Medication Help

[dwall174]

I just picked up some Pipzine to treat my new clowns for possible internal parasites. The package states it can be used as a food additive to feed to the fish. They say to mix one capsule 250gm, to 1.5 oz of food! However they don’t mention if they’re referring to a dry oz, or a liquid oz?

Has anyone used this product & if so would you know how it should be mixed with the food?

I also picked up some Pepso medicated food from jungle labs. It states it's for all tropical fish. However I'm not sure if it is for all fish or just all freshwater tropical fish?

[tdwyatt]

If possible, feed the fish in an isolation tank to avoid introducing the medicines from the uneaten food (and the unchanged rx in the fecal material) from entering your little slice of the ocean. It should not matter if you feed the dose in dry or wet weight per unit, as the medication is usually not absorbed by the fish from the gut, rather it works on intestinal parasites by blocking their ability to uptake glucose from the gut of the fish. Very little if any of the med is absorbed by the fish from the gut. Keep in mind that most of the anthelminths in your system will be susceptable to the action of this medication, and may succumb to its activity, hence the need for an isolation tank if possible.

I'd hate to see yur sandbed cycle due to a sudden increase in carbon and nitrogen load (from the benthic worm carcasses).

Just my 2cents worth... ...I don't know how susceptable the benthos will be to what dose of the medication, might check and see if Spanks has some info on dose, compartmental distribution and relative systemic toxicity of the piperazines. btw, you might check with a drug store and see if they have (in the US) Reeces Pinworm Medicine, might be a lot cheaper, dunno for sure.

[dwall174]

I was hoping to treat the food so that I would not have to go through the whole QT process. I got these two new tank raised Ocellaris just before Christmas, Being that they were tank raised & that I have never had any problems with livestock from this LFS I wasn’t worried about them!

There still might not be any problems with them, Their swimming great & even like going for runs in the powerhead tread mill! It’s just that their always hungry & they have had stringy white feces! From what I have read, this could be a sign of internal parasites.

I have also been told that feeding garlic soaked food will help clear internal parasites! I don’t really want to put them through all the stress of a QT if it’s not needed!

[tdwyatt]

Originally posted by dwall174
I have also been told that feeding garlic soaked food will help clear internal parasites! I don’t really want to put them through all the stress of a QT if it’s not needed!

I have heard a lot of colloquial statements on the use of garlic, and I am sure that Horge will chime in on this, but I have not seen unequivocal evidence that the garlic works (no double blinded trials that I could find in the literature, but lots of testimonials). As I am unaware of any toxicities from using garlic, I would personally think that it would be better to use garlic, as it is "reported" to be effective for this. If the parasites are not proven either by fecal analysis or necropsy of a fallen subject, I would limit treatments to either the QT with the piperazine or the related product Pyrantel (apparently Reece's pinworm medicine now is pyrantel pamoate, and the primary mechanism is reported now as paralysis of the worms), or if keeping your subjects in the tank, preventative/therapeutic treatment using the food soaked in garlic. Make a determined effort to capture one of your "patients" and keep it in a clean glass jar or fish trap until it passes a stool, then inspect the stool microscopically for either parasites or their ova. You should be able to locate a site that has photos and procedures for this on the net.

Ahem... MAYBE SPANKY CAN GIVE US SOME INSIGHT ON THIS...

hth

[dwall174]

Originally posted by tdwyatt
Make a determined effort to capture one of your "patients" and keep it in a clean glass jar or fish trap until it passes a stool, then inspect the stool microscopically for either parasites or their ova.

That sounds like it would be the best way to find out for sure! However I don’t really have a chemistry background & I don’t have a microscope to be able to check things out.

BTW they’re captive-bred not wild caught, and I have never had any problems with any livestock from the LFS that I got them from.

As I mentioned before there’s no noticeable signs of any problems other than the occasional white colored stringy feces! They are swimming great, eating well, & there are no visible signs of any problems! I mainly wanted to treat them as a precautionary measure.

[tdwyatt]

originally posted by Doug1
...if it ain't broke, don't fix it...

'nuff said