Metronidazole for Ick in Reef Tanks?

M

Morel

AC Members
Nov 29, 2002
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I recently had a slight bout with ick in my Reef tank. And I wanted to try to cure it without having to QT my clowns for 5 weeks.. my LFS recommended I try Metronidazole to the fish's food..

After reading up on it, and seeing that most of the warnings were adding it directly to the water, I decided to start adding a small amount to the food I was feeding directly to my fish.

I also using Garlic once a day too (not the same feeding)..

Between the two the ick cleared up in under 3 days.. it's been a over a week now and no sign of it returning. I'm not sure wither it was the garlic or the Matronidazole but I figured I'd relate my experences with everyone so you can make your own judgements.. And also for any future searchers that look up "reef and ick" lol

BTW, not one invert or Coral ever showed any sign of distress or problems using it.. Since I was adding it directly to the food for the fish.. This saved me a HUGE amount of trouble since my clowns will hide until the last peice of LR is taken out and will still refuse to get caught..

It also stresses the living $#%$ out of them. Something I'd rather not do to 6 year old + clowns :)
 
All the article is saying is that it's a strong antibiotic. I believe it's pretty commonly used in aquaria (seen lots of references to it here on the boards, anyway), and shouldn't be a problem as long as it's used properly.

<on my soapbox>
As with all antibiotics, don't overuse it and create resistant bacterial strains, and don't use it to try and cure something it wasn't designed for! It won't kill viruses!
</off my soapbox>

....sorry, did I say that out loud? I think that was a kneejerk reaction based on the attitude of the other parents in my daughter's preschool. Kid has a sniffle? Antibiotics, stat!
 
Grins said:
I know that some use it as a dewormer and such. But anything that is potent enough for that I can't believe would be safe using with stocked inverts or life in rocks/sand.
Click to expand...

Well apparently it breaks down in water in a short time.. Which is why you add it directly to the fish food.. Whatever they don't eat in a small amount of time breaks down..

At least thats what i've been seeing said.. :)
 
Here's the link that gave details almost similar to Morel's experience. I hadn't used it in marine setup which I had before but I did use it in my FW tanks with some shrimps in there.:) I don't believe metronidazole itself is potent to most invertebrates though.
http://www.aquariumguys.com/seachem-metronidazole-100.html
 
Also I should point out that I was using Focus.. Which apparently bonds it to the food better so it won't leak into the water once you put the flake in..

I also was running ChemPure during the entire time just in case some did get into it..
 
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