Seachem: metronidazole vs aquazole

Seachem Metro consists 100% metronidazole and does not dissolve well in water, therefore this product is best for mixing in food and not for dosing the tank. Seachem Aquazole consists 50% metronidazole and 50% p...something to help the metro dissolve in water, therefore this product is better for dosing the tank. Please correct me if i am wrong here as i discovered this info on the internet after purchasing the wrong product for my need. I hav a fish not eating with white poop so logic tells me i must dose the tank water not food. I got the metro and dosed the tank as per instructions to find out later on seachem tech support website that it does not dissolve in water and aquazole is a better option for dissolving! The instructions on each of these products is bad and misleading and does not explain this for either product...R90 wasted. Why does the seachem metro give directions for medicating tank when they know it does not dissolve, and if the sick fish is hiding and not eating the it will not chow much of the circulating grains of metro to be effective...apologies for ranting on, but for the price of meds that dont work i could replace a dead fish with much more!

 

Hi Disco

Metro doesnt dissolve well in water, but it does dissolve sufficiently for this purpose. If you added the metro to the water, please can you just tell us at what dose you added? 7mg per liter? Also try and raise the tank temp with 3'C to at least 32/33'C, and increase aeration as the warm water has lower levels of dissolved oxygen. I suggest taking some very hot water and dissolving the metro in this hot water, then add it to the tank.

MArco

 

Hi Marco, i dosed according to instructions on bottle: 1 to 2 scoops per 10gallon. Tried to mix it first in some water and then put it in tank. Did 40% water change first. Added prime and also using seachem paraguard for any external nasties. Temp is at 30 but i turned it up a little now. On the seachem website under tech support they say that mixing the metro in hot water will make the metro ineffective...someone wrote in to say they mixed in a jar of water and put in microwave to heat and dissolve...not recommended by seachem? Also there is not much metro powder in the bottle...maybe only 2 treatments worth...should i get aquazole next or am i wasting money?

 

sorry, one scoop = 100mg for every 40litres (10 gallons)

 

Hi Disco

Honestly, all that stuff is a waste of money in my opinion. Though I do rate some seachem products, I definetly do not hold them all in high regard.
Make your way to your nearest Vet, tell him you keep Discus and that you need Metronidazole. He should be able to give you some tablets, at a fraction of the price. Crush these, dissolve in a little warm water (not boiled, just warm - Discus water is already warm) Pour this out evenly over tank. Just crush it very finely and it dissolves fine in water.
Keep it in for 3 days, water change 50% - redose for 3 more days. Wait 2 weeks while observing the fish. If no improvement redo the procedure. I firmly believe that Flagellates have become resistant to Metro. Its overused all across the world and of late I have noticed absolutely NO improvement when dosing. I dont say this to make you negative, you have to try, but also be consistant and push the treatment through, two even three times if nescessary, allowing 2 weeks for the fish to recover between 6 day dosages.

Regards

Marco

 

thanks @Marco. Im going to try my pharmacist first otherwise a local vet. 3 discus not eating now...only one showing the white poop. The original sick one that turned dark seems much better now.

 

Hi Disco, If you can find Jungle parrasote clear buy this product and administer together with Sera Baktopur Direct tabs as per instructions. Excellent for getting rid of the Discus bugs. Unfortunately the Jungle products are no longer available as Tetra bought them out and eventually closed it down.

 

thanks @scotty, i havent seen those products at the lps, but will buy it if i do and keep it ready. At the moment i managed to get metro, also called flagyl tablets and am following @Marco treatment advise...6 day treatment. The tablets actually dissolve much better than the seachem metro. Im just wondering what are the signs for tapeworm and if metro will kill that as well. American websites talk of discus having tapeworm if they have segmented white poop.

 

Hi disco..marco is right..use the metronidazole from pharmacy..u will save a lot of money..I have used it with great success on wild caught rift cichlids..my dosing routine is more intense..not sure if discus will handle it tbh...was advised by many that metro is only effective for 8hrs once dissolved in water and that temp must be 30 degrees for it to work well..I dose 200mg per 100litres of water and follow the following dosing schedule..dose in morning, then 30% water change the evening and dose again..and repeated daily until fish have recovered and are eating..this has worked on tropheus very well..not sure how it would work with discus

 

@disco

The appearance of Tapeworm as stringy white poop is not entirely correct. What actually happens is that parts/whole tapeworms are secreted by the Discus, and this looks quite different to normal flagellates. Normally with a tapeworm problem the fish will still eat, unlike a serious Flagellate problem. On the internet you can find pic's of tapeworm secreted by fish, and this you can then compare to whatever is secreted by your fish. It is quite difficult to diagnose a worm problem in discus however, and no, Metro will not solve the problem if indeed tapeworm is present. For that you will need a whole different kind of medication, but lets just wait and see if the fish do not start feeling better soon before we jump to conclusions. Tapeworm is not easily found in Discus anyway.

@sarf - I have also heard of these stories about Metro not being effective in water after 8hrs. I discussed it with Dirk who said that its just rubbish. Your "procedure" works for you so I am not going to involve myself in that, although I get scared at the high dosage you dose with. . . carefull!!! Hahaha

Rgds

Marco

 

@Marco..I use the procedure as used by rift lake cichlid specialists and tropheus breeders..fish notorious for getting bloat... each species will respond differently to the medication..and to be honest I have yet to lose 1fish since using my dosing levels as long as the fish is treated timeously..but hey,we keep different types of fish...every1 has their own routine. @disco..hope your fish recover

 

@sarf

Hey bud, hope you didnt see my comment to you in the wrong light. I agree completely with you that if it works, then no problem. So, apologies if I came across questioning/disregarding your experience with what you keep. Really not intended.

Rgds

Marco

 

@Marco..no need to apologise..I'm glad you posted that as I forgot to mention in my 1st post that different fish would react differently to medication.

 

some further reading on this topic. incidentally , flagyl suspension 200mg/5ml) is available through pharmacy's and is water soluble except its priced steep @ R150.00.


http://www.wetwebmedia.com/metranidazole.htm