Aralen = Chloroquine phosphate

[b0bab0ey]

So, I stumbled upon this article, which itself is worth a read:

http://www.saltcorner.com/Articles/Showarticle.php?articleID=41

The last three paragraphs of the article discuss using CP to treat Ich, Velvet, Brook and even Uronema. However, this is what really caught my eye: "This product is called "˜Chloroquine phosphate' or Aralen®."

So, I Googled "Aralen" and read that, "each tablet contains 250 mg or 500 mg of chloroquine phosphate USP". USP means food grade, so that should also be safe for fish, and one 500 mg tablet would treat 12.5 gallons (at a dosage of 40 mg per gal).

Being that CP seems to be so difficult for a lot of us to get, my next questions were: Can you just buy "Aralen" without a prescription and if so, how much? Just by doing a simple Google search, I found 5 online vendors right off the bat. I've listed them below so you can see the prices. However, I strongly suggest anyone who wants to buy Aralen do your own research before buying from a particular source. I just found these by doing a random Google search and don't know anything about these companies:

http://www.drugstoreone.com/buy_generic_aralen.php

https://plethorapills.com/order-aralen-online-en.html

http://www.easy.md/519/

http://medsnoscript.com/?product=aralen

http://pillsm.com/buy-aralen-en.html/?a=7093

 

[JJIM]

Great info and research! I, like many others, am certainly willing to have Chloroquine on hand vs. the standard copper which "can" be quite hard on a fish. I know hypo and tank transfer are other methods generally less harmful to a fish, but this seems like it may work moderately well even with live rock and some corals? Is it a viable solution for a FOWLR or a DT with coral?

Has anyone ordered from any of the above post online vendors, or is there another place to buy the chloroquine phosphate/Aralen without an Rx? I would certainly like to know please!


Info on chloroquine phosphate or Quinine Sulfate.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2152307

http://mail1.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2171165&page=2

Quinine Sulfate site to order, but never tried personally.
http://www.fishyfarmacy.com/products4.html

Good info on the different effective products and treatments
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1846124#12

 

[alprazo]

Aralen is the brand name for chloroquine. Like Tylenol = acetaminophen. You will pay more for the brand. In the US and Canada, as far as understand it, it is regulated and requires a doctors or vetrinary script. I have seen several vendors will to sell it without one. Some seem to use a technicality by advertising a quantity of 400mg, but ship you 10 gm.
I used to order Aralen from Canada and purchased it here in the US. I now obtain it from a vetrinary pharmacy. They are willing to sell it to you, but you have to provide a photo of your sick fish and they pay a vet to review it and issue a script if ok'd. This makes it a little pricey but it is at least legit, they have been in business since 1933, will overnight ship, the product lacks filler, and is less expensive than the human packaging form. There may be a delay with their vet reviewing the photo though.

If you are going to buy the pills from a pharmacy, buy the 500mg size because it is cheaper that way. Also, if buying from Canada, buy the branded form called Avlocor. I had quality issues with one generic form and believe it was either expired or fake. Didn't work at all, then switched to a US version that instantly stopped progression and eradicated the ich.

It really works for ich and velvet. It will clear urenoma in chromis, but it returns IME. I have not tried it with brook.

 

[b0bab0ey]

I know hypo and tank transfer are other methods generally less harmful to a fish, but this seems like it may work moderately well even with live rock and some corals? Is it a viable solution for a FOWLR or a DT with coral?

I personally would never use Chloroquine in a reef tank. I don't know what affect it has on corals/inverts, but I have noticed that algae doesn't grow in any of my QTs when I use CP. Actually, to be more accurate, what I get is this white hazy stuff on the glass instead of algae. I would think it would work fine in a FOWLR, with a built-in algaecide as an added bonus! It doesn't seem to negatively impact my biological filtration in QT (bacteria in foam inserts), so I don't see it killing off mass bacteria in LR. However, leaching (like copper) might be an issue if you plan on using the rock for a reef down the road.

In other threads, people are reportedly having success feeding CP laced food (Dr. G's) in a reef environment. Sounds risky to me, but I also can see a potential benefit: buys you time until you can properly treat in a QT. Because, as snorvich correctly pointed out, just feeding your fish CP doesn't do anything to eliminate the parasites living in your tank. They are still there, in the sand, rock and water column, reproducing and continuing their life cycle.

 

[b0bab0ey]

Two other things just popped into my head: In a FOWLR, if CP does leach into the rock like copper then that can potentially create a low dosage issue, as there is no test kit for CP. With copper, you can test and add more if needed. I feel not having a test kit is not as much of an issue if CP is dosed at 40mg per gal, in a lights out, bare bottom QT with no rocks. 40mg per gal must be a little bit of overkill anyway, as the algaecide in CP remains active even after several WCs!

I also think the only way Dr. G's could be successful at eradicating all parasites from a tank is if you could keep all parasites off all the fish for 10 weeks. The parasites would then starve the same as going fallow. I just don't see all the fish being resistant 100% of the time for that long, even if you fed Dr. G's everyday for 10 weeks. A small window of opportunity (for the parasite) is bound to open.

 

[Deinonych]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2136214