Any exp of using Metronidazole to treat Ich?

[ReefAnon]

I've been fighting a nasty outbreak of ich brought in on some corals about 10 days ago. I've been using the following for the last 4 days:

enriched frozen brine soaked in :
5 scoops of Focus
Garlic Guard
Selcon
2 scoops of Aquazole (I couldn't get Metronidazole but see that its x2 the strength hence the 2 scoops)

I'm also running UV (25w @ 1200lph) and 100m filter sock.

Has anyone had success using Metronidazole and if so how long before you saw an improvement - over and above that expected from the ich life cycle?

Although the fish are currently feeding fine and active I'll have to decide at some point whether to abandon the Metronidazole recipe and get them out to treat with hypo or copper.

The fish were previously healthy and have been in the tank between 11 and 2 years depending on the fish (3 tangs, 2 perculas, 3 damsels, 1 anthia and 1 fridmani).

stable tank params:
temp: 76-78F
SG: 1026
NO2, NO3 and PO4: undetectable
dKH: 9
Ca: 420

Thanks,

Daniel

 

[Recty]

Just an FYI, UV breaks down medications, so if you are running UV while trying to treat you'll be diluting the concentration of medication in your tank.

 

[ReefAnon]

Agreed, though in this case it's deliberate - the food is being medicated and released slowly via a syringe pump. The idea being that the meds get into the fish as they eat but are removed from the water column.

 

[Recty]

Makes sense.

For what it's worth, I've never seen a medication you can mix into food that gets rid of ich permanently. There might be some that give temporary relief, but nothing that will completely wipe it from the tank.

 

[wayne in norway]

Metro was originally developed as a remedy for protozoal infections, and the bactericidal properties were discovered as a 'side effect'. But I don't think it's anything like 100%. Then again I don't know if it's been recently tested.

 

[limitdown]

Metro works for internal parasites, but not for ich. I use a medicated food made by Jungle Labs that has metro and acriflavine when fish have stringey white poop (internal parasites).

For ich, I go straight for cupramine.