Metronidazole?? Success stories??

[ernestlives]

Hello all,
I am currently treating for ich using Metronidazole and garlic. Has anyone had success using this method?? I am setting up a quarantine tank before i introduce anymore new fish but for now i want to try this method.

[Rondelet]

How are you progressing with this?

If you peruse the threads for discussion on metronidazole and Cryptocaryon - you will find that it's hit or miss. I suspect a lot depends on the physiological (read immunological) state of your fish. That is to say, it may give your fish a boost in fighting off a minor infection, but may not treat an infection that is taking over. You may find that you have to treat the water, but concurrently use it in the feed.

[Anthony Calfo]

its an old deflagellate drug... and still effective on some things, but the new(er) Praziquantel is much better.

You can find a hobby does of it in the brand "prazi-pro"

Do check the sponsors for info and sales of it. Its quite effective for internal parasites.

kindly, Anth-

[billsreef]

Metrondiazole is primarily active against deep tissue anaerobic flagylates. Ich being a surface tissue ciliated protozoan doesn't tend to be effected by Metrondiazole. Best treatments are hyposalinity or copper administered in a QT.

Here's some good reading on the subject of ich and treatments.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=282934

[Rondelet]

Anthony,

Praziquantel and metronidazole are two completely different drugs with different modes of action. Praziquantel is normally indicated for Trematode/Cestode infections and, as far as I'm aware, is not efficacious against protozoans.


Bill,

I agree that Cu and Hypo are the treatments of choice, but may not be practical in all situations. In awkward situations metronidazole may offer relief. Keep in mind that there are many antiparasitic veterinary medications that when used orally are highly efficacious against external parasites. Ivermectin and sea lice is just one example that comes to mind.

[ostrow]

A lot depends on how you use metronidazole. Best is to use it in food. Search as Rondelet suggested. I fed the seachem recipe, slightly modified, and had great success.

See http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=710070&highlight=metronidazole

Prazi is not going to help vs. crypt.

[eshlasko]

An update to my old story ... after a long course of Metronidazole and Nitrofurantoin (previously described) my tank has now been Ich-free for a long time. I think it really did work. (And no, I do not own stock in Seachem.)

[backlash]

Hey guys,
I wish I didn't need to be reading in the fish disease forum.....
but, I have a tang that just started showing signs of ich.:rolleyes:
Anyway, I'm interested in trying this method as it will be impossible for me to set up a hospital tank. I began feeding garlic ,and would like to prepare for the next step before it gets out of hand.Where is a good place to get Metronidazole and Nitrofurantoin, and how do I mix and feed it? Any other suggestions on how to treat this is appreciated.
Oh, BTW I've learned my lesson with not QTing all fish.
Thanxs

[ostrow]

see the link i posted above for your answers.

[lunkerbunker]

can Metronidazole be used in a reef tank?

[billsreef]

I'd advice against it. One, I'm not aware of any studies on it's effects on inverts and secondly, it's likely to have an impact on the micro fauna that is important to functioning of the tanks ecosystem.

[ostrow]

See my post above. If you add it directly it may have an effect on inverts. If you use it in food and bind it properly, you should have no effects. I found no abnormal effects on snails, crabs, worms, pods, etc after 30 days' use as described in the link posted above.

[Rondelet]

I've been using metronidazole in a Q/Tx tank with a handful of invertebrates and can share some observations.

Treatment with metronidazole (both in the water and as an in-feed preparation) has been on-going for about a month with no observable (short term) ill effects on: macro algae (3 species), zooanthids (1 species), mushroom corals (1 species), coralline algae on some live rock and more recently, cleaner shrimp (n=2), hermit crabs (n=5, very small), and biological filtration.

A little more background…

I was treating in the water for a little over two weeks, every 3 days (with 1/4 water change prior to each addition of metro), at 6 mg/L (UV off) to treat a Yellowtail Angelfish that had been in my Q tank for a couple of weeks. When I first got the fish it appeared clear, but after a week a few Cryptocaryon spots showed up. My initial reaction was to begin treating the water with metronidazole. The infection was mild, and over the course of two weeks of in-water treatment the infection got cyclically worse (in what appeared to be 3-4 day cycles). I was using a formulation with 50% metronidazole/50% potassium sulfate. However, the fish appeared fine (other than the spots) and didn't show any overt signs of stress. At its worse point, I would have rated the infection as mild to moderate.

I then switched gears by: 1) raising the temperature from 76 to 80-81C, 2) adding two cleaner shrimp, 3) turning my UV unit back on - with a new bulb, 4) switching from adding metronidazole to the water to an in-feed treatment. The feed was prepared with metronidazole (pure form) added at a rate of 250 mg/100g of feed, which consisted of: fresh clams, mussels, squid, pieces of ON seaweed selects and a vitamin supplement (chopped fine in a blender), bound with gelatine and then frozen. I have been feeding this to the fish 2x per day for the last 8 days.

From my close visual inspections, the fish appears to be spot free for about 6 days now. There were a couple lingering spots on the eyes initially, but these too have disappeared. It will be interesting to see if the spots come back. If they do, my next move will be to set up a separate tank and to treat the fish with either hypo or copper. For a variety of practical reasons I have been avoiding this, and am very interested in alternative treatment options.

Obviously, I have no idea what worked here: but do know that the shrimp had a major impact. They were on my fish, both of them, within 10 minutes of being introduced to the tank. In fact, the fish was soliciting the shrimps in their bags as they were acclimating to the water. The fish then spent a lot of time with the shrimp over the next 2 days. The fish continues to spend time with the shrimp, but more casually. However, any discussion on which of the above factors was responsible (metro in water/shrimp/metro in feed/UV/temperature - all of the above) would be pure speculation. This fish was an unusual find (not often stocked in LFS around here) and given that is cost me well over $100, I didn't have any replicates or controls! It could be argued that if I had done nothing the fish may have got better by it's own devices - but not in this case as the infection appeared to be getting worse with each round of infection.

Both the shrimps and the hermits crabs (brought in with the shrimp) have been eating the medicated feed. I also suspect small crumbs have made their way into the zoos and mushroom corals - no ill effects have been noted in any of the invertebrates, or the water quality (which may be suggestive of stress in the bacteria in my filter). The fish has been doing great and eats like a champ (but has done so since day one). Having said that, metronidazole could have a deleterious effect on bacteria due to its mode of action but I'm not aware of any studies to this effect (i.e., on bacterial fauna found in fish tanks/filtration systems (FW or SW)). It is very possible that over prolonged use (especially if added to the water) it could stress the bacteria in your filter/live rock, or even zooanthellae colonizing certain invertebrates.

I will keep monitoring the fish's and invertebrates' progress and update this thread with any helpful observations.