hex questions, please bear with me

[rickztahone]

so i have determined so far that two of my discus have hex, my BD is already in QT being treated and today i identified my penang as being the other. rather than treat that one as well i am thinking of just treating the whole tank just to be on the safe side. does this sound like a good idea or is treating discus that are healthy a bad idea? i just do not want to treat these two and another happens to have it down the line. i want to eliminate any further possibilities of infection. i also want to treat for nematodes after the metro treatment, would that be ok? i plan on moving all the tankmates to the QT and then draining the 125 to leave 40g of water. i can only get my hands on the powder metro and that's what i have been treating my BD with. he has not ate since i started treatment and his eyes look really black, no trace of red what-so-ever which they were before. does anyone see any problems with this approach? i value all of your opinions and i'm glad i have fellow members to assist me in matters that I on my own would not know what to do.

p.s. i have read a couple of posts about not having to raise the temp to treat with metro, anyone want to comment on that?

[rickztahone]

forgot to ask, does it matter if the filters are on when i initially put the metro in the tank or do they have to be off? i might be a silly question but i do not want to get anything wrong. i will go get two bottles of metro tomorrow morning and hopefully begin treatment on saturday morning.

[poconogal]

When I've treated with Metro, I've treated the individual Discus in QT and the filter was running. I raised temp up to 92-93 and dosed twice a day with 50% WC in between for 5 days. Metro treatment does stress them, some more than others and usually it takes away their appetite. I've had to get one started eating again using CBW, but when she began eating again, she ate ravenously, making up for lost time. Another I had ate by day 3 of the Metro treatment and ate for the rest of the treatment. He was one that had a "picky" appetite from day one, and then he began to really eat. These 2 treatments were a few years apart, the second one could not have gotten it from the first. I only had one other that had something... prolly hex... but I fed him Ultra Cure PX drops, he LOVED the drops, and finally he was cured. I left him in the main tank. I wouldn't treat the whole tank right now if you don't see symptoms with the others especially these days when Metro has many times become ineffective except in large doses due to the flagellates becoming resistant to the drug.

Edit: I forgot, I also used Epsom salt at 2 tbsp. per 10 gals. for the first 3 days of treatment to help clean the fish out.

[waters10]

I did what you're planning to do. Metro then dewormer. I used piperazine at that time, because I couldn't find levamisole. Well, I just got levamisole now just in case I ever need in the future. If you don't have a dewormer yet, I'd consider getting levamisole now.

I actually dosed metro twice on my tank. Once last year and one time this year. I dose the whole tank to be safe and I just isolated 1 cull, cause he just doesn't get better.

What dosage are you planning to use? Are you planning to use it mixed with food? I'd consider using epson salt for the first few days of metro treatment.

[rickztahone]

When I've treated with Metro, I've treated the individual Discus in QT and the filter was running. I raised temp up to 92-93 and dosed twice a day with 50% WC in between for 5 days. Metro treatment does stress them, some more than others and usually it takes away their appetite. I've had to get one started eating again using CBW, but when she began eating again, she ate ravenously, making up for lost time. Another I had ate by day 3 of the Metro treatment and ate for the rest of the treatment. He was one that had a "picky" appetite from day one, and then he began to really eat. These 2 treatments were a few years apart, the second one could not have gotten it from the first. I only had one other that had something... prolly hex... but I fed him Ultra Cure PX drops, he LOVED the drops, and finally he was cured. I left him in the main tank. I wouldn't treat the whole tank right now if you don't see symptoms with the others especially these days when Metro has many times become ineffective except in large doses due to the flagellates becoming resistant to the drug.

Edit: I forgot, I also used Epsom salt at 2 tbsp. per 10 gals. for the first 3 days of treatment to help clean the fish out.

i really do want to treat just the affected ones but in the back of mind i think that the rest might pick it up soon.


I did what you're planning to do. Metro then dewormer. I used piperazine at that time, because I couldn't find levamisole. Well, I just got levamisole now just in case I ever need in the future. If you don't have a dewormer yet, I'd consider getting levamisole now.

I actually dosed metro twice on my tank. Once last year and one time this year. I dose the whole tank to be safe and I just isolated 1 cull, cause he just doesn't get better.

