Internal parasite treatment

[catmel]

I believe one of my fish has internal parasites. Looking a bit thin ( seemed perfectly plump when I got it), eating voraciously though, and white stringy trailing poop. Seems to be acting normal otherwise, and had normal poop before ( today was the first day I noticed the 'unusual' poop, definately a lot different than what it looked like before - I'm a vet tech, I look at poop all day LOL)

After doing a bit of research, and since both were really cheap ( about $3 for each) I bought prazipro and jungle medicated anti parasite.

Has anyone had any luck with these? On the back of the jungle food it says not to use with marine inverts.. ( all including crabs etc?) the prazipro says not to use only if trying to breed certain SW worms. Are these safe in my tank with shrimp/ crabs? I was thinking of soaking the flakes they seem to LOVE in the prazipro.. instead of 'dosing the tank' which I dont like the idea of. I would imagine if I fed enough for the fish to ingest immediately there would be no problem. I could be wrong, which is why I'm asking.

I recently took down my QT since I was not planning on getting any more fish anytime soon. Didnt know if maybe I should set it back up for the fish in question?

thanks again!

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Hmmm... no responses yet. I'll take a crack at it, but since I've never used either med it's just my opinion...

If it says "not for inverts" I'd make the safe assumption and assume ALL inverts - crabs, snails, cucumbers, hard corals, soft corals... you get the idea. Granted, you're not "dosing the tank", but really... you are. What goes in must come out, so one way or another, the medicine will end up in the tank.

Not sure about the prazipro, but since it is basically a dewormer, you can probably kiss whatever beneficial worms you have in your tank goodbye. I'd be concerned about water parameters (ammonia, etc) from a die off of all the worms in the tank.

Guess my suggestion would be to set up the QT again and do it in there. Regardless of what the packaging says, I'd never medicate (direct or through food) my main display tank. Too much to risk.

 

[Innovator]

How many fish are in your tank? Once can assume that if one fish has worms, they all are succeptible. If you wish to just treat the one, a short-term concentrated bath in a 5g bucket with heavy oxygenation/agitation of 10mg/l for 3hrs (Noga) will do. I believe this is the correct dosage off the top of my head. You could try gutloading PraziPro, I just doubt anything is willingly going to eat the medication in order to feed out unless mixed within a gel-based diet. I can get more information this evening if needed.

*Edit: Praziquantel for cestodes/monogeneans and Panacur (fenbendazole) for nematodes

 

[catmel]

I have a total of 4 fish in the tank.

I tried the medicated food... everyone's eating it, and the fish in question of course nibbles then thats it. I soaked the flakes in the prazi-pro and he'll eat a bit of that... but only a first until he realizes whats on it ppfftt heh.

Anyway, I'm wondering if hes getting enough since its concentrated? ive been careful to fed only what everyone will eat and not let any of it stay at the bottom. I dont really know how long it will take to tell.. he still looks a bit thin ( but granted i've only tried this for a day now) ... if I can CATCH it ... i'll try to set up the QT, the big question is if.. lol. Just incase I cant catch him the info would certainly be helpful, Innovator

thanks!!

 

[melosu58]

Get Out of My Tank! Fish Removal Tips & Tricks by Steven Pro - Reefkeeping.com

 

[Innovator]

Ok, my first dosage was correct for a 3hr bath and repeat in 14 days. If you wish to go the qt route, you might as well put all 4 fish in it and treat the group. It is better to treat with short-term baths than a long period of medication that literally degrades. I've never had much luck treating praziquantel orally unless made within a gel (Mazuri), but you certainly can try The oral dosage is 50mg/kg of body weight so you either better be good at guessing the weights of your fish or scale them. If you are going to treat orally another added option is metronidazole for intestinal flagellates. Jungle Labs makes a parasitic food containing them if you wish to try. Regardless of the choices you make in treatment, do treat with panacur (fenbendazole) for nematodes. Panacur can be found by searching for Safe-Guard canine dewormer. The oral dosage for panacur is 25mg/kg of body weight per day for 3 days. The medication does not dissolve well in water and live brine shrimp will injest quite readily so that is my recommendation. If you wish to purchase professional grade powders, which I recommend, then take a look here: National Fish Pharmaceuticals - Site map They may be a bit pricey, but worth every penny.

 

[catmel]

Yeah it's a bit hard to tell I suppose exactly what type of 'worm' it may be. I work at a vet clinic, so I'll have to see if I can grab some panacur Sounds like that needs to be orally though? It looks like the best way to do this is live brine shrimp, or can I make a frozen concoction? I want to make sure I do this the best way. This poor guy needs to gain some weight back.

Im not too concerned about the other fish - they're all eating the jungle medicated food lol... go figure the other has to be picky. The only thing is, for the fish in question, I dont know how much he'd need to eat to get the required meds, so that's hard. I think a bath / treated QT might be better.

as for the bath, it could easily be done if i can catch the fish ( thanks for the link!) the prazi-pro suggests leaving the fish in there for 3-5 days ( and dose again toward the end if needed) , but you think a 3 hour bath would be sufficiant? Also was there another medication you recommended for a bath or in QT? I wasnt real clear on that. If so I can probably pick some up at the clinic. ( they'll probably look at me funny, but we're all veterinary professionals right? heheh)

Thanks again for all the help

 

[Innovator]

Panacur doesn't have to be oral, but it requires viscous mixing. I prefer oral using panacur because I can measure everything out including the amount of brine and see it within their tract, not to mention the medication goes straight to the source instead of absorbed through. The Prazipro instructions are based on a 2.5mg/l dosage, but the problem with a long-term dosage is that the medication degrades over time leaving it less effective. The standard dosage I gave was 10mg/l for 3hrs, via Noga, which is concentrated. I would email Hikari and ask what % of praziquantel is in their PraziPro for starters. The last email I sent regarding information returned nothing but a link with standard information i.e. didn't answer any of my questions lol. Go figure.

 

[catmel]

Thanks so much innovator
I was looking on the earlier link provided ( fish pharm. ) They have something called paracide-d and paravide-x. It sounds like these are good general dewormers. I'm going to certainly see if I can get some flagyl or panacur from the clinic, but was curious to see if you knew anything about those..

 

[Innovator]

I am not sure of the base medications in either nor have I used them. They probably contain a % of different medications and I would call them to find out, but unfortunately they are closed on weekends. I'll give them a ring on Monday since they don't provide an msds online

 

[catmel]

Wasn't able to get live brine shrimp yet ( or buy any to hatch I should say) but I was able to catch the fish and put him in QT. Since he's been unwilling to eat the meds put in food, I've dosed the QT with prazi-pro and also got a few Flagyl tabs from work ( ground up into a fine powder and added) and dosed 250mg / 10 gal for about 3-5 days starting yesterday. ( found in water dose on wetwebmedia). Hard to tell if its doing anything yet, but I imagine it'll take a few days. He still looks a bit skinny and had stringy poop yesterday. If not much improvement, i'll get panacur and some live brine shrimp.