When I was doing research on treatments, I found that Quinine products were the first medications used in many tropical fish ailments -- especially marine fishes. What happened in the USA is that the real good ones became only available by prescription. This is not something most hobbyists could get their hands on.
Now, some off the shelf medications do contain some quinine ingredients in low quantities.
Chloroquine diphosphate was the choice medication for treating Marine Velvet (Amyloodinium ocellatum) which is usually fatal to an entire tank. The downsides of these drugs is that they only affect the parasite in its dinospore phase. This is of significance because copper not only affects the dinospore, but also the tomont division. Thus copper is a better choice for most people for cryptocaryon irritans. Other downsides include the cost and the fact that these drugs are devastating to bacteria (the biological filter will stop, whereas with copper, the biological may continue) and invertebrates (which is very similar to copper). The last downside is that the hobbyist cannot measure the amount of drug in the water, whereas of course, the copper can be controlled by common test kits. For me, this is the absolute constraint that keeps me from considering it even in a tank swap treatment scheme.
As a treatment for the hobbyists' marine life, it has the disadvantages noted above. But as a prophylactic it is very disadvantaged since it can also kill off the norma flora of bacteria inside the fish's digestive track. My viewpoint, while very controversial to some is that one should not treat prophylactically but only observe in quarantine. This causes the fish to lack effective digestion of its food, even leading to death if these bacteria can't recover. It is essential when treating fish to provide their immune system maximal nutrition while providing the parasite itself the most lethal environment.
I can't think of any good reason to use these drugs considering the other medications available. I put this together with my opinion that treating fishes with prophylactic drugs is an unnecessary and undesirable stressor. I do treat all fishes with Prazipro, however.
Now, some off the shelf medications do contain some quinine ingredients in low quantities.
Chloroquine diphosphate was the choice medication for treating Marine Velvet (Amyloodinium ocellatum) which is usually fatal to an entire tank. The downsides of these drugs is that they only affect the parasite in its dinospore phase. This is of significance because copper not only affects the dinospore, but also the tomont division. Thus copper is a better choice for most people for cryptocaryon irritans. Other downsides include the cost and the fact that these drugs are devastating to bacteria (the biological filter will stop, whereas with copper, the biological may continue) and invertebrates (which is very similar to copper). The last downside is that the hobbyist cannot measure the amount of drug in the water, whereas of course, the copper can be controlled by common test kits. For me, this is the absolute constraint that keeps me from considering it even in a tank swap treatment scheme.
As a treatment for the hobbyists' marine life, it has the disadvantages noted above. But as a prophylactic it is very disadvantaged since it can also kill off the norma flora of bacteria inside the fish's digestive track. My viewpoint, while very controversial to some is that one should not treat prophylactically but only observe in quarantine. This causes the fish to lack effective digestion of its food, even leading to death if these bacteria can't recover. It is essential when treating fish to provide their immune system maximal nutrition while providing the parasite itself the most lethal environment.
I can't think of any good reason to use these drugs considering the other medications available. I put this together with my opinion that treating fishes with prophylactic drugs is an unnecessary and undesirable stressor. I do treat all fishes with Prazipro, however.
