Using chloroquine phosphate to treat new fish

[Sean W.]

I am deep down this "how to quarantine" new fish rabbit hole, and almost at my whit's end with it. From most of the conversations I've seen on how to QT new fish it goes something like this, " There are two ways to QT new fish before going into your display tank, copper or TTM(tank transfer method), oryoucouldalsousechloroquinephosphatebutnooneusesthat. Lets talk about copper and TTM ".

I actually dug into chloroquine phosphate and it looks like for me and my workflow, it may be the best option to treat new fish. I don't have the energy or space to do TTM and I've also failed at the cooper treatment. I also don't like that you have to use the hanna copper checker to test for copper... It seems like it's easy to mess up copper.

So I came across this post by humblefish... I read it and re-read it 10 times. It seems pretty straightforward. In his closing thoughts in the article he says, " CP treats most external protozoa, and is probably the closest thing there is to a “wonder drug” in our hobby. "

Chloroquine Phosphate

Chloroquine Phosphate (updated 9-06-2023) What It Treats: Marine Ich (Cryptocaryon irritans), Marine Velvet Disease (Amyloodinium ocellatum), Brooklynella hostilis and Uronema marinum. Please Note: Chloroquine is unlikely to eliminate internal (or intracellular) Uronema. How To Buy...

humble.fish

Before I pull the trigger on 100grams of the stuff, I wanted to ping the hive mind here to see if there has had any first hand experience with the stuff... I posted on the "AskBRS Facebook Group" and all I got were crickets, which further reinforces my suspicion that this is either a lost art, or simply no one knows about it.

I found a place to buy it and the process seems simple:
-Step 1 get CP and a milligram scale
-step 2 get a tank, an air stone and a heater
-step 3 fill tank with water and Dose 15 mg/L (60 mg/gal)
-treat for 10 days. If a water change is needed during this time, treat the new water with the same dosage as what you pull out of the QT tank
-remove fish from medicated tank and into a different tank for a 2 week observation.

Fish should be treated for Ich, Brook and marine velvet and Uronema in 24 days are ready to go into your main display!

Seems straight forward.

Thanks for any help!

 

[blaxsun]

Sounds like it could work (never tried this myself), other than the following caveats.

* Gentle on most fish (no tangs, anthias or wrasses).
* Heat and light sensitive; medication is susceptible to biodegradation.

 

[threebuoys]

Chloroquine phosphate (I think that's the correct compound) was often recommended as a treatment but when a hobbyist took it for covid and died the fda put a kibosh on marketing the drug. If you have a source for it do a search on this website and you will probably find dosing instructions.

 

[Sean W.]

Sounds like it could work (never tried this myself), other than the following caveats.

* Gentle on most fish (no tangs, anthias or wrasses).
* Heat and light sensitive; medication is susceptible to biodegradation.

**No hippo tangs... which most hobbyists shouldn't keep anyway.

 

[blaxsun]

**No hippo tangs... which most hobbyists shouldn't keep anyway.

Well, I'm generalizing - because tangs are generally so stupid they could get stuck in a pipe during QT.

 

[Sean W.]

Sounds like it could work (never tried this myself), other than the following caveats.

* Gentle on most fish (no tangs, anthias or wrasses).
* Heat and light sensitive; medication is susceptible to biodegradation.

Humble fish linked to a source he recommends in the article, it's still available and ready to ship:

Chloroquine Phosphate

at $150 for 100 grams, it seems astronomically expensive, but at the suggested dosing ratio of 60mg/gallon, that's enough CP to treat over 1,600 gallons of water, essentially a lifetime supply for a "wonder drug".

 

[blaxsun]

Humble fish linked to a source he recommends in the article, it's still available and ready to ship:

Chloroquine Phosphate

Mine get tossed in the tank. Copper has a high mortality rate and reduces the already diminished lifespan of fish in captivity. I have pretty awesome fish (now if I could just get them to stop splashing me to try and get my attention when they're hungry... they're always hungry).

 

[vetteguy53081]

I prefer aclifavine such as ruby rally pro or general cure but yu can use CP - just monitor dosing at 40mg per gal for 30 full days

 

[MnFish1]

I am deep down this "how to quarantine" new fish rabbit hole, and almost at my whit's end with it. From most of the conversations I've seen on how to QT new fish it goes something like this, " There are two ways to QT new fish before going into your display tank, copper or TTM(tank transfer method), oryoucouldalsousechloroquinephosphatebutnooneusesthat. Lets talk about copper and TTM ".

I actually dug into chloroquine phosphate and it looks like for me and my workflow, it may be the best option to treat new fish. I don't have the energy or space to do TTM and I've also failed at the cooper treatment. I also don't like that you have to use the hanna copper checker to test for copper... It seems like it's easy to mess up copper.

