Looking for fish Hexamita meds ? (alternative to api general cure)

[anewbie]

I'm looking for fish medicine to treat Hexamita parasite. My understanding from a bit of searching is api general cure was the goto med for this but it is not available so is there an alternative ?

 

[Lajos_Detari]

Look for medication with Metronidazole.

Hikari has Metro.

Metro+™ - Hikari Sales USA

Metro+ is a powdered formula that was developed to offer the hobbyist an effective way to treat lateral line and hole-in-the-head diseases suffered by their pond, freshwater or marine fishes. This revolutionary, extremely safe and highly effective product offers you benefits no other...

www.hikariusa.com

API general cure is a combination of Metronidazole and Praziquantel.
They are expensive and in limited quantity and not my choice of medication.

What are the symptoms of your fish?

 

[anewbie]

Bloat.

Look for medication with Metronidazole.

Hikari has Metro.

Metro+™ - Hikari Sales USA

Metro+ is a powdered formula that was developed to offer the hobbyist an effective way to treat lateral line and hole-in-the-head diseases suffered by their pond, freshwater or marine fishes. This revolutionary, extremely safe and highly effective product offers you benefits no other...

www.hikariusa.com

API general cure is a combination of Metronidazole and Praziquantel.
They are expensive and in limited quantity and not my choice of medication.

What are the symptoms of your fish?

Extreme bloat. I've treated him for 2 weeks with hiraki prazipro and 3 weeks with 2 weeks with melafix. The full story is i had a female hongsloi that had bloat and i treated her for 1 week with prazipro (no effect) and then 2 weeks with melafix and she recovered. Then the submissive male got bloat (and i mean extreme) and tried a similar treatment no effect. Even worse the female is just starting to redevelop bloat (it has been 5 weeks since she recovered). The tank is a 29 (picture attached) with 2 males and 2 female hongsloi (they were purchased at 1/4 inch so unsexed a bit over a year ago). The dom. male and dom. female (she is substantially larger than the other female) have shown no sign of bloat (yet). The tank also has 5 sterbia 1 female nijjensi (the male died about 8 months ago of bloat) 2 l204 2 small red bn and 1 l333:


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The reason for trying the alternative med is I suspect the male will die but i'm trying to figure out what is causing the bloat beyond stress. I do 50% water change on this tank twice a week (i have a 120 that i do 20% water change twice a week and doing 50% on a 29 is pretty easy while doing the 120). The tank is about 2 years old but live stock has changed over time. The exact ownership period of the fishes are: 1 year minus 14 days for the nijenssi (was an adult when purchased); and the hongsli 1 year plus 21 days (they were probably around 2 months old at time of purchased - around 1/4 an inch).

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metro+ is not available it has been marked discontinued.

 

[anewbie]

fyi: metro+ appears unavailable it has been marked discontinued. Rumour is that Bloody fda decided fish medicine were a major problem and forced api and hikari to pull a lot of them.

 

[Lajos_Detari]

Bloat.

Extreme bloat. I've treated him for 2 weeks with hiraki prazipro and 3 weeks with 2 weeks with melafix. The full story is i had a female hongsloi that had bloat and i treated her for 1 week with prazipro (no effect) and then 2 weeks with melafix and she recovered. Then the submissive male got bloat (and i mean extreme) and tried a similar treatment no effect. Even worse the female is just starting to redevelop bloat (it has been 5 weeks since she recovered). The tank is a 29 (picture attached) with 2 males and 2 female hongsloi (they were purchased at 1/4 inch so unsexed a bit over a year ago). The dom. male and dom. female (she is substantially larger than the other female) have shown no sign of bloat (yet). The tank also has 5 sterbia 1 female nijjensi (the male died about 8 months ago of bloat) 2 l204 2 small red bn and 1 l333:

View attachment 139398
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The reason for trying the alternative med is I suspect the male will die but i'm trying to figure out what is causing the bloat beyond stress. I do 50% water change on this tank twice a week (i have a 120 that i do 20% water change twice a week and doing 50% on a 29 is pretty easy while doing the 120). The tank is about 2 years old but live stock has changed over time. The exact ownership period of the fishes are: 1 year minus 14 days for the nijenssi (was an adult when purchased); and the hongsli 1 year plus 21 days (they were probably around 2 months old at time of purchased - around 1/4 an inch).

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metro+ is not available it has been marked discontinued.

Check for any brands of medication that has Metronidazole.
I'm from another country and we have Eiho brand here.

I'm not sure about the causes of bloating but I have some suggestions for you.

