medicated foods are only going to cure internal worms/parasites, it will not eradicate external parasites.

One problem about this hobby/Aquarium industry is none of the companies are regulated. They can make whatever claims they want, we still depend on ourselves and other experienced reef keepers to figure this stuff out for ourselves. It is unfortunate, but that is what is so great about R2R. Everyone works together to share experiences and data from testing so we know what works and what doesn't. If metroplex cured ich, it would be the go to way to do so as it is much less harsh than most options.

What type of copper are you using? How fast are you increasing the level? I use chelated copper (Copper Power) with a 5-7 day ramp up, and tangs are not usually affected at all. Ionic copper seems to be more harsh on some sensitive species.
I just recently got leopard wrasse, fairy wrasse, regal angel, Moorish idol, purple tang, yellow tang, PBT all through copper no problem. Using Copper power and the Hanna Checker to monitor.

I am currently Mid Ramp up using the same methods on a new batch of fish, Moyeri, Gold Rhom, Pink Margin, Male Bluestar, MI, Achilles, PBT, Regal Angel to name a few. I am half way to therapeutic (Just started copper Sunday).

Earl Karl · May 22, 2018

Dam, I guess I gotta buy another tank, one with CP and the other with copper. Don't know where to put it since I got over 10 tanks. I use Seachem's cupramine. Will CP kill copepods? I forgot to add red mandarin to the list, but I'm sure it doesn't have any disease (never encountered one with any). But just making sure, don't want to take a risk after velvet took over one of my tanks.
BTW, if I fed nls ick shield to my wrasses (which have CP in it), will it be detrimental to them?

Brett newell · May 22, 2018

I have put a yellow coris wrasse thru cp and a hippo tang along with 2 Atlantic blue tangs, a powder brown, and 2 purple tangs. All with NLS ick shield. With the wrasse and hippo I did half dose then the other half 24 hours later and closely monitored eating

Brett newell · May 22, 2018

I tried the pellets and although they did eat it, it did not help. I tried that exclusively for 3 weeks and they still had spots. When I put a mandarin thru with cp I used a small food container and put 2 hole in it with some cheato and the pods lived.

Earl Karl · May 22, 2018

How well does a uv sterilizer work? I've been running on my QT for quite some time.

Brett newell · May 22, 2018

UV only works on freshwater, for ich

Brett newell · May 22, 2018

Ok, now that I'm not driving. Sterelizers work for certain things. They can help with algea but the problem with ich is that the cyst stage is very strong. So strong that it takes straight freshwater, full dry out, or approximately 1 cup per 20 gallons either bleach or vinegar to kill. And all of those things will obviously kill your fish. So back to the uv it has to be a very powerful one moving a very slow current to kill off the free swimming stage. And even if you had both of those not every free swimmer will go thru the uv. And as far as I know uv removes meds. I think your best option is the NLS ich shield powder. I have had wonderful success with that with all the fish I started earlier and many more.

HotRocks · May 22, 2018

Uv sterilization may help in "ich management" situations. Not helpful in erradication.

Definitely don't run UV during any medication, especially copper it will render it much more toxic.

Earl Karl · May 22, 2018

I know, I turn it off everytime I use meds. So are you sure that I can use the nls ick shield powder on my wrasses? what should I look for when dosing it?

Brett newell · May 22, 2018

Every fish is different. The dose is 1 scoop per 20 gallons. Dose half for a day and keep an eye on them. Usually at full or a little over full their appetite can be suppressed. When my wrasse was in qt he wasn't thrilled to eat but he ate. I put frozen brine in there and it floated around nicely with the small power head in there almost like it was live and he would chase it around. It made him a bit lethargic until feeding time. Make sure you have lots of aeration

Earl Karl · May 22, 2018

Ok, I just ordered, I'm going to cross my fingers and hope for the best. Meanwhile, any other suggestions that is safe for fish? What about kick ich or api general cure?

HotRocks · May 22, 2018

Earl Karl said:
Ok, I just ordered, I'm going to cross my fingers and hope for the best. Meanwhile, any other suggestions that is safe for fish? What about kick ich or api general cure?

Those will not likely erradicate ich.

Copper, CP, TTM, or HYPO. These are your best chances IMO.

Earl Karl · May 22, 2018

Ok. I will pray to God that CP works. I spent a fortune on that Earlei wrasse.

Brett newell · May 22, 2018

Take it slow ramping it up. And keep the qt simple. Just a sponge filter with a powerful air pump, heater and PVC for hiding. No rocks and no light. Light is known to degrade cp. I live in fl and my house is very open with lots of windows so I do 2 WC a week and redose cp. On wed and sun. If the wrasse is sort of breathing heavy and curled up hiding in a corner you can put a small container in there with sand in the container for him to bury in and feel safer. Then throw the sand out after qt is over. It can also help to have the salinity a little lower. I keep my DT at 1.026 but qt is at 1.020 or 21.

Brett newell · May 22, 2018

Also you can dose powder metro with cp and I would recommend that for first week. If I remember correctly its every 48 hours. Usually ich doesn't kill its the bacteria infection after and metro will help that. After the first week it shouldn't be necessary because there should be no more free swimmers getting on fish