Internal parasite treatment results

[Avalon]

I noticed my cichlids, specifically, my green terror, pooping clear, squiggly poo. I automatically knew that this was a sign of internal parasites. As time passed and I searched for a remedy, he became unusually shy, and passive. He seemed ready to eat at feeding time, but he would grab a bite, chew on it, then spit it out. Many times, he would back away from the fish that would eat and turn his nose up at what food floated by. This made it clear that something was wrong, because he was always the healthiest eater in the tank!

I came across several options: medicated food, Q-tank treatments, and entire tank treating. The medicated food option sounded great, but how would that do any good when my fish is not eating? The Q-tank was my next option, but if one fish has internal parasites, the others will eventually get them as well. I decided to treat the entire 100 gallon tank. Finding a medication powerful enough would be difficult without spending some serious money. I was exhausting every possible website and option I had until I ran across a site that mentioned Seachem made medications. I never knew that Seachem made medications available! So I got on their website and checked it out. I found Metronidazole in a very pure powder form! Before I got too excited, I needed to get a price. I looked up on Drs. Foster & Smith website and low and behold, $4.99 per vial, with a quantity discount at 3 or more! Three vials was all I needed to effectively treat a 100 gallon tank!

After the 3rd treatment (1.5 vials @ .5 vial each treatment every other day), my GT's poop was almost back to normal, and his appetite has picked up dramatically! While feeding bloodworms, he chose the largest chunk and ran to the other side of the tank to his 'eating spot' like he has always done! It has been weeks since he has done this! He has become more aggressive, but not mean--he never has been mean. He has also developed his appetite back for his favorite flake food, TetraMin Pro. He won't eat anything else.

My other fish still seem to be the same. I think my new Jack Dempsey's had the parasites to begin with. I will be monitoring them closely to see how their behavior changes. I think that they are becoming a bit more agressive at feeding time, but nothing like my GT.

Please keep this post in this forum, as it is not targeting a specific disease, only a general diagnosis and remedy. I hope that others will pick up on the HUGE problem of internal parasites, and that they will treat them in a Q-tank before introducing new fish immediately to a show tank.

[catfishmike]

cool you got it avalon.stickyed

[SGT CARTER]

good info! thanks!

[Somonas]

Avalon,

I have had this problem in my tanks however it seems to come and go in cycles. Certain fish in certain tanks seem to be exhibiting symptoms which are raising red flags in my mind. Sunken bellies, clear poop, eating food but not swallowing it (holding it in mouth for a while and spitting it out), or plain refusing food...
Waterchanges seem to help and probably explain the cyclic nature of this disease in my tanks. I do have medicated food and will probably run it through the gauntlet next week

In the interim I'd like to hear your hypothesis on your treatment, why what how,when etc. . Metrinodazole is something that treats internal parasites yes but does it work through the water column? would the fish not need to injest something. Is the seachem metro special or will any metro work.

[Avalon]

My hypothesis goes like this:

First I began with some facts that I have found. There are two methods to rid your fish of internal parasites--kill them or flush them out. Many "medicated" foods are designed to clear the intestinal tract of a fish with parasites. One example is Pepso Food by Jungle Laboratories (I will leave my opinion of this product out). While this method is ok and will probably get your fish eating again, it does nothing to kill the parasites, and your fish will probably be re-infected.

The other method is by using a pure medication, like metro, and treats the entire water column. Metro is effective in the water column as it is absorbed through the gills. The only drawback is that you have to use far more than you would if you treated food with it. I think this would be a better way, treating the water column, especially when the fish are not eating. Metro is water soluble and is ideal to use. Also, if this medication kills the parasites, not only have you cleared the fish's intestinal tract, you have killed the parasites that have been excreted. However, the description on the Seachem product does not say "kills parasites," only "effectively treats." I think I will email Seachem about this. Nevertheless, 2 things have resulted: i) the fish are eating, ii) all fish have been treated. I am carefully monitoring my fish to see if there is a re-infection.

Since metro is very safe and there is little to no chance of overdose, I doubled the recommended [Seachem] dosage for all treatments. I treated the first 2 consecutive days then every other day for the remainder, with water changes (50%) after the first 2 treatments, then after the next 2, and finally another after the last treatment 48 hours later. It took about 5 total treatments. After the third treatment, fish behavior and eating habits improved substantially. Currently, my fish are doing very well.

I am also treating a clown loach and a Bolivian Ram. The clown appears to be losing his sunken belly. This wasting away has previously killed a clown and a zebra loach, but that was when left with no treatment. As a follow up to sunken bellies, I then feed fairly heavily and often to help them regain the lost weight. I like to feed beef heart and bloodworms for weight gain, and a nutritious flake food for nutrients.

