API General Cure

[Pufferpunk]

API General Cure.
It is a low-grade product that just offers aquarists a “shotgun approach” to treating fish diseases and it can cause issues which are far more serious than the common, easily treated ailments that aquarists typically use this medication for.
General Cure contains:
• 1-10% Metronidazole (antibiotic)
• 1-5% Praziquantel (worming agent)
• 80% Sodium Chloride (salt)
• 1-5% silica amorphous
Breakdown:
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Metronidazole
First of all, Metronidazole is an antibiotic and antiprotozoal that does not politely choose between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ bacteria… it tries to kill all of it.
The microorganisms it can kill include the little guys whose job it is to maintain the nitrogen cycle in your aquarium and the other little guys who live in your fish’s digestive system and help keep your fish healthy.
Antibiotics may well treat some parasites and infections, but there’s a lot of collateral damage when these medications are used. One of the biggest problems with the use of antibiotics is that your fish’s gut flora is absolutely devastated.
Your fish rely on the microorganisms which live in their system to compete with pathogenic organisms, to provide immune defenses, to signal the brain to eat (and tell it what to eat), to extract extra nutrition from the food, to digest the food properly, and more.
We’re starting to believe that a captive fish’s microbiome never fully recovers after antibiotic use.
Changing the levels of gut microbiota can disturb what is a finely balanced ratio of “good” and “bad” bacteria. By removing some of the “good” bacteria, you can actually encourage the growth of “bad” (pathogenic) bacteria, making it more likely that your fish will have more problems in the future.
The most noticeable symptom of damaged gut flora is a reduction in appetite, owed to uncomfortable digestion. This can be especially troublesome for fish that have been freshly imported and stressed and need to build up their energy reserves.
The use of General Cure and other antibiotic-based medications puts your cycle at risk, which can then expose the fish to lethal levels of ammonia and/or nitrite.
Another very serious effect of antibiotic use is the increase of antibiotic-resistant bacteria found after their use, which can invade the host (your fish) and cause illnesses that are very difficult to treat.
The use of antibiotics can make infections that are very easy to treat now, very difficult (sometimes impossible) to treat in the future.
We are now seeing antibiotic-resistant strains of Aeromonas, Pseudomonas, Columnaris and other bacterias invade home aquariums, after either they, or the shop from which the fish were purchased, used antibiotics.
Because of all of this, antibiotics are a last resort medication (the nuclear option) and they have to be administered in very controlled and consistent dosages for maximum efficiency and safety… which GC does not encourage or make you aware of.
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Praziquantel
Praziquantel, the worming agent in GC, is very effective against Cestodes (tapeworms) and Trematodes (flatworms or flukes), it is not the most effective against the much more common types of parasites, which your fish are more likely to have.
We recommend using a Levamisole HCL (hydrochloride) based medication (such as eSHa NDX) because it is effective against all of the most common internal parasites.
Levamisole HCL is effective against Stomach worms, Roundworms, Nodular worms, Hookworms, and Lungworms. It is especially effective against Nematodes (roundworms) in particular, such as Capillaria, Eustronggylides, Camallanus, and Contracaecum.
Your first port of call for worming should be Levamisole HCL.
If you need to use Praziquantel then you can add it on its own, with PraziPro, without the metronidazole or the sodium chloride.
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Sodium Chloride
Yet another issue with General Cure is the most abundant ingredient in it, sodium chloride or "salt". Sodium chloride has no place in the freshwater aquarium, for several reasons.
Sodium chloride is an irritant to freshwater fish. The slime coat which people claim helps the fish "fight infection" is actually just the body's response to the irritant.
The excess "slime" can enter the gills, reducing surface area across the gill filaments, making breathing more difficult. This is especially dangerous in pufferfish because they lack traditional gill plates, so the slime can enter the gills more easily.
This problem is worsened by the fact that sodium chloride leaves less molecular space in the water for free-available oxygen. Combine these two things and the risk of hypoxia is greatly increased.
Sodium chloride also causes immeasurable stress to freshwater fish’s osmoregulation, which can lead to dehydration and further discomfort. This extra work in maintaining osmosis requires further energy from the fish, reducing their ability to fight the ailment.
Sodium chloride can also damage the filter bacteria, increasing the risk of a crash when combined with the antibiotic, metronidazole.
The majority of freshwater fish lack the necessary physiological features required to secrete sodium chloride, which is why toxic salt deposits can be found within the organs of freshwater fish up to two years after initial exposure.