What dosage are you planning to use? Are you planning to use it mixed with food? I'd consider using epson salt for the first few days of metro treatment.

i am doing a 500mg/10g currently on my BD and i was planning on doing that with the main tank as well. Connie has me second guessing myself now and i'm not sure which approach to take. i feel like "better safe than sorry" might be a better approach but if treating ones that do not show symptoms might affect them in a negative way then i will not do it. again, i just have 2 that i have seen with the white poo. i will keep this post updated

[sp33dy25]

i have to apologize for any wrong terms i might use. =)


last week i treated 3 discus that werent eating in a 10 gal tank, hang on filter running low with only the cotton pad, no bio wheel, no carbon.
1 bubble stone on med.
water temp at 91 degrees

i was given tablets from my LFS to treat. (sorry i forgot the name of the med)
1 tablet for 10g.
i would do a 50% wc and then redose 1 tablet. ( daily )
and in the morning i would throw in a cube of FBW and go to work.
1st day or 2 none of the FBW were eaten. and i would vacuum that out when i did my water change.
day 3 one was eating so when i got home i put in back in main tank
by day 5 the remaining 2 were also eating and they are also back in the main tank.

i monitored them at work by setting up a webcam.

hope this helps.
and if had done something wrong in my procedure pls advise. thx.

[waters10]

i am doing a 500mg/10g currently on my BD and i was planning on doing that with the main tank as well. Connie has me second guessing myself now and i'm not sure which approach to take. i feel like "better safe than sorry" might be a better approach but if treating ones that do not show symptoms might affect them in a negative way then i will not do it. again, i just have 2 that i have seen with the white poo. i will keep this post updated
One thing I can tell you, is that none of my fish showed any adverse reaction. The ones that weren't showing any symptom, continued as normal, eating and behaving normally. Oh and this was true even when I was doing 500mg/10 gallon twice a day.

Good Luck!

[poconogal]

....day 3 one was eating so when i got home i put in back in main tank
by day 5 the remaining 2 were also eating and they are also back in the main tank.
I would've left them in the QT tank longer after treatment was finished and observed. Even if one began eating by day 3 you may not have eradicated the problem completely before putting him back in the main tank. The same goes for the other 2 that were eating by day 5.

[sp33dy25]

I would've left them in the QT tank longer after treatment was finished and observed. Even if one began eating by day 3 you may not have eradicated the problem completely before putting him back in the main tank. The same goes for the other 2 that were eating by day 5.

i will keep that in mind
thanks.!!

[rickztahone]

the 3 LFS's near me did not have levamisole, can someone provide a link? i'm about to check DF&S. i had to buy three little tubes of metro because there is deceptively a small amount in each container :mad:. i will start treatment tomorrow at 500mg/10g. i already left the 125 w/ only 40g of water and i turned the temp up 2 degrees so as to not raise it too fast and stress them. i removed all tankmates as well. btw when i mentioned nematodes the LFS staff worker had absolutely no idea what i was talking about

[waters10]

the 3 LFS's near me did not have levamisole, can someone provide a link? i'm about to check DF&S. i had to buy three little tubes of metro because there is deceptively a small amount in each container :mad:. i will start treatment tomorrow at 500mg/10g. i already left the 125 w/ only 40g of water and i turned the temp up 2 degrees so as to not raise it too fast and stress them. i removed all tankmates as well. btw when i mentioned nematodes the LFS staff worker had absolutely no idea what i was talking about
I just got levamisole this week from this place. (http://vitakingproducts.com/storefronta.htm) Great service! I got it in two days! I'm not using it for now, but this stuff is hard to come by.

[poconogal]

....btw when i mentioned nematodes the LFS staff worker had absolutely no idea what i was talking about
Now why am I not surprised?

When you need to get more Metro, try Jehmco. I've found it lots of other places but nowhere seems to sell it more reasonably than them that I've found.

[waters10]

Now why am I not surprised?

When you need to get more Metro, try Jehmco. I've found it lots of other places but nowhere seems to sell it more reasonably than them that I've found.
I second that! Ordering over the phone is not as convenient, but it's worth it in this case.