My Ich treatment Paraguard+metroplex/focus in food+prazipro (for my goby)

[jam.jo]

Hello,

I recently found that I have ich in my display tank about a week ago is when I first noticed. I have seen a few spots on my yellow tang and my black clownfish. It is not so far advanced where it is covering my fish. So anyways, I have done alot of research on Ich treatments and yes TTM, hypo, and cupramine are well known to be highly effective. However, my experience using copper was well.. killed 1 fish that I was trying to treat and hypo killed a few of my fish, in my experience. So since I caught it early I wanted to try something else. I took all of my fish out of my tank last night and freshwater dipped every one of them for 10 minutes before putting them into the QT tank. I saw alot more ich come off of my yellow tang than I thought was actually there just with the dip. Then after they stopped showing signs of stress from the transfer, I dosed the tank with Seachem Paraguard. I have heard this works well and it is much less stressful to the fish than cupramine, Hypo, or TTM. Even though I did not see any signs of stress after I let the fish settle down from the transfer, I dosed the tank with double the dosage of API Stress Guard to help mitigate potential stress and to help my black clownfish's dorsal fin heal (fin is frayed). I also noticed one of my gobies is looking very thin which is unusual as he seems to eat fine, so as a precaution, I also dosed the tank with Prazipro this morning. Not alot is out there about combining paraguard and prazipro but there were a few that have tried it with no issues and no stress to the fish. So far I see no signs of stress in the fish and all is well with the 2 combined medications. Prazipro also states to use a water conditioner to detoxify ammonia so I did use Seachem Prime as well. I have also read about Seachem Metroplex combined with Focus in food is a good treatment for ich and bacterial infections. So I am feeding my fish daily (as recommended by Seachem support tech) 3 times per day. The instructions are to use 1 tbsp frozen food (thawed) mixed with 1 scoop focus and 1 scoop metroplex and feed the full tablespoon spread out into 3 (or more depending on how many fish you have) servings per day. For paraguard and metroplex it is recommended for 3-4 weeks of treatment to irradicate ich in it's lifecycle. Metroplex works when ich is attached to the fish as long as the fish is eating. Paraguard works best when ich is in the free swimming stage. I might even do a tank transfer here and there just to be safe. I am hoping this will take care of my ich problem and I plan to let my display fallow for 2 months minimum and continue QT the fish without medication once treatment is completed as long as this has worked. I am definately trying to avoid using cupramine or hypo. This might be a good all around preventative treatment in all new additions to quarantining as Paraguard is effective for external parasites, bacterial and viral lesions and fungal lesions, Prazi is for internal parasites, and Metroplex is for anaerobic bacterial infections (internal infections) and parasitic infections. Of course I would always do a freshwater dip prior to putting them into QT.

 

[FishN00b83]

You are treating your fish for a lot of things with a lot of different meds at once, I wouldn't do that. Seeing parasites fall off the fish with a freshwater dip is a sign of flukes, Ich is too small to see with the eye. If I was in your situation I would TTM with prazi and get both the flukes and the possible ich at once. The metro/focus is really hard to gauge because the fish have to eat a certain amount of food continuously to be effective. I've never used paraguard, and I dont think I've talked to anyone that has.

The TTM/prazi method would eradicate both parasites at once in 12 days and it would be a lot easier on the fish.

 

[jam.jo]

I could see the ich on my yellow tang's fins and I could see them on my black clownfish. If you look close they aren't hard to spot. I should get myself a microscope because it would have been easier to distinguish. It could be that there is ich and flukes but I don't see any bleeding or sores on the fish from the flukes or excess mucous. However, the treatment they are currently in will take care of both regardless. Mixing meds is normally not a good idea because unless the same company made both medications and tested them for safety when used together, most manufacturers will recommend against combining meds. So basically I took a pharmacology course and this can apply to fish too. The drug to drug interactions you need to avoid are doubling up on the same type of med that works the same way and risk toxicity in the fish. So I wouldn't use harsh meds on geriatric or weak fish, fish that are contraindicated against the med (ex copper and angels) or use two of the same type of med with the same ingredients or very similar that if combined would increase the effect of that drug. Some herbal meds may increase the effect of other drugs but I have not looked into it enough to know which omes so I did not use melafix or pimafix in my QT tank. So Paraguard is a mix of malachite green, aldehydes, and polymers it is a "safe alternative to formalin" as stated by seachem and is effective against bacterial lesions, fungal, viral, and ectoparasites (ich). As with any other med it must be used correctly for it to work. So dosing once daily as long as the fish shows NO SIGNS OF STRESS for 3 weeks maybe 4. Prazipro is Praziquantel a very very safe antiparasitic that you can also find in API General Cure. I did my research and did find that combining Praziquantel is safe to combine with metronidazole (metroplex). They work differently to treat the fish and so they do not increase the effects of each other to become toxic. Metronidazole is also a very safe medication. I would choose this treatment of 3 meds combined any day over using copper and hypo which is pretty much all this forum claims to work as treatment. While you may need stronger meds once the fish is covered in ich to take care of it quicker, the fish may also be too weak to handle the treatment. So.. prevention, and paying attention to your fish to catch the onset of disease right away is important if you want them to have the best chance at surviving. So far my fish are looking great with no signs of stress and they are all eating. I will post on here once treatment is completed and the results.