Dimetro in the UK

[keef]

This is my 1st post and just wanna say I love the forum - keep it up!

Anyways, I recently diagnosed Hex in one of my favourite Marlborough reds (i half of a beautiful breeding pair). I then found out that dimetro can only be prescribed by a vet here in the UK. It cannot be brought from the shelf. I therefore phoned a few vets in my area and was told by all that the vet had to physically see the ailing fish to be able to prescribe the medicine. As you can imagine I did not want to transport my already ailing fish to a clinic, so the only other option was for the vet to come to me.

So, there I am, a qualified freshwater biologist, having to sit there listening to the vet telling me what I had already diagnosed - i.e. the fish had hex.

So to cut a long story short I ended up paying over £35 GBP for the call out and medicine! There has to be a cheaper and easier way to obtain this stuff in the UK! Can anyone shed any light on this? Also does anyone know if it is legal to ship dimetro over from the USA via regular air mail?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!! :p
Thanx
Strawb

[pcsb23]

Strawb, pain in the you know what isn't it!! I've had the same probs too!

I use eSHa Hexamita, which does work though I don't think it is as good as metro or dimetro, failing that Interpet No9.

I believe this site will ship here to the UK provided you have an american based credit card.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/NavResults.cfm?ref=3532&subref=BD&N=2004+113017

hth,
Paul.

[keef]

Thanks Paul,
I did look at the esha hexamita at my local Porton Aquatics, but was not sure how effective it'd be. Still if you think it works, I'll give it a blast next time (hopefully there won't be one!). I lost mummy discus today- :( What with the 2 day wait for the vet to actually come out and give me the dimetro it was all too late.

No USA based cc unfortunately, so cannot order from the site you mentioned, still, I'm gonna continue my search and if I do find a way to get the hard stuff I'll let you know. Thanks again for the info!
Strawb

[satty]

Pal sorry for the loss of Discus,but if you dont mind could you tell us the signs which made you come to diagnose HEX and what the vet did to arrive to that diagnosis and did he do any Tests to make it?
What the dosage he tld for the Dimetro and how many days did he prescribe it?

[keef]

Hi Satty
Sure the signs were a) lost interest in all food. b) clamped fins. c) darkening in colour. d) Headstanding and finally (the givaway) - The dreaded white poo (which is actually the poor things stomach lining)

After isolating the fish in a hospital tank, adding some salts, slightly raising the temp, giving 50% daily water changes and trying to tempt to eat with some live food she showed no improvement so I finally gave up and decided to medicate (I believe all medication should always be the last resort).

This is where my vet problem began... He basically came round to my house took one look at the fish, asked me what I thought was the problem, and then immidiately agreed with my diagnosis of hexamita (did he really know?) -and I had to pay almost £25 for this "consultation". He did no tests etc, just asked me if I know what my water parameters were, which I told him.

He didn't tell me what dosage to use the dimetro at and didn't tell me how many days to administer it. I thus worked out for myself that it should be approx. 400mg per 10 gallons of water and decided to dose once a day for 2 days after a 50% water change.

Hope this helps

PS - This is really sad but daddy discus is now looking real lost in my 66g tank. He is still eating and is not ill, but is not hanging with the other discus and looking (dare I say it) throughly depressed. Anyone got any ideas on how to cheer him up? (That was a serious question by the way...)

[pcsb23]

Sorry to here about the loss. The vets in this country can be a real pain. I think daddy will recover fine, you could always add a couple of new mistresses for him (and I'm being serious too!) if you've got the capacity in the tank! Otherwise good food, good water and he'll come round. I can recommend some very good UK based discus sellers/breeders, if your interested PM me (I have no association with them, other than buying their discus!!!)
All the best,
Paul.

[Chinaman]

Strawb, pain in the you know what isn't it!! I've had the same probs too!

I use eSHa Hexamita, which does work though I don't think it is as good as metro or dimetro, failing that Interpet No9.

I believe this site will ship here to the UK provided you have an american based credit card.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/NavResults.cfm?ref=3532&subref=BD&N=2004+113017

hth,
Paul.


drsfostersmith can send to uk via fedex and the postage is about $67 which is quite expensive, i have ordered from them afew year ago with uk CC

[Shaun m]

I'm going to the states in August and I'm thinking of ordering some while I'm there and then shiping it on to the UK by USPS.

Wonder if I could get away with it?

[liz]

I also live in the UK so I know the problem.I checked a while back and some of the companys will ship meds.Unfortunatly I cant remember any ofhand I would have to do a search again.