I thought that BeeBoo was getting better, but I'm not so sure now. Yesterday he ate a very small piece of shrimp, after not eating anything other than snails for about 4 or 5 days. Just the fact that he'd eaten a little piece of the shrimp made me feel so happy. He also has had rather normal feces for the previous 2 days, being brown and not stringy and white with that "pearly" look. However, today is another matter. I finally got the garlic juice I've been waiting on, and I thought I would soak some of the shrimp pieces in that and then try and get BeeBoo to eat it. He completely ignored it, even moved his body so the food could fall past him! I also found some stringy pinkish pearly-looking feces where he had been hanging out, and I'm sure it's coming from him, not any of the other fish.
So here's the issue. I FINALLY received the meds I'd been waiting on. The praziquantel came yesterday, and the metronidazole came today. Thing is, both directions say to use it added to water, neither says anything about the puffer ingesting it orally. Besides having other fish and a few other puffers in the same tank as BeeBoo, I also have some expensive snails and an aquatic crab in that tank too, so I'm very hesitant to use these meds directly into the tank.
Has anyone ever used these meds as a medicinal soak/bath? I was thinking of taking a container (I don't have a "hospital" tank, or any vacant tanks right now) putting some of the aquarium water in, along with a heater and airstone, and doing a bath/soak in there. Thing is, I'm not sure how long to leave the puffer in the solution in order for it to be beneficial. Because the metronidazole came from Poland, and it's all written in Polish, the person who I bought it from has done a quick translation and sent me a little sheet with the tablets, but it doesn't say how often to do that soak, it just gives a general dosage (one capsule for a bath in 50-litres of water; and one capsule for a preventative soak in 100-litres of water). I think this was intended for use in the regular aquarium because it says to do a 1/3 volume of water change out and to use charcoal to remove any residual effects. One capsule has 500mg of metronidazole, 2mg acriflavine hydrochloride and 2mg methylene blue.
As for the praziquantel, it's a little different. Again, I think it's intended use is to be directly added to the aquarium. Here's what is says on my bottle: Empty 1 capsule for bathing in no more than 4-gallons of water. Start treatment with new water. Do not stop filtration, but remove activated carbon or UV sterilization. Distribute the amount around the edges or directly into the filter box for the best overall distribution. One treatment lasting 5-7 days is usually sufficient, but no more than once every 3-5 days. May be used as a preventative at the standard dose. Do not use with any other drugs (and that part has me concerned because I was told to use the praziquantel and metronidazole together).
I'm confused with the praziquantel because it says 1 capsule for bathing in no more than 4-gallons of water, but then is talking about adding the medication to the entire tank .... so I'm just not sure, and then it says that it can be used as a preventative at the standard dose. Well I don't see anything in the directions that state one dose for regular use and another dose as a preventative usage.
What it comes down to is that I'm very afraid to use these meds in my fish tank for fear of the medications killing all my snails and my aquatic crab. Does anyone have any good solutions?? BeeBoo isn't really eating, so putting meds in his foods doesn't seem like an option, and really, even if it was, I'm unsure of the dosage to use.
******* Just been looking and I see that the 'Jungle' brand fizz tabs have both praziquantel and metronidazole in them, so I need to figure out if these ingredients will kill my snails and crab *******
Needless to say, I am very confused as to what to do.
