Metro and focus (1 Viewer)

[decimal]

anyone have any personal experience feeding food soaked in focus and metroplex in their DT? was also looking for some sort of "plug and play" peelet but found only this..

New Life Spectrum Naturox Series - Hex Shield Medicated Regular Sinking Pellet (0.8mm - 1.75mm) 150g - AquaCave.com

New Life Spectrum Naturox Series - Hex Shield Medicated Regular Sinking Pellet (0.8mm - 1.75mm) 150g - At AquaCave, we offer Best Prices, 5% Back, and Free Shipping on full line of New Life Spectrum products.

www.aquacave.com

has anyone ever used this?

 

[decimal]

well, im about to start soaking some food in metroplex and focus to bind. going to use @Humblefish recipe as guide.

Using a shot glass:
1 scoop (~ 1/8 teaspoon) of medication
1 scoop Seachem Focus (this makes it reef safe)
1 tbsp food (preferably pellets or frozen food)
A pinch of Epsom salt to help expel dead worms/parasites
A few drops of saltwater or fish vitamins
Stir until a medicated food slurry has been achieved
Feed after soaking for 30 mins
Refrigerate or freeze any leftovers for future use

it looks like the fish have been unable to properly absorb nutrients for a while due to internal parasites. this has weakened the natural defense system of the fish and so they also have a pretty serious case of flukes as well. i intend on feeding the metro soaked food (although i have some reservations about the food that gets eaten by other tank inhabitants) yanking the carbon etc. and dosing prazipro. hopefully that will help them improve and not kill everything else in the tank. wish me luck lol.

any input is appreciated.

 

[TriggerFan]

Are you including any vitamins or aminos into your food diet? People strongly underestimate the benefits of these in food.
Brightwell's Amino, American Marine Selcon, Boyd's Vitachem are great options.

If possible, I would also do a FW dip and a bath in Ruby Rally Reef to help with flukes and/or setup a QT with hyposalinity at 1.08 - 1.10 for 2 weeks.

As for your food question, I have not tested that particular product, but I have tried Dr. G's and although it works, regardless of what you use in the end, soaking your food in vitamins will be your best method of prevention and keeping your fish healthy.

 

[decimal]

that maybe something to add. thanks. i have rods nano food, quality pellets, frozen cyclops and frozen mysis. I usually mix all the frozen stuff together in a shot glass and then cover it with cellophane. i then take something like a bamboo skewer and stick it in the middle of the shot glass. when everything freezes, i can dislodge the frozen food mix and just wave it around the tank for a minute or whatever and control the amount of food i dispense.

that is pretty broad feeding though and i am considering alternatives (that i have yet to find lol) the pellets are not as broad as the frozen food mix so even i have to soak and mash everything together, i would still be able to get to the fish with out inadvertently feeding my anemone or whatever.

 

[webster1234]

I can never get my fish to eat anything that has medication in it. I've always had to treat them in a QT by dosing the water.

 

[decimal]

these guys are not too picky it seems. if they don't eat, i will try the selcon. i have heard great things about that stuff so probably will start to incorporate into regular food too. i know some folks here have their own elaborate food recipes but I don't want to get too carried away.

 

[steveb]

I use a variety of frozen (krill/mysis/spirulina brine/pe calanus/cyclopod/baby brine)+selcon+boyd vitachem+garlic guard+metroplex+focus (binder) in QT. I have only had one fish that didn't readily accept it. I actually use the same mix after QT without the metroplex.

I would still be concerned about the metronidazole part of metroplex in a reef tank. I would feed small amounts making sure fish eat it all.

 

[TriggerFan]

Excerpt taken from an old post from Humblefish:

Metronidazole


What It Treats – Internal parasites (flagellates), Brooklynella, Uronema marinum.

How To Treat – Metro can be found as a stand-alone drug (e.g. Seachem MetroPlex, Hikari Metro+) or incorporated into a multi-purpose medication (e.g. API General Cure). When using 100% metronidazole powder, I dose 500 mg for every 20-40 gallons (80-160 liters). I typically start on the low end (500 mg per 40 gals), and then ramp it up to 500 mg per 20 gals by the 3rd or 4th dose. For brook & uronema, dose directly into a quarantine tank every 48 hours for 10-14 days. For intestinal worms, it is best to soak metro in the fish’s food. Use Seachem Focus to bind it to the food, and feed daily for up to 3 weeks or until symptoms (white stringy poop) disappear. My formula for food soaking metro (and prazi) can be found below:

Using a shot glass:
1 scoop (~ 1/8 teaspoon) of medication
1 scoop Seachem Focus (this makes it reef safe)
1 tbsp food (preferably pellets or frozen food)
A pinch of Epsom salt to help expel dead worms/parasites
A few drops of saltwater or fish vitamins
Stir until a medicated food slurry has been achieved
Feed after soaking for 30 mins
Refrigerate or freeze any leftovers for future use

Whether or not metro is “reef safe” is a topic for debate. The general consensus is that while soaking it in fish food IS “reef safe,” dosing it directly into the water column IS NOT and should only be done in quarantine.

Pros – Can be soaked in fish food, making it reef safe. However, Seachem Focus needs to be used to prevent the medication from leaching out. Also, it is a good idea to run carbon just in a case.

Cons/Side Effects – Certain fish seem to have a negative reaction/side effects to metronidazole; however, this is rare.

 

[decimal]

for that exact concern (metro in the water column) i started searching for pellets that had metro already in them. that way the metro is bound to the food, pellets are easier to control (placement and qty).. imagine my surprise when i found almost nothing except for the hex stuff above.

i made the mix pretty thick so i should be able to dip that frozen mix in the water and control how much is released at one time. since i am concurrently running the prazi, no carbon for at least 5 days

Steve, that sounds great. i think i will just start buying food from you and when i feel like pasta diavolo i can just add that to my pasta sauce for that "seafood" flavor.

 

[Humblefish]

I have a hard time getting fish to eat those NLS medicated pellets. At least while they are in QT, but they usually only want live foods or frozen while in QT.

 

[Humblefish]

Dr. G's used to have a frozen dewormer medicated food on the market and it worked pretty well, but it looks like he has removed it ever since the FDA went after him: Dr. G's Marine Aquaculture, Inc. - 606979 - 04/15/2020

Thank you "Big Brother" for keeping us and our fish safe.

 

[steveb]

Big Brother needs to get a grip.

 

[TriggerFan]

Dr. G's used to have a frozen dewormer medicated food on the market and it worked pretty well, but it looks like he has removed it ever since the FDA went after him: Dr. G's Marine Aquaculture, Inc. - 606979 - 04/15/2020

Thank you "Big Brother" for keeping us and our fish safe.

Yes, it's unfortunate. Luckily, I still have some and this left in my freezer.

 

[TriggerFan]

Ironically, there is a multitude of FDA approved medications for human consumption that are under indictment or major litigation cases due to being cancerogenic, etc. WTH?

 

[decimal]

Just a quick update.. i pulled all the carbon / chemical filtration and started dosing prazi. i should have started with a water change but that didn't happen of course. So the water change happened 3 days into treatment at which time i added additional Prazi to reconstitute loss. i read up on the process and maintaining oxygen saturation can be problematic during treatment so i raised the skimmer to its max height allowing it to still oxygenate the water but not collecting. after 7 days total, did a 25% WC added all the chemical filtration back (GFO, Carbon, Purigen) and re-positioned the skimmer. I was able to use the wc as an opportunity to do a 1.5 hr paraguard dip as well. next day everything is starting to look a lot better and coloring up again. the fish are looking pretty good (except one of the clowns was briefly on the surface gulping for air this morning). after restoring chemical filters, i have started feeding the food soaked in metro and focus.

one of the clowns still has a discoloration on one of the black areas around the dorsal fin and the gills are looking extended. that, along with beginning signs of hole in the head, is what drove me to the conclusion of flukes to begin with. they where doing the spastic moves and extended gills are a pretty positive indicator for flukes. since fecal matter was white and stringy at times i further concluded possible internal parasites contributing to poor nutrition uptake weakening the immune system. the flukes should be gone by now (even though gills still seem still be extended and aggravated) and they are eating the metro food so i will feed that for 6-7 days and then reassess. hopefully everything will settle down by then.

 

[Reefahholic]

I can never get my fish to eat anything that has medication in it. I've always had to treat them in a QT by dosing the water.

Agreed, especially when the fish is sick. It’s very difficult and sometimes near impossible.

 

[Reefahholic]

Ironically, there is a multitude of FDA approved medications for human consumption that are under indictment or major litigation cases due to being cancerogenic, etc. WTH?

No! The government would never try such a thing!!!

 

[decimal]

Tried to pick up some selcon but alas, no luck.