So I came across this post by humblefish... I read it and re-read it 10 times. It seems pretty straightforward. In his closing thoughts in the article he says, " CP treats most external protozoa, and is probably the closest thing there is to a “wonder drug” in our hobby. "

Chloroquine Phosphate

Chloroquine Phosphate (updated 9-06-2023) What It Treats: Marine Ich (Cryptocaryon irritans), Marine Velvet Disease (Amyloodinium ocellatum), Brooklynella hostilis and Uronema marinum. Please Note: Chloroquine is unlikely to eliminate internal (or intracellular) Uronema. How To Buy...

humble.fish

Before I pull the trigger on 100grams of the stuff, I wanted to ping the hive mind here to see if there has had any first hand experience with the stuff... I posted on the "AskBRS Facebook Group" and all I got were crickets, which further reinforces my suspicion that this is either a lost art, or simply no one knows about it.

I found a place to buy it and the process seems simple:
-Step 1 get CP and a milligram scale
-step 2 get a tank, an air stone and a heater
-step 3 fill tank with water and Dose 15 mg/L (60 mg/gal)
-treat for 10 days. If a water change is needed during this time, treat the new water with the same dosage as what you pull out of the QT tank
-remove fish from medicated tank and into a different tank for a 2 week observation.

Fish should be treated for Ich, Brook and marine velvet and Uronema in 24 days are ready to go into your main display!

Seems straight forward.

Thanks for any help!

Not sure anyone has said not to use chloroquine phosphate. There is not conspiracy - its a matter of efficacy and availability IMHO

 

[MnFish1]

Humble fish linked to a source he recommends in the article, it's still available and ready to ship:

Chloroquine Phosphate

at $150 for 100 grams, it seems astronomically expensive, but at the suggested dosing ratio of 60mg/gallon, that's enough CP to treat over 1,600 gallons of water, essentially a lifetime supply for a "wonder drug".

I might ask this question on his website? You can get smaller doses of Chloroquine - from any local pharmacy - with a prescription from a veterinarian or MD

 

[Sean W.]

I prefer aclifavine such as ruby rally pro or general cure but yu can use CP - just monitor dosing at 40mg per gal for 30 full days

It was my understanding that general cure does not treat external parasites. Just flukes and other fungal related diseases. I don't think it does anything for ich, brook or velvet.

 

[vetteguy53081]

It was my understanding that general cure does not treat external parasites. Just flukes and other fungal related diseases. I don't think it does anything for ich, brook or velvet.

GC will treat a variety of parasitic diseases including velvet, hole-in-the-head disease (Hexamita , gill flukes & skin flukes, wasting away and abdomen issues

 

[Shooter6]

I love chloroquine phosphate for treatment, but you do need to make sure the fish can handle it. Some cannot. The safest ive found is to put the fish through the safety stop 2 part baths, then into hyposalinity for a month or more. I put freshwater black mollies into the hyposalinity qt, as canaries in the coal mine. Then after the extended hyposalinity qt, I slowly increase salinity to about 1.023 in the qt. I will catch the fish put them in a bucket, then do a slow drip of display water to increase salinity in the bucket to match the display over an hr or two. I then hand transfer the fish to the display.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Mine get tossed in the tank. Copper has a high mortality rate and reduces the already diminished lifespan of fish in captivity. I have pretty awesome fish (now if I could just get them to stop splashing me to try and get my attention when they're hungry... they're always hungry).

Actually, that isn’t true for amine-based copper products. Ionic copper is a bit rougher on fish. I stopped using chloroquine and went back to coppersafe about a decade ago due to toxicity issues I was seeing with chloroquine.
Jay

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I am deep down this "how to quarantine" new fish rabbit hole, and almost at my whit's end with it. From most of the conversations I've seen on how to QT new fish it goes something like this, " There are two ways to QT new fish before going into your display tank, copper or TTM(tank transfer method), oryoucouldalsousechloroquinephosphatebutnooneusesthat. Lets talk about copper and TTM ".

I actually dug into chloroquine phosphate and it looks like for me and my workflow, it may be the best option to treat new fish. I don't have the energy or space to do TTM and I've also failed at the cooper treatment. I also don't like that you have to use the hanna copper checker to test for copper... It seems like it's easy to mess up copper.

