New Life Spectrum

[mikellini]

Originally Posted by asylumdown

Perhaps my post had more of a confrontational tone in reading than it did in my head while typing, but the statement that protozoans develop resistance in a different manner from bacteria is false.

Case in point: malaria is caused by a Protozoa with a lengthy and complex life cycle. Chloroquine resistance appeared in it independently on 3 different continents in the 1950s. It's practically useless as a malaria medication across broad swaths of the tropics today. By numbers and area, resistance to chloroquine is one of the largest single losses of a useful drug in history.

There's no reason to believe C. irritans protozoans won't exhibit the same degree of adaptability.

I would say that has a lot more to do with the drug than with the protozoa. Chloroquine has been shown to cause antibiotic resistance in exposed bacteria. So, you may be right that it (and other first generation antimalarials) could cause resistance in C. irritans. But protozoa and bacteria do not develop resistance in the same way, plain and simple. And despite some 'resistance' developed by plasmodium, floroquinolones are still used in treating malaria, so I wouldn't say they are 'practically useless'.

Anyway, we can get back on topic. I'd like to hear from people who've used this food.

[SteveConn]

The reason I've been resorting to using this medication in my reef is not due to lazy quarantine procedures (not an attack on that comment!). I recently purchased a few fish and quarantined them for 2 weeks. This was cut short because of a power breaker tripping overnight and by the time I noticed the water was becoming toxic, getting worse after getting circulation running again (water was really cloudy and tested positive for ammonia). The quarantine tank was sufficient size (75g) and everything looked great, including the fish the previous evening.
When I went to feed the fish in the morning, they were obviously in distress and one died while I was attempting a water change...this was taking too long, so I decided to put the fish in a freshwater bath (with an airstone, methyl blue and ammonia remover) and then into my display tank. I believe this quick action saved most of the new fish.

About a week ago, my hippo tang (a previous purchase and ich free for months) started developing ich and my powder blue shortly after.

I agree this should NOT be used instead of quarantine, but I also disagree with having to buy it via prescription as that raises issues of timing and will the vet want to see the fish? Finding a vet who even knows about marine fish diseases...

To medicated food itself: I haven't had the time to buy the commercial version, but the mix I have made myself (with chloroquine phosphate) has prevented the parasite from taking hold, giving me time to at least think through options. I also like the idea of targeting infection through food which helps break the cycle.

I also like the broad use of chloroquine for different fish diseases with the caveat of NOT treating fish prophylacticly as I also believe this is a great way to evolve more resistant diseases, however as mikellini posted above, parasites have a different mechanism in developing resistance when talking about ich, and it takes much longer. Still, if you are going to use meds to cure a fish of whatever.. maybe make sure you finished the job before stopping the medication/medicated food to help prevent resistance.

So, yeah, I am trying to justify my use of this drug in food form , but tell me what goes smoothly in this hobby.. when things go wrong it is nice to have a back up plan. Without the option of medicated food, I am certain I would have had losses.

I believe anyone in this hobby should really try to learn as much as they can. I never forget that the fish I have in my tank were swimming freely in a reef in the wild just a few weeks or months ago (with the exception of my clowns) and it is my responsibility to keep them alive, healthy and (hopefully) happy.

[SteveConn]

Just want to emphasise that if you are going to treat, use it thoroughly, as in every fish eats enough, and for long enough to be certain the disease or parasite is eliminated... so know what you're treating and the longest possible lifecycle that is known.

Treating for just a couple days (as I saw mentioned) is a really bad idea!

[SteveConn]

That's the first time I've ever had the last word! LOL