How do I effectively measure MS-222?

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Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.

1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.

2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.

3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)

4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.

5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.

We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.

While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.

Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
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dvwang
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How do I effectively measure MS-222?

Post by dvwang »

Hi,

I got FInquel/MS-222 for my puffer's teeth, but am having a hard time measuring out the amount (100-200mg/l) on my mini scale. Are there alternative ways of measuring the amount? Can I simply estimate the amount? If so, what would be a comparable capsule size for the amount mentioned above? I really don't want to use clove oil unless I have to.
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Re: How do I effectively measure MS-222?

Post by J-P »

dole out 500 mg and divide that by 5.
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Re: How do I effectively measure MS-222?

Post by Pufferpunk »

I use the tiny spoon that comes with my Salifert test kit.
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...

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dvwang
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Re: How do I effectively measure MS-222?

Post by dvwang »

So essentially the amount does not need to be completely accurate, just an estimate?

I've tried 200mg on my puffer, but he didn't get knocked out.
sammy143
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Re: How do I effectively measure MS-222?

Post by sammy143 »

I just used MS-222/Finquel to put my fish out for a teeth trim a couple months ago. It's hard to figure out the dosing!

Most sources say to use 1/4 tsp of Finquel per gallon of water you're mixing it in. I didn't want to mix it with a whole gallon of water, so I just took four cups of my fish's tank water and mixed it with 1/16 tsp of Finquel. I measured this very small amount by filling my 1/8 tsp half full...that's 1/16. Since they recommend 1/4 tsp for the 16 cups in a gallon, and I only used 4 cups, I just divided the 1/4 tsp dose by 4, and that's how I got the 1/16 tsp. You could use 1/8 tsp in 8 cups if you want to use more water.

I think it's important not to give your fish too much of the stuff because it will not wake up, but the dosing is a bit of an estimate. Each fish is probably a little different in what it can tolerate. My fish was out cold in about two minutes. I watched a video on YouTube of puffer dentistry http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drUCDs4UG_M and it helped me to know how important it is to keep an eye on the fish's respiration (I didn't put my fish in and out of the medicated water like in the video). Watch his gills and how fast/slow they're moving. This should help give you an idea of how groggy he is. If you feel nervous because the FInquel dosing is kind of a estimate (it kind of is) just really keep an eye on his breathing and have a tub of unmedicated tank water right on the table you can put him in quickly in case you feel like he's slowing down too much. Once my fish hit the water without Finquel in it, he started waking up and breathing normally. It was scary, though, because other than those gills moving, I would have thought my fish was dead!

Hope that helps/isn't totally confusing! :) Good luck!
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