Chloroquine as Cryptocarion cure!

[Kolognekoral]

I recently purchased the new book Marine Fish Health and Feeding Handbook, which I am duly impressed with. May be destined as the new bible of fish care.

In the book is reported from using chloraquine phosphate, a drug used to combat malaria and rheumatism, as a quick and sure cure for Cyrptocarion irritans, Brooklynella, Uronema and Amyloodinium. Now, the interesting part was mixing the medicament into a gel food and feeding it to the diseased fish. This has been tested in a few public aquariums with corals and clams and no ill effects to the other inhabitants, except when some dropped directly on their tissue.

Needless to say, I am giving it a try as I currently have a new Coradion with some spots of white that shouldn't be there. Of course, I will report back, but wanted to know what others have experienced.

For the record: I mixed 500 grams frozen marine mix (artemia,mysis,krill, etc.) with 250mg of chloroquine phosphate disolved into 20gr of gelatin dissolved in hot water (maybe 200ml, just enough to dissolve it properly). The fish have taken the food without problem and there are no immediate signs of stress from the other inhabitants. I plan to feed for one day, wait 2 days and feed again. Hopefully we will see quick results without harm.

 

[greghigham]

Jamie,
Curious what results you've seen to date?
G

 

[Kolognekoral]

Greg,

I am about 10 days into treatment and have tried two different mixes. The first one didn't seem effective enough as, although the parasites fell off after about 24 hours, they were replaced in about 48+ hours with new. Apparently, I was dosing enough to get the parasites to react, but possibly not enough to actually kill them. Hard to be sure as there may simply have been enough still free swimming to reinfest quickly. As they did not react to further doing of the original mix I made a second batch with the folowing quantites:

20g gelatine
250mg Chloroquine phosphate
100g artemia
approx. 200ml H2O

This has considerably more jelly in relationship to artemia. Interestingly, the butterfly seemed quite interested in the food, but I believe it may be a bit strong as he eats 4-5 good bites and then stops, as though his stomach is warning him. He does come back to eat more in a minute, though, so it may be just a taste thing. No ill effects, however. I think this is an effective dosage and may be on the limit. One does not wish to poison the fish or cause internal damage!

I have essentially feed the medicated food for one day at all feedings, then paused for 2 days and fed again. After the second dosage of the lower concentration did not seem to be effective, I changed to the higher dosed food. I plan to continue for at least another two dosed feedings, to be sure and, also, to see if any deliterious effects show up.

Now, there are quite a few other fish in the tank, all of which have eaten the medicated foods at both strengths. They have not developed any signs of Cryptocarion, although I suspect they did get a few spots that I couldn't see, simply no real outbreak. They were visiting the cleaning stations of the Lymastas on occaision. For the record we have:

Siganus magnificus
Siganus corallinus
Ctenochaetus striatus
Centropyge bispinosa
Rhinomuraena quaesti
Labriodes dimidiatus
Canthagaster solandri
2x Amphiprion akallopisos in Heteractis magnificus

At this point I consider the stronger dosage the way to go, with the lighter dosage a good prophilaxis for quarantine. Immediate dosing seems to be required as, once the disease has weakened the fish, chances are lower that it will be able to recover.

I have noted no damage to any of the corals, anemonies, macroalgaes, crustaceans or the biological filtration. I run carbon passively and the skimmer 24-7. My filtration is with Zeovit. Temp is 26°C at SG 1.023

A couple of pointers on mixing this food. Use as little water as possible to dissolve the gelatine and do not let it boil! Let it cool a bit before adding the medication. Then added the thawed frozen food. I poured it into used frozen food form trays, as well as into a ziplock bag, which was flattened to make a thin slab. The trays gave the easiest form for feeding.

If anyone else tries this cure, please report back with mixtures, variances and results. Good or bad, please! Although this principle has been presented in a book, the recipe was unexact and one must still consider it as experimental.

 

[cthetoy]

Where do one purchase chloraquine phosphate?

 

[Kolognekoral]

You may need a prescription from your doc. It is an anti-malaria medication. In some countries you can get it over the counter.

 

[Kolognekoral]

OK, a new report. After a few days the parasites have re-appeared, so the life cycle has not been brocken. I am unsure if this kind of cure will work alone. I am trying a combination with garkic to help support the immune system. Also, UV may be important to kill the parasites in the water. Killing them on the fish may work over a longer period of time.

At this point I conclude that the treatment works, but is not effective enough when used alone. In tanks where other treatments are not possible due to inverts, chlroquine phosphate may be an important tool, combined with UV and garlic.

 

[kinlayan]

anyone else had any success with this in eradicating ich from their reef aquariums, i am most interested to know??