So I came across this post by humblefish... I read it and re-read it 10 times. It seems pretty straightforward. In his closing thoughts in the article he says, " CP treats most external protozoa, and is probably the closest thing there is to a “wonder drug” in our hobby. "

Chloroquine Phosphate

Chloroquine Phosphate (updated 9-06-2023) What It Treats: Marine Ich (Cryptocaryon irritans), Marine Velvet Disease (Amyloodinium ocellatum), Brooklynella hostilis and Uronema marinum. Please Note: Chloroquine is unlikely to eliminate internal (or intracellular) Uronema. How To Buy...

humble.fish

Before I pull the trigger on 100grams of the stuff, I wanted to ping the hive mind here to see if there has had any first hand experience with the stuff... I posted on the "AskBRS Facebook Group" and all I got were crickets, which further reinforces my suspicion that this is either a lost art, or simply no one knows about it.

I found a place to buy it and the process seems simple:
-Step 1 get CP and a milligram scale
-step 2 get a tank, an air stone and a heater
-step 3 fill tank with water and Dose 15 mg/L (60 mg/gal)
-treat for 10 days. If a water change is needed during this time, treat the new water with the same dosage as what you pull out of the QT tank
-remove fish from medicated tank and into a different tank for a 2 week observation.

Fish should be treated for Ich, Brook and marine velvet and Uronema in 24 days are ready to go into your main display!

Seems straight forward.

Thanks for any help!

I stopped using chloroquine about a decade ago due to toxicity issues I saw with lionfish and wrasse. Before then, I did a lot of research into it, here is a link to an article I wrote on it: https://reefs.com/magazine/aquarium-fish-chloroquine-a-new-drug-for-treating-fish-diseases/

It still has its uses, but Covid made it hard to get.

Jay

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Why do you think it’s hard to check copper with Hanna? It’s one of the easiest tests in the hobby. I think your making the copper thing more difficult than it needs to be. Put 1.5 mL of copper power in each gallon of water. Check with Hanna to make sure it’s somewhere around 2.5. You don’t need to slowly ramp the medicine up either. Whenever you do a water change put another 1.5 mL of copper per gallon of water changed (put it in before adding the water so the tank never drops below therapeutic level). Do this for 30 days. Your done. Doesn’t really get easier than that.

 

[Sean W.]

Why do you think it’s hard to check copper with Hanna? It’s one of the easiest tests in the hobby. I think your making the copper thing more difficult than it needs to be. Put 1.5 mL of copper power in each gallon of water. Check with Hanna to make sure it’s somewhere around 2.5. You don’t need to slowly ramp the medicine up either. Whenever you do a water change put another 1.5 mL of copper per gallon of water changed (put it in before adding the water so the tank never drops below therapeutic level). Do this for 30 days. Your done. Doesn’t really get easier than that.

It's not that it's hard to test, its the fact that you need to test at all... It takes at least 2 tests to get the copper levels where it needs to be. You guess how much copper it takes to get to 2.5ppm, right out the get you're at 2.2ppm, add a little more then test again, dang now I'm at 2.4, add a little more and test again to ensure that you're at 2.5. Same thing when you make a water change batch, test, off a bit, add more, test again, test again... This is an expensive endeavor as the regent refill kits are expensive.

The mg/L(gal) with CP is absolute, no testing required whatsoever. It's faster, treats a wider range of parasites and is less lethal to fish... A win across the board other than the fact that it is more expensive and harder to get than copper.

I don't mind paying $150 for a lifetime supply of the stuff.

 

[Miami Reef]

* Gentle on most fish (no tangs, anthias or wrasses).

This is the reason I never attempted chloroquine myself. Those are my favorite types of fish lol.

That being said, I think I read that only blue tangs cannot tolerate CP.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

It's not that it's hard to test, its the fact that you need to test at all... It takes at least 2 tests to get the copper levels where it needs to be. You guess how much copper it takes to get to 2.5ppm, right out the get you're at 2.2ppm, add a little more then test again, dang now I'm at 2.4, add a little more and test again to ensure that you're at 2.5. Same thing when you make a water change batch, test, off a bit, add more, test again, test again... This is an expensive endeavor as the regent refill kits are expensive.

The mg/L(gal) with CP is absolute, no testing required whatsoever. It's faster, treats a wider range of parasites and is less lethal to fish... A win across the board other than the fact that it is more expensive and harder to get than copper.

I don't mind paying $150 for a lifetime supply of the stuff.

Just remember that the therapeutic level for copper power is better 2 and 2.5. So I add 1.5 mL of copper per gallon. Then I test once. Usually comes close to 2.5ish. If I’m a bit under I add an mL or two of copper and call it a day. I don’t keep retesting. You don’t have to be exactly at 2.5. Just be in the range between 2-2.5 and all is well. The only other time I retest is when I’m changing water and redosing which is usually every 4 days or so when the nitrate has built up.

 

[Sean W.]

This is the reason I never attempted chloroquine myself. Those are my favorite types of fish lol.

That being said, I think I read that only blue tangs cannot tolerate CP.

In the humblefish article, he says just hippo tangs.