The Metro + is loose, in a bottle, and not in tablets. That would have made things easier. Although I prefer the loose to tablets, so I can try and dissolve it in alittle tank water first. Whoever said about it not dissolving well is correct, I did the best I could. I know a lot sank. Which may be a good thing, cause I think I overdosed...
Ok, so I ended up doing some crazy math last night that led me to put 12 tsp. of Metro + in the tank. The bottle said it treated 100 gallons, and the 12 tsp. used up about 3/4th's of the bottle so I thought it seemed right. I used Sigrid's conversion of 7grams of salt ='s 1 tsp, because the medication looked and felt like salt, and I had to peg it to something since I don't have a tiny metric scale. I still screwed up the math from there, don't know what I was thinking...
Since I used up 3/4ths of the bottle, I had to go find more today. The original bottle I bought online. Today I found some made by API, called General Cure Anti-Parasitic Fish Medication, and it came in pre measured packets :clap: It contains 250mg Metronidazole and 75mg Praziquantel per packet. I just dumped one of the packets into a 1/2 teaspoon, and it just about filled it up. So, basically I found my answer. If 250mg Metro is roughly 1/2 tsp (or alittle less bc of the Prazi), I should have dosed about 3.5 tsp or less. Not 12 tsp.
The orignial bottle of Metro + probably meant that it treated 100 gallons over the course of treatment, not for a single does. I hope this post helps someone is the future dose correctly.
Thankfully, my fish all seem fine despite the overdose. Well, except the one dying of parasites, but he doesn't look any better or worse than before all of this. The treatment requires daily water changes, so shouldn't stay in there too long.
Also, I am aware of the fact that Metro needs to be ingested. I purchased Metro laced food, which most are eating, and added some salt (had alittle in there already from an ich treatment I had to do a few weeks ago) to my tank so they fish will ingest the Metro from the water that way too. I had to do the bath along with the food, because one fish is to the point where he is not eating. I also soaked Bloodworms with Metro late last night. I am doing everything I can.
The reason I think I have parasites is because my golden Severum just developed hole-in-the-head. Luckily its in the very early stages, one nostril just "opened up." I've also, on 2-3 occasions, seen a clear mucus coming from her gills (noticeable bc bubbles stick to it). I've also had several mysterious fish deaths over the past 2-3 weeks (not counting the ich outbreak, which I dont think any of them actually died from. I think a cory died from the salt bath. He had no white spots). The few fish that died, quite some time after the ich cleared up, became dull/dark and tattered looking, and their bellies sunk in, and one developed a sorta "kink" in the spine, not large, but slight. They also were swimming erratic. One has these short white spikes protruding from his scales. Some fish died with no signs- a cory and a black phantom. It's really weird, I'm not entirely sure what happened to them, but once I put the metro in, one fish really perked up. Another is on its way out, I think it was too late to save him, I feel awful its to the point where hes laying on the ground, but I dont have the courage to euthanize. Maybe the meds will work a miracle on him. Overall, I am going through this treatment mainly for the Severum, I will not have her body eaten away with HITH. She's scarfing down the Metro food too. I think the parasites were always present in her, but they just got out of control due to stress when I brought home those few fish a couple weeks ago from Petland that gave my tank ich. It cleared up in 2-3 days with salt and high temps, but I think the stress caused the parasites to get out of control, in the severum at the very least. I suspect the other deaths were cause by it too. The sunken bellies pretty much give it away.
I got 99 problems in this tank right now. My tank usually isnt such a hot mess. Weve fallen on rough times