1)Firstly, did you feed them with frozen bloodworms? Is there any long white poo from the fish?

Feeding with frozen bloodworms will cause internal protozoa/parasites which need Metronidazole according to this website below.

Metro Discus Medication (metronidazole) - Jack Wattley Discus

Learn how to use Metro Discus Fish Medication to treat internal parasites (Hexamita). If your discus are having symptoms Metro and this article will help.

wattleydiscus.com

2)Or if you suspect the fish have internal worms, you can try Flubendazole.
When you treated them with Prazipro, did you put it in the tank or on their food?

Here is a Wormer plus which contains Flubendazole:

NT Labs Aquarium Anti-Fluke and Wormer - 20ml

NT Labs Aquarium Anti-Fluke and Wormer - 20mlDescription:Fish (especially Discus species) are susceptible to internal worms. An obvious sign is when fish become very thin but still continue to feed.Use when fish become lethargic, fins are clamped, thin looking, gasping and showing signs of...

jejapets.com

Wormer Plus (Cloverleaf)

New Packaging, Same Great Product!We recommend the usage of wormer plus once monthly for trouble free Discus keeping. This product will kill flukes, parasites and aquatic worms. Shipping (4-7 business days) once processed 1-2days. Upgraded shipping is available at an additional overnight charge...

myrtlebeachdiscus.com

3)But if you think that they have clogged bowel, just use Epsom salt that. Epsom can relieve any clogged bowel.

 

[anewbie]

Check for any brands of medication that has Metronidazole.
I'm from another country and we have Eiho brand here

I'm not sure about the causes of bloating but I have some suggestions for you.

1)Firstly, did you feed them with frozen bloodworms? Is there any long white poo from the fish?

Feeding with frozen bloodworms will cause internal protozoa/parasites which need Metronidazole according to this website below.

Metro Discus Medication (metronidazole) - Jack Wattley Discus

Learn how to use Metro Discus Fish Medication to treat internal parasites (Hexamita). If your discus are having symptoms Metro and this article will help.

wattleydiscus.com

2)Or if you suspect the fish have internal worms, you can try Flubendazole.
Here is a Wormer plus which contains Flubendazole:

Wormer Plus (Cloverleaf)

New Packaging, Same Great Product!We recommend the usage of wormer plus once monthly for trouble free Discus keeping. This product will kill flukes, parasites and aquatic worms. Shipping (4-7 business days) once processed 1-2days. Upgraded shipping is available at an additional overnight charge...

myrtlebeachdiscus.com

3)But if you think that they have clogged bowel, just use Epsom salt that. Epsom can relieve any clogged bowel.

They don't have white poo and i don't think they have worms. I've had the fishes for over a year and bloat is just now happening. I suspect it is stress induced but maybe there is a dormant parasite?. I doubt it is block bowls but i can try epson salt if you can suggest a dosage. I'm treating the fish in 4 gallons of water in a pail with sponge filter and given the extreme level of bloat I expect him to die so i'm willing to experiment with different treatments. He's been in the pail now for 4 weeks 1/2 weeks.
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I do have epson salt just not sure of safe dosage and duration.
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I did not feed them bloodworms. I mostly feed them fluval bug bites but i also put in some hirkai and omega-one pellets for the plecos.

 

[Lajos_Detari]

They don't have white poo and i don't think they have worms. I've had the fishes for over a year and bloat is just now happening. I suspect it is stress induced but maybe there is a dormant parasite?. I doubt it is block bowls but i can try epson salt if you can suggest a dosage. I'm treating the fish in 4 gallons of water in a pail with sponge filter and given the extreme level of bloat I expect him to die so i'm willing to experiment with different treatments. He's been in the pail now for 4 weeks 1/2 weeks.
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I do have epson salt just not sure of safe dosage and duration.
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I did not feed them bloodworms. I mostly feed them fluval bug bites but i also put in some hirkai and omega-one pellets for the plecos.

Here is a link about Epsom salt usage:
1-3 teaspoons for 5 gallons.
You can use a rough estimation. I don't think it need to be very precise.

Constipation/Indigestion in Aquarium Fish - RateMyFishTank.com

You may not realize that your fish can suffer from constipation. Though this condition may not sound serious, it could actually have devastating consequences for your fish.

www.ratemyfishtank.com

Usually it's diet issue and not stress.
If you feed them with live food, high chances that they may have internal worms or parasites.
What food do you feed them?
Some brands of food also may cause problems.

