Many times, fish keepers get a pathogen in their aquarium which defies diagnosis. They are doing everything right and fish are still dying. Their water is well filtered and crystal clear. There are no bacteria in the water column. Their aeration is great. And yet their fish are dying with no apparent symptoms.
This is best treated with what is known as a “shotgun” approach. There are four treatable pathogens which are the “most likely suspects” in “slow fish deaths” in an aquarium. The treatable pathogens are flatworms (flukes and tapeworms), nematodes (capillaria and camallanus), “internal parasites” (hexamita) and bacteria (most commonly columnaris and aeromonas).
Treating all four will give one the best shot at solving the problem. All four are treated in the food with medications which are FDA approved for use in humans, so the medications are very safe.
Special Medicated Fish Food
For the “shotgun” approach make two special foods. Buy over the internet:
- Fenbendazole (for nematode worms)
- PraziPro (praziquantel for flukes and tapeworms)
- Maracyn 2 (antibiotic for bacteria)
- SeaChem MetroPlex (metronidazole for “internal parasites”, hexamita)
Then make two different medicated foods via the same method. Mix one food with the Bendazole and the PraziPro. Mix the other food with the Maracyn 2 and the Metroplex.
Verwarm 1/4 kopje water (58 milliliter, niet veel) in de magnetron. Meng dan een kwart ons gewone gelatine van dierlijke oorsprong (Knox gelatine, een envelop) door het hete water onder krachtig roeren. Neem twee eetlepels droog commercieel visvoer (pellets of vlokken) en meng dit met een klein beetje van het hete water/gelatinemengsel. Voeg heet water/gelatine toe tot je een pastaachtige consistentie krijgt. Als het te waterig wordt, voeg je gewoon meer voer toe.
Then add just a “smidgen” (roughly 1/16 teaspoon, a 1% to 2% addition) of medication to the mud. If you are using more than one medication mix the medications together, then use just a “smidgen” of the mixture. If you are using a packet of medication, take just a “smidgen” of the packet contents. Mix and mash the whole mass thoroughly. Spread it out into a pancake about 1/8th inch (3 mm) thick on a plastic film or a plate. Then put in the refrigerator. If you plan on keeping it for more than two weeks put it in a small plastic bag and freeze.
Feed the fenbendazole and the praziquantel once every two weeks for three months. Feed the antibiotic and metronidazole every day as a steady diet for ten days. Note while the fish won’t eat it like they normally do, they typically will eat some if you just leave it in the tank.
Other Medications Which Will Work
Each of the four drugs above has some alternatives and options:
- Fenbendazole is available as Safeguard for dogs or several livestock dewormers. An alternative medication is Levamisole which is available on Amazon, subaquaria .com and Valleyvet .com. Levamisole can also be purchased as Agrilabs Prohibit Soluble Drench Powder and Durvet Levamed Soluble Drench Powder Dewormer. Other medications supposedly effective against roundworms are Pyrantel Pamoate, Flubendazole (Kusuri Wormer Plus) and Piperazine.
- Praziquantel can be purchased as PraziPro, Aquascape praziquantel, Prazi-Power, Prazi-Cure and Aqua-Prazi.
- Broad spectrum antibiotics available in the US include Midland Vet Service Aqua-Mox, SeaChem KanaPlex, VetDepot Amoxicillin, Fishbiotic Ampicillin, Mardel Maracyn 2.
- Metronidazole, alias metro’ is available in SeaChem MetroPlex and can be simply mixed into the food. Or it can come in premixed food medication such as Hikari Metro Plus food or New Life Spectrum Hex-Shield food.
In API General Cure, metronidazole is combined with praziquantel. Ron’s cichlid’s has a medicated food which combines some of the above medications. It appears Ron’s food has metronidazole, praziquantel and an antibiotic. It does not appear to have fenbendazole.
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