I'm sure I'll remember more later, but lunch break is over

[Somonas]

I find it interesting that some of my fish have sunken bellies (wasting away) and some do not. makes it hard to overfeed the tank. I took the 3 worst ones and put them in their own tank. this will be the first tank that will receive metro.

you didnt specify whether or not you believe that any metro will work.

And I'd like to hear your opinions on jungle medicated food, I've never heard of it or seen it in the LFS. I have some medicated food I got last year from the clrca. it has been in the freezer ever since. I thaw out as I need some.

[Somonas]

In continuing my quest to research intestinal parasites and Metronidazole, I present to you some websites I found tonight

Internal Parasites and Metronidazole

600 250mg for 79.95 - 13.32 for 100 (best price yet)

$15.95 for 100 250mg tablets
eddited to add I ordered one of these tonight, we will see how it works

$20.14 for 100 250mg

5gm seachem stuff for $6.49

I'd like to know if 5grams of seachem metro is equivalent to 5000mg of regular metro.
So far $15.95 is cheapest I found for 100 tablets 250mg. I have seen 500mg tablets out there. I would like to buy 1000 tablets I wonder if I can get them bulk anywhere. Will update on progress

Forcefeeding fish metronidazile
Quote
When hiding Metronidazole in the bodies of the feeder fish, use a dose like this: Sixty seven milligrams of Metronidazole per six inches of fish being treated once per day. So a foot-long Oscar would get a half tablet of 250mg/tablet strength Metronidazole in it's daily feeder fishy. Common sense would dictate the feeder fish would be deceased when the tablet is implanted. The Metronidazole is given daily for five days.

This ^^^^^^ is very interesting. I had to forcefeed my cat for awhile. Using a similar (smaller) syringe one would think it's possible to forcefeed fish, medicated food, etc. Will go to drugstore and get small syringe to attempt on one non-eating cichlid of mine.

[Avalon]

As for Jungle medicated food, or Pepso food, I think it's totally worthless. It's very, very fine ground food, and even my healthy fish that will eat anything will not eat it. If you're feeding cichlids, once you open the bottle you will laugh. Their medicated powder was the first thing I tried because it's next to impossible to find any medication for internal parasites (IP) here. This happened to be a mistake and a waste of money. I went through the whole bottle and I noticed zero effects. It looked more like Lik-A-Stick powder.

I tried some Aquatronics Hex-A-Mit, mainly for the loach, a rainbowfish, and for any other fish that may have IP and I not yet notice. It seemed to have a mild effect. I would consider this medication a viable treatment for a small (10g) tank, but at twice the recommended dosage. It's also very pricey in comparison to Seachem's Metro. I noticed the capsules were very powdery, which means there are other ingredients (as labled) and an anti-caking ingredient (read: filler).

Upon arrival of Seachem's metro, I popped open a bottle and I immediately noticed that it was a very crystalline, caky, pure substance. It resembles cocaine in a very pure form if you've ever seen it (no, I don't snort, I saw some at a DEA presentation for one of my classes). It's kind of hard to get out of the bottom once the level falls below the scooper's length. I had to bang it against my hand to shake it off the sides and bottom.

Does it work? Judging from my cichlids' behavior and eating, YES!, and far better than any of the other meds I tried. Is it working on my loach who is wasting away? So far so good! He is gaining weight, and I will continue feeding the little guy Hikari bloodworms.

Would I recommend this as a treatment? Yes and here is why: i) It's relatively cheap in comparison to other meds and especially a vet--it's highly cost effective, I treated a 100g tank and a 10g for $13.47; ii) If you do have IP's and don't know it (very healthy fish usually don't show symptoms until they get stressed or the condition gets out of hand), then you will be that much better off; iii) You will know that you don't have IP's if the med doesn't work, which in turn allows you to seek a much more aggressive treatment and medication, without having spent a ton of money to find out.

Seachem's Metro will be a mainstay in my medicine cabinet, and will be used on every fish that comes through my doors and into my Q tank.

[Somonas]

Update cancelled order. Shipping costs more than the bottle of meds did. Will go to LFS and try and find seachem metro.

[revengeishere]

Hi, Why dont you guys try using raw garlic? My Sae once showed signs of internal bleeding(reddened fins, faceetc.), and I didnt do anything, other than quarantine him, then added cloves of garlic. It also seems to work on ich(or at least help the fish against it). Garlic has showed great potential for me against numerous fish diseases. Now everytime my fish shows signs of stress(fin rot, clamp fins), I always see to it that I add garlic cloves in the show tank itself, and I must say, results have been great, no fish lost whatsoever.

But please do note my fishes are somewhat hardy(tiger barbs, SAEs, Pear gouramis, and a lone golden pencilfish.

Also, another advice i would give is not to use garlic with any other medication, as it might be counter productive and may result in fish death, so choose between conventional and this wonderful healing herb.