Jennifer Posted August 25, 2010 Report Share Posted August 25, 2010 I have been contacted by a few of you regarding the recent research breakthrough in the guppy disease Tetrahymena corlissi (a free swimming ciliate – protozoal parasite). According to the recent research article, there are three treatments that have been found to be somewhat effective. Of these drugs, the most readily available over the counter drug in NZ is albendazole. This product is licensed for use in cattle (but as with most drugs here it is off-label use for fish). There are many cattle wormers that contain albendazole but they all are combined with other drugs (e.g. praziquantel, levamisole) and many also contain drugs and minerals that are toxic to aquatic life (e.g. abamectin, copper, selenium, etc). However, there are two licensed products in NZ that contain only fish safe drugs: Arrest (Merial Ancare): A combination oral cattle anthelmintic containing 37.5g/L levamisole HCl and 23.8g/L albendazole. Packs of 5L and 20L. Leviben (Novartis): A combination oral cattle anthelmintic containing 100g/L albendazole and 75g/L levamisole HCl. Available in 5L containers. Obviously (by the packaging size) these would only be available through farm animal veterinary practices and even then, they are unlikely to be able to dispense a small amount. The authors of the study say that this drug was effective about two-thirds of the time when dosed at a rate of 100ppm (by my calculations that is 100mg of drug per litre of water) and for a long duration (dosing over several days). If there is enough interest, I may be prepared to get a VOI to dispense this, but it wouldn’t happen overnight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshlikesfish Posted August 25, 2010 Report Share Posted August 25, 2010 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diver21 Posted August 25, 2010 Report Share Posted August 25, 2010 great stuff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southerrrngirrl Posted August 25, 2010 Report Share Posted August 25, 2010 Can I ask what a VOI is? :oops: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennifer Posted August 25, 2010 Author Report Share Posted August 25, 2010 Veterinary Operating Instructions dealing with Registered Veterinary Medications - "A VOI is a set of instructions from an authorising veterinarian (AV) to a non-veterinarian to hold RVMs in anticipation of their use, and to use RVMs only in accordance with the AV’s instructions in circumstances in which the AV will not be carrying out a case-specific consultation. All matters requiring consideration by the AV have been addressed in the instructions." - NZFSA.govt.nz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BikBok Posted August 25, 2010 Report Share Posted August 25, 2010 I've not heard of that Tetrahymena corlissi before. What are the symptoms please? A while back I lost a majority of my guppies after adding two imported guppys. only the guppys were affected and I put it down to columnaris at the time but meth blue, salt, lowered temp and then furan2 did not help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim r Posted August 25, 2010 Report Share Posted August 25, 2010 What would the shelf life be? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwiplymouth Posted August 25, 2010 Report Share Posted August 25, 2010 What would the shelf life be? I would imagine 2 years + if kept refrigerated but may be wrong Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted August 25, 2010 Report Share Posted August 25, 2010 What are the symptoms of this disease? I've never heard of it either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennifer Posted August 25, 2010 Author Report Share Posted August 25, 2010 Shelf life is probably a couple of years, but it might be less once the container is opened. I have never used it before so I can't say I have had an opportunity to read the label. Some of the clinical signs include skin lesions and sloughing skin. This may not be an issue in NZ but I had a number of queries about it so I thought I would post something to clear up the confusion about what the drugs are that the study is referring to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boban_nz Posted August 29, 2010 Report Share Posted August 29, 2010 I personally think that it is not a breakthrough in guppy disease but only another possible therapeutic treatment as the paper suggested, using inhibitor E-64 probably with slightly better results than quine. But time will tell us more. If you are a hobby fishkeeper and your fish are heavily infected with Tetrahymena sp. "the best therapeutic treatment" is a bath in a cup of water mixed with a few drops of clove oil. It will take the fish out of their misery. Malachite green is good in light infections but I prefer chloroquine which gives good results against Ichthyophthrius, Tetrahymena, Epistylis etc. Chloroquine is the most readily available fish safe drug that fish keepers can buy regarding Tetrahymena infection as a mix with Methylene Blue and Acriflavine under the name "Tonic" http://www.hollywoodfishfarm.co.nz/product_detail.php?id=2636 Here are a few pictures of Tetrahymena sp. I took. The Guppy on the picture was heavily infected. Third picture shows how big the "Tetrahymena party" was. It is not a typical sign of Tetrahymena infection, it is just one of many others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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