Chilodonella

[Daryl]

Quninie Sulfate and Metronidazole.....

What is the dose? I looked it up and it says for the Quinine Sulfate:

"30 mg/L for 1 hour daily for 3 days"

Is this meant to be a 1 hour bath? If so - how does one clear a tank? Am I to assume that the parasites has NO portion if it's life OFF the fish? Or do I dose the qt tank and remove it with carbon after 1 hour?

QS supposedly breaks down very easily in water. Does this mean it does not need to be removed after 1 hour?

?????????????????????

(I have a set of 4 fish that have Chilodonella - I have them at .3 salt at this time. They are healthy, alert, swimming well and eating fine. I gave them a Potassium Permanganate bath for 2 hours when I first got them...... and have scraped no protozoa since, but I do not believe that was adequate........

[Cincy Ranchu]

This is a pretty tough one. My memory from when I fought it successfully I had losses and but if the fish lived through the salt and PP treatment you were on your way to recovery. If the infected fish are lethargic and have spots on the lateral line you are still in trouble. I think maintain the salt and consider a PP bath weekly. I simply drain water into an aerated 5 gallon bucket and put the fish in the bucket with the dilute PP and watch for signs of stress and then move back into the tank. Always bleach your net after handling these fish.

As for questions about the other chemistry you asked about, you might ask the commercial importers, as I know many of them use this chemistry.

THX GH
PS - At some point and time I would remove the fish and bleach everything, becareful with siphon tubes, dipping you fingers in the tank etc.

[Indyarrowhead]

Per an old collage reference book, it says use a commercal white spot treatment, if present after 5 to 7 days carry out a 50% water change and use formalin based or an organophosphate insecticide such as metriphonate. Some fresh water fish are more sensitive to this later then others.

For salt water species it says to give a short freshwater bath, followed by a course of copper treatments or 1 hr formalin baths.

Eliminating predisposing factors and quarantining all new fish are vital in long-term control.

Another method of cleaning a tank or filter would be to use caustic, just enough to rapidly change the osmotic presure so the organisims explode from the rapid change. This can be tested with live protozoan under a microscope and add caustic solution till they implode. Obvouisly this would be done without fish, much like bleaching.

Answer: Yes they will be all over your tank, there could be slim deposits that are areas these critters are protected from insecticide, Bleach and other things, so look in your filters and behind things when cleaning.

[Daryl]

OK.... found some answers....

Metronidazole: 1/4 tsp per 20 gallons every day for 10-12 days. 25% water change each day before treatment.


Quinine Sulfate: 1/4 tsp per 10 gallons every 3 days with 25% water change before each treatment. 3 treatments for a total of 9 days. Can be removed with activated charcoal.

Both are used for killing protozoa. The Metro is also an antibiotic which can help with secondary infections. It is not specifically stated that they can or should be used together. It is generally recommended that either ONE or the OTHER is used, but not both. All nets, syphons etc. must be bleached following each use. Chilo will not necessarily die even when dry, but instead can come back and attack fish up to a year later. All hands, equipment, etc. need to be carefully isolated to avoid cross contamination between tanks. A single drop of water is enough to transfer these parasites.

Chilo can be seen at about 100 on the microscope. Costia (Chilo's lookalike) is much smaller.

This treatment will also kill Hexamita and a few other protozoan parasites.

[Ichthius]

3 ppt salt kills it dead... much safer than formalin based cures and cheaper too.