 

[anewbie]

No live food in a while - i had some angels frys i raised in that tank and they were fed bbs - they were in a floating containers so the bbs would sink through the bottom and the hongsloi would grab the left overs
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Hum. Not sure if the bug bites would be an issue long term but maybe should mix the diet up more...

 

[Lajos_Detari]

No live food in a while - i had some angels frys i raised in that tank and they were fed bbs - they were in a floating containers so the bbs would sink through the bottom and the hongsloi would grab the left overs
--
Hum. Not sure if the bug bites would be an issue long term but maybe should mix the diet up more...

Did you raise your own bbs?
Some bbs from lfs can be infected due to the place where they keep the bbs.

Probably you can reduce bbs and provide some balance food/diet.

So far I find that Dr Bassleer Regular M size is suitable for my fish and even my picky Blue Rams and Apistogrammas would eat them.

Bassleer Biofish Food | Regular

www.bassleer.com

 

[Lajos_Detari]

Sorry, just saw your posts about the brands of food that you used.
I am using my handphone to type, so I may miss some of the messages.

I don't have experience with Fluval Bug and I can't comment on it.

 

[anewbie]

Did you raise your own bbs?
Some bbs from lfs can be infected due to the place where they keep the bbs.

Probably you can reduce bbs and provide some balance food/diet.

So far I find that Dr Bassleer Regular M size is suitable for my fish and even my picky Blue Rams and Apistogrammas would eat them.

Bassleer Biofish Food | Regular

www.bassleer.com

I hatched the bbs and that was about 11 months ago - the angel frys are now adults. The parents were the platinum and black on the far left in the shadows. The other were the frys fed on bbs.

 

[Colin_T]

Bloating is usually caused by bacteria and Metronidazole is unlikely to do anything.

Prazipro won't do anything unless the fish have tapeworm (Praziquantel treats tapeworm and gill flukes only).

If the fish are developing bloat and dying, then they either have Fish TB or are picking up bad bacteria from the food or environment. If you are feeding live blackworms or Tubifex, or frozen bloodworms, that could be the source.

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What are you feeding them?
Do you have containers and fish tank cleaning equipment that is used only for the fish and nothing else?
Do you have any other tanks and if yes, are they suffering the same problem?

 

[anewbie]

Bloating is usually caused by bacteria and Metronidazole is unlikely to do anything.

Prazipro won't do anything unless the fish have tapeworm (Praziquantel treats tapeworm and gill flukes only).

If the fish are developing bloat and dying, then they either have Fish TB or are picking up bad bacteria from the food or environment. If you are feeding live blackworms or Tubifex, or frozen bloodworms, that could be the source.

------------------
What are you feeding them?
Do you have containers and fish tank cleaning equipment that is used only for the fish and nothing else?
Do you have any other tanks and if yes, are they suffering the same problem?

I have 4 tanks; i use the same equipment on all four tanks. The food is not shared but it is all dry food - mostly fluval bug bites; zuc for the pleco, soilent green and some omega-one flakes (one of my angels only wants flakes and the cardinals prefer flakes). The container I use for cleaning the tanks in which water goes into the tank is a 33 gallon rubbermaid pail and a pump. This pump is only used in the pail to put water into the tank. THe tubing has turned black over the past 2 years (mold?). To my knowledge this is the only tank that has suffered from bloat but i do have an occasional death here and there - i presume as fishes age out. none of hte long living fishes like angels or clown loaches have died.
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If it is fish tb how should i treat ?

 

[anewbie]

After a bit of reading I'm not so sure this is likely to be TB. No fishes have been added now to this tank for 12 months. I had only two deaths in 12 months one was a sterbai that has never been healthy that was 8 months ago and the male nijjensi which was 9 months ago. The tank has 7 kuhli, 5 sterbai 2 L204 2 BN 1 L333 4 hongsoli and 1 nijjensi.

 

[Colin_T]

You can't treat fish TB and it's unlikely to be that if you had a fish that bloated up and then recovered. When Fish TB causes fish to bloat up, they basically swell up overnight and die within 24-48 hours of doing that. They also do a stringy white poop, stop eating and sit near the surface or filter outlet gasping for oxygen.

Fish can carry TB for years before they die. The Mycobacterium are very slow growing and can take several years before it affects an internal organ enough to cause organ failure. That's when the fish swell up and die, after an organ bursts/ ruptures from the bacteria growing in it.

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Re the tubing that has gone black inside. You can pour straight liquid bleach into the tube and leave it for an hour, then rinse it out really well. After that pour some dechlorinator down the tube and add some water and let it soak for a bit, then rinse well again.