Hexamitosis

[Fishyfanatic]

Our 150 gal cichlid tank is infected with Hexamitosis. I went to the lfs and the saleswoman gave me Hex-A-Mit and Melafix. I know that the Hex-A-Mit will work to treat the disesase but will the Melafix? I am getting ready to add the Hex-A-Mit to the tank but we don't have enough medication. They only had 1 pack and it has 10 capsuls. We need 15 for each treatment. We have to do the treatment every other day for 5 days. Can we also use the Melafix or should we return it and order Hex-A-Mit online?

 

[An t-iasg]

The Hex-a-mit will kill the parasites, so you need to get enough of this med to use for the number of days that the package says so you can eradicate this parasite. The Melafix can help with any secondary infections caused by the parasites. Can you look in another lfs for some more Hex-a-mit? If not, order online. If the Melafix wasn't expensive (I don't think it is) then keep it in case you need it now, or later.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

That's the problem, we can't find Hex-a-mit anywhere. We called every fish store in a 2 hours radius, searched online and can't find anyone who has it in stock. Is there an alternate medication that can be used?

 

[An t-iasg]

Can you find Discomed? I think this med is mixed with food. Pipzine is another one that came up in my searches.

These are all Aquatronics meds. I have heard of Aquatronics going out of business. The website is still up, but I haven't been able to find my favorite Aquatronics meds lately either.

Others to try are Jungle's Hole-N-Head Guard or Seachem's Aquazole. Both of these meds can be found at AquariumGuys.com

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Last night I ordered Seachem's Metronidazole. I read that Metronidazole is the main ingredient in all of these medications. It's hard to find meds around here that isn't for ich. Do you think we'll be ok using the Metronidazole?

Also, Good News, yesterday was the first day that we didn't lose any fish! I'm hoping that this continues. We should be getting the shipment of meds in on Wednesday. Should we do a water change or add carbon to the filtration unit before adding the Metronidazole to remove the Hex-A-Mite?

 

[BrianNY]

Correct, Metro is the ingrediant for curing hex. I would discontinue carbon when using it. Also it becomes inert after 24 hours, but I like to change water every other day when treating anyway. It's more effective if you raise the tank temp. Believe it or not, I treat my discus at 93F.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

So we should increase the temp to the upper 80's and do water changes every other day? Currently the tank is running at 80 degrees because the meds didn't say to increase temp. I guess that should have been a no-brainer though. We have taken out the activated carbon already when we added the Hex-A-Mit but should I run it in the tank for a couple hours before adding the Seachem's to take out the Hex-A-Mit or is the Hex-A-Mit pretty much going to disolve itself?

Thank you SOOOO much BrianNY and An t-iasg! I didn't think anyone on this forum was going to know what Hexamitosis was because I've never seen a post about it before. I really appreciate it....and so do my fish.

 

[BrianNY]

Yes. Remove the carbon. Increase temp to 86. Do your water change every other day and then re dose the Metro right after the water change.

Good Luck

 

[An t-iasg]

Seachem's Metronidazole and Aquazole both list the same active ingredient. I think I read that the metro was more suited for SW. I really don't think it matters; I think the Metro med will be fine in FW. I was going to buy it just to keep on hand, but I couldn't find it either, so I got the Aquazole.

I run carbon if I start one med and then move to another -- I run cabon in between the meds. But the Hex-a-mit and the metro med are the same active ingredient, so I don't think you'd necessarily gain anything by running carbon before adding the Metro med. I would increase the temp like Brian says, and put the Metro med in. Do a water change every other day before adding that day's dose in. Even if a med doesn't say to do a water change before adding the med, I still like to do it that way. After you're all done with the meds, do a 25% water change and run some carbon for a day or two, to remove any last traces of med. Then be sure to check your parameters in case of a small ammonia spike.

 

[An t-iasg]

I just found this link on Hex-a-mit. I know you're using the Metronidazole, but the active ingredient is the same. It cautions to not mix this med with others, but the two meds you have had in the tank have the same active ingredient, so I don't think that applies to you. I thought the part on not mixing with ich meds was worth noticing.

http://www.everythingfishy.com/84.html

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I went to a couple new fish stores yesterday and from what I was told, Hex-A-Mit is no longer being made. That makes sense because I called about 35 fish stores and noone had it in stock or even carried it anymore. So we ended up getting Clout. They had fish food with the same active ingredient but I don't think that would be a good idea with our fish. We have a couple little labs who don't get to eat too much of the flake so they generally eat an algae wafer or get a few scraps taht fall to the bottom. Plus our Pleco won't eat flake. Has anyone ever used Clout before? The guy at the fish store said that it is an amazing product. I bought all they had (5 packages) beacuse if we ever have this disease again I don't want to have to hunt down a product. Big Al's was even out of stock.

 

[An t-iasg]

Did the Seachem Metronidazole that you ordered not come in? I'm wondering why you want to use Clout now. Anyway, I have used Clout before and it is a good med. But it can also be used for ich, so read that link I gave you earlier and remove all the previous meds (did you put a dose of Hex-a-mit in?) before using Clout.

