Quinine sulfate or Chloroquine phosphate to treat marine ich ?

[gimmito]

Hi Lee,

I'm QT'ing six 2" yellow tangs that were purchased from Quality Marine in a 30 gallon tank. Tangs being the "ich magnets" they are, two of the tangs started showing signs if ich. I'm trying Rid Ich plus by Kordon (formalin/malachite green) at a 0.05 mg/l of mg and 15 mg/l of formalin. I also consulted w/National Fish Pharmacy regarding their crypto pro, which is quinine sulfate. I was told to dose for 1 week and not to feed the fish during the treatment (apparently they lose their appetite during the treatment). I've never gone more than a few days without feeding fish, so I'm concerned about that. Have you used quinine sulfate ? Should I try hypo first ? Also, your thoughts on chloroquine phosphate ?

The tangs are together in QT system w/5 McCoskers wrasses in seperate cubes bellow them (so they are getting treated also). SG is 1.023 at the moment, ph 8.2, & 0 nitrates. I feed them 2-3x a day of PE mysis, H20 brine spirulina, & Rod's food. I supplement with vitachem, selcon, garlic, & beta glucan. I also do daily or every other day water changes and siphon all uneaten food and fish waste.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Aquanaut]

You are fortunate to have that on hand. I have had poor luck getting the LFS to stock it. Crypto Pro is my treatment of choice over Cupramine and others because of its properties to also attack parasites in other phases of its life cycle on the fish and swim stage, where as other tx can only work upon swim phase of parasites. The reason to not feed often is because of the pollution factor and keeping the water cleaner and aireated but not skimming. Tangs especially are heavy polluters if fed often. In fact they will eat new food and likely poop last meal before absorbing the nutrients in it anyway. Additionaly, All meds tend to slow down the natural cycle of the tank too, another reason to feed lightly every other day perhaps. Fish can easily go a week if they're fattened up already. Remember, hypo cannot be done with this method, and I have never done it without killing the fish either, dumb luck I guess.
A side note too, I have come across instances where Cupramine did not kill the latent parasites on the fish--I learned it's limited to swim stages--so even when you think "ok fish has pickled +10 days in copper...IT STILL POPPED ON THE FISH THE 5TH WEEK IN THE QT. I was astounded that it can happen. Therefore, go the full 8weeks in QT, otherwise you'll be trying to catch that fish again after it has popped in your DT.

Good Luck

 

[gimmito]

Thankyou for the advice Aquanaut ! It assures me I'll be using the correct medication to take care of the ich. I will definitely do a full 8 weeks just in case of another outbreak. I'll run carbon to rid of any prior medication, water change, & feed light for a few days before administering the quinine sulfate.