Question for Snorvich

[Elricsfate]

I was reading a post written by Snorvich regarding treatment for Uronema.

This is what it says:

Prescription Medicines
Flagyl (metronidazole) is by far the most effective drug available against these diseases. Indeed it is the only effective treatment for fish that are internally infected with Uronema marinum, but it has to be administered in the diet. To treat with Flagyl (metronidazole), add 34mg/l (34mg/kg bodyweight is required if treating the internal disease) of the drug to the aquarium water to be treated. A single dose should be effective, but it can be repeated daily, if required, as the drug is well tolerated by most fish. It is a very reef safe drug having little impact on invertebrates BUT it will kill off all protozoans and anaerobic bacteria in the treated tank, so, like all medications that are used in a reef tank, it will have some undesired effects on the ecological stability of the tank.

So he references this medicine must be administered in the diet, and then goes on to talk about simply adding it to the water. I am wondering how to add this to the diet.

I appear to have a yellow tang with this condition. He is in my DT, and while it is possible (and I will try) to get him out, it is not highly likely. It is also not possible for me to tear this whole tank down and catch/qt all the other inhabitants. So the only real choice I have is to treat the tank.

But if I also need to somehow get my fish to ingest this medicine as opposed to just treating the water, then I could use some instruction on that.

 

[JustinM]

You have to bind it to the food with focus. Adding it to the food treats internal bacterial infections where as to the tank treats external, from my understanding. Seachem sells metroplex.

 

[Tripod1404]

You can also fix external infections by adding metronidazole in the food. Seachem has a binding agent that you can use to "fix" drugs on food. The drug will eventually saturate in the fish's tissue and act on external parasites.

The issue with this approach is;

First some fish do not eat foods with drugs in it, if it tastes strange to them.

Second adjusting the dose can be hard since it depends on how much medicated food fish eats.

Also if you try to fix an external disease with an orally administered drug, it will take more time for it to take effect (since it needs to get saturated in tissue).

 

[JustinM]

This is why you dose the HT with metroplex(metronidazole).

 

[Elricsfate]

This is why you dose the HT with metroplex(metronidazole).

So, if I dose the whole tank with Metroplex I do not need to worry about adding it to the food?

And this is safe for inverts and such? (Sadly, the suspect fish is in my DT. I only have a few small frags, so I can move them. But getting all the crabs, shrimp, urchins, etc. out would be pretty well impossible.

 

[Tripod1404]

So, if I dose the whole tank with Metroplex I do not need to worry about adding it to the food?

And this is safe for inverts and such? (Sadly, the suspect fish is in my DT. I only have a few small frags, so I can move them. But getting all the crabs, shrimp, urchins, etc. out would be pretty well impossible.

No, if it is in water you dont need to add it to food. Saltwater fish constantly drink water anyway. It is mostly safe with inverts but it will kill anaerobic bacteria and most ciliated protozoans, so it has a toll in bioderversity and nitrate reducing bacteria (these bacteria are anaerobic).

 

[heathlindner25]

When you add it to your food then pour it in your tank,you have just added it to the water.

 

[JustinM]

I personally would NOT add it to my tank at all! To each their own. It is considered reef safe when added to food but there is much debate on adding it to your tank.

If it were me, I would break my tank down and QT the fish and treat in a HT. I know it is a pain in the butt, but it is the right thing to do. If it is a large task for you to handle, turn to your local club for help. I imagine WAMAS is your local club if you're in Fredericksburg. I am about 3 hours away from you or I would come and help if I was between Bmore and DC.

Just do more research before you dose your tank. This just my opinion but I have added chemicals that were known to be reef safe to a prior tank, and it led to me taking it down. I don't know if that was the cause but things just never were the same after that.

Good Luck!

 

[Elricsfate]

I personally would NOT add it to my tank at all! To each their own. It is considered reef safe when added to food but there is much debate on adding it to your tank.

If it were me, I would break my tank down and QT the fish and treat in a HT. I know it is a pain in the butt, but it is the right thing to do. If it is a large task for you to handle, turn to your local club for help. I imagine WAMAS is your local club if you're in Fredericksburg. I am about 3 hours away from you or I would come and help if I was between Bmore and DC.

Just do more research before you dose your tank. This just my opinion but I have added chemicals that were known to be reef safe to a prior tank, and it led to me taking it down. I don't know if that was the cause but things just never were the same after that.

Good Luck!

Thanks. It's not so much that it is a pain in the butt as it is that I do not have a place to put all the animals.

As a number of people have now opined that they believe it is a bacterial infection, my plan is to try to catch this one fish, move him to QT, and treat him there. If other fish start showing symptoms then I guess I'll have to move what I can and try to do as you suggest.