That's too bad about Hex-a-mit and the other Aquatronics meds. They were my favorite meds too, for ease of dosing and they worked well. I have been "stocking" up on some different meds too. When I place an order for some equipment online, I get a med or two. My lfs is about 45 minutes away, so that's why I'm trying to keep some basic meds on hand.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I called Big Al's (that's where we ordered the Seachem's from) and they said that they were out of stock and would not have any until the end of the week. They said that the earliest we would get the shipment would be late next week. The problem: The fish have Hexamitosis NOW and we don't want to lose any more of them.

So we started calling all the lfs in our area and expanded to the STL area. Finally we found a store that told us about Hex-A-Mit not being made anymore and they said that Clout would work very well as a replacement. So we just cancelled the Big Al's order for Seachem's. It seemed pointless to get the meds in after we needed them and just have them sitting around the apt.

We used Hex-A-Mit on Sunday but it wasn't enough of a dosage. The lfs only had 10 capsuls and we needed 15. That's why we started the search for Hex-A-Mit only to find out that it is no longer being made. So far we have not had any fish deaths since Saturday. We haven't added the Clout yet, that was going to be given tonight before bed.

Does this sound like a good plan? The only thing we've added is Hex-A-Mit on Sunday (2/3 dosage) and plan to do a water change tonight, run activated carbon for about 2 hours before the water change, then add the Clout before bed. The temp is upped to 86. I know that alot of medication names have been thrown out in this thread but noone around here has the Seachem med or the Hex-A-Mit. That's why we went with Clout.

 

[Guest]

Big Al's also has a product called "Hex Out."

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?p=360499&highlight=#360499

I am unfamiliar with Clout, but if metronidazole is the active medication then it should be fine.

 

[An t-iasg]

Here's a link I found on Clout. It doesn't have metronidazole in it (not that I could figure out from that ingredient list) but it says it will treat hexamita. Scroll about a fourth of the way down: http://world.std.com/~enjolras/faqmeds.htm

I understand how frustrating it is not to have a med that you need. I hope Clout works for you. I would do your water change and carbon as planned and then add the Clout. I know that's a big tank (the 150 gallon, right?) Do you think maybe 4 hours of carbon would be better? Then that delays getting the Clout in for a few hours. That's just something I thought of; my tanks are not that big. You know how fast your filters and everything work, so if you think 2 hours is enough time for carbon, then that's fine. Good luck!

 

[Guest]

Here's a link I found on Clout. It doesn't have metronidazole in it

It does:
1,2,dimethyl-5-nitroimidazole

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I was going to run the carbon for about 4 hours but then I got to thinking that we didn't do a full dosage (didn't have enough). We only used 2/3 of a dose. And the water movement is oustanding in that tank so it really gets circulated. So far, no deaths since Saturday. Either we got the disease out of the tank with the Pleco death or the Hex-A-Mit really did its job with only 2/3 of a dosage.

This is what I'm trying to figure out. I haven't been able to find a website that tells you how the disease gets passed. This was the situation: We bought two fish from the lfs and brought them home and the first one must have died within 12 hours. Then the other fish died at least 20 hours after the first one. The dead fish are normally getting eaten off of by the other fish before we can get them out of the tank. BUT, the fish that are doing the munching are the ones that die next. For instance, when the Snow White died the Ice Blue was eating on him. The Ice Blue died next and the Auratus was eating off of him. The Auratus then died and the Johanni ate off her, then the Johanni died. And the cycle continued UNTIL the Pleco died. I QT'd him in the 10 gal when he started to lose activity. I let him peacefully die and took him out immediately. Since his death, no other fish have died. SO, it's either the meds took effect immediately OR the disease is passed from fish to fish by eating.

Does this theory sound plausable? There may be a website out there that tells about how it is spread but I just haven't come across it yet.

I thank all of you SO much for helping me out with this. I felt like a lunatic with these deaths. I got to the point where I wanted to throw in the towel and tear down all the tanks. But, Thank You guys so much. I really appreciate it, and so do my precious fish.

 

[An t-iasg]

Here's a link I found: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/VM053 The article discusses transmission of the parasite. The fish that died soon after you got them were probably stressed somehow and the article says weak and stressed fish are most susceptable.

Did you put the Clout in tonight? It sounds like 2 hours of carbon would be enough to filter out the Hex-a-mit. I hope the rest of the fish are ok and the Clout works well!

Fish Surgeon, thanks for the clarification. I told you I couldn't decipher the chemical names But now I know!

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I am not at my apt until Thursday so James is taking care of the fish. He went to add carbon in the filtration unit and we were out. So he has to wait until the fish store opens tomorrow to be able to get some. But he said first thing in the morning he is heading to the lfs and taking back the meds that they sold him and buying some media. They sold him something like My Quil or MayQuil or something like that. They said it would cure the Hexamitosis but other fish stores said that it wouldn't help. It also expires on April 1st, why would they sell us stuff that's about to expire.

 

[BrianNY]

Great link Deb. I don't want to alarm you Fishyfanatic but it's entirely probable that your fish don't have hex. In thinking about this further, I've never heard of hex affecting plecos. Also, as the article Deb linked says, the protozoan lives solely in the upper intestinal tract and becomes free swimming when passed with feces. The tell tale sign of hex to me, is long stringy white feces. Have you observed this?