fishfingers

I have a few 200mg metronidazole tabs left, dated exp 2011. If anyone wants them for some beers pm me.

I think I've finally cracked it. After much hassle trying to obtain droncit (praziquantel) worming tablets (eventually got them from one vet after referral from my vet) for dogs and obtaining a prescription for metronidazole from a third vet I spoke to over the phone I ground everything up and threw it in the tank. The stuff hardly disolved and turned everything cloudy -but it stopped the deaths. The metro was presribed way above any dosing regime I'd seen on the net, so went with the lower dose. I have plenty of metro left. But wait there's more.... The real saviour has been some parasite clear tank buddies from Jungle labs that I bought at a pet shop in Aussie a few weeks back. These contain praziquantal, metronidazole, diflubenzuron and acriflavine and dissolve easily AND WORK A TREAT. My discus were back eating properly after the second dose, and trust me I know all about dark sick thin discus. I have since got more of these from the US. It is absolutely ridiculous that these meds cannot be purchased in NZ becasue they're basically not worth licensing (costs too much). The AVCM act that came into effect in January last year has destroyed that market allowing for supply of fish meds. Every vet med has to be licensed for the particular animal being treated, otherwise go for presricption only or off label use (impossible to get). I could go on and on and on and actually see this situation as being an animal welfare or ethics issue. Specialist meds are freely available from Walmart in the US and pet shops in Aussie but not here........

I would have been treating lots of discus if I had gotten onto this prior to xmas (see my earlier posts). Now I'm treating fewer discus, swordtails, neons, other community fish. White poos coming out of my swordtails now. One fish dies and seems to pass it onto one other fish and the cycle repeats itself with the fish isolating itself, wasting away.... I've already hit the tank with droncit. Now waiting 5 days before water change and second dose. Then I'll got to metro by the best dose I can figure out. Only dosed with droncit first becasue I got hold of that first.......

Thanks for your help. It's much appreciated. Looks like 25 mg/L is a bit on the overkill side. Very useful links. 8)

How did you get on with your metro dosing? I've started a thread asking about which of three dosing protocols is the correct one to use. What did you do? http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/metron ... 19201.html Thanks.

Hi all, Could I please have comments on dosing with metronidazole for traetment of hex. The three regimens I've found are as follows: 1. (via some website) Temp= 30C 30% water change prior to dosing 10 mg met/ L water Wait 8 hours Change 25% water and doase again with 10 mg met/ L water Repeat this cycle for three days. My question/comment: I take it that this cycle is repeated each day for three days, not every 8 hours for three days? 2. (via this forum's administrator) Raise tank temp by 3C. Treat tank at ratio of 10 mg/ L water. Treat for three days (does this mean wait three days or repeat every day for three days) 30% water change Carbon to remove drug return to normal temp. Repeat treatment in three days. My question/comment: probably interprets as wait three days, not treat every day for three days. 3. (via a vet's telephone consult) Treat tank at ratio of 25mg/L water. Repeat every 48 hours for a total of three treatments. My comments/questions: I called a vet, spoke with assistant, who organised the prescription and sent it out to me. Dose seems a little higher than all other literature. What would you guys/gals who have experience dose at? Cheers and thanks.

Could all be related to my earlier post http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/lfs-su ... 17640.html I couldn't get any metro/prazi anywhere so tried furan-2, salt, high temp etc... I'm going to try a Vet this morning. I'm in Howick 021 1714546. I'll put the next fish that dies aside in a jar for 24-48 hrs to see if anything becomes visible in the way of parasites and might try and get some photos of the gills under the microscope.

Please help. My fish and I have suffered enough. My tropical fish just keep dying one at a time every few days. I have tried everything over the last two months or so. Salt, high temp, whitespot cure furan-2, water changes....., water changes , There are no apparent physical signs other than some fish either individually going to the bottom of the tank and dying a week later or (in the case of discus) just becoming withdrawn and stopping feeding. pH, ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, temp all 7, nil, nil, nil 29C respectively. Why don't pet shops sell any anti parasitics? I'm desperate to get my hands on something that'll knock out parasites. It's the only thing I haven't been able to try. For those who slam treatments I haven't used or done anything to intervene for a couple of weeks and it hasn't stopped the deaths. What is NZ's problem with anti parasitics? Fish are suffering here and I can't figure out how to stop the suffering....... I'm going to have to go to the Vet and try and get something. I've got to try prazi. LFS suggested melafix, but from what I've read it's no good for parasites. I've tried 3 LFS's and they all try and push antibiotics -I don't have a bacterial infection. Any suggestions greatly appreciated. I'm at wits end. Help please -this is not a happy hobby and I'm becoming a slave to the tank. RIP Neons -just found dead one at a time in the morning. Pinochios -all dead one morning (6) bottom dwellers. Discus -all sizes, all previously very healthy just go dark, withdraw, stop feeding, gills working away fast and die a week later. Swordtails -go to the bottom of the tank one ata time and sit there quite happily until they die.

Its not actually rubbing itself up against anything, more like just pressing it's left side up against the tank sides. I think it may be a really timid/shy fish. I never see it eat, but have in the past regularly "caught it out" cruising with the other discus. As soon as it sees me it heads back to the same position/posture. I've probably psychologically ruined it for life. I did notice yesterday that it had a couple of very fine ~ 1cm strands hanging off its body near the fins. Seems more active today. I'll have to let it out while we're away on holiday for 3-4 days. It's still quite dark in colour. Praziquantel -sounds like this is liquid gold, and pretty much impossible to get.... I should be able to get some through my work... Hope I can. Otherwise do you know where I can get it from? Thank you for your help. Merry Christmas.

Thanks Ron, I've got neons with my discus. LFS suggested I have them with the discus. I'll up my water changes. I dosed with blue circle because I noticed a tiny amount of white spot about two weeks ago. It worked well so I thought I'd just give it a go again (i can hear the groans...). I won't say where I got the discus from becasue I don't want anyone to bag a guy I thought was quite knowledgable. It was a separate lfs that suggested the salt baths. The discus are about 7-8cm long. I'll do a big water change now. I put the sick discus in a separate breeding tank inside the main tank. I put it there just in case it got picked on. Should I let it out? The tank is planted but not very heavily. I've got an image but can't upload it.

One of my four remaining discus (160 L tank) has always hidden in the bottom corner of my tank and been quite dark in colour. It was originally one of two I bought who hung out together. The other one had the same problem and died four weeks ago. Nothing physically obvious. I put it down to my tank pH being too high (7.4) and dropped the tank to 6.8 slowly over three days. This one is now pressing itself up against the side of the tank and not looking too happy. Last week a male swordtail hung out with this discus and sat around all sad with fins clamped beside him and died about 4 days later. I've noticed the discus has a very slight raised abrasion on its body. All tank conditions from a chemical perspective seem good and I water change >15% every 3-5 days. My lfs says I probably have gill flukes and has told me to give the discus 1 hour salt baths each day in a bucket of water containing a teaspoon of sea salt. I've also dosed the tank with blue circle white spot cure (for what its worth). Is there anything else I should be doing? Do I have flukes and how do I treat the tank? Thank you for your help.