intestional parasites

[wrasseman]

does any one know of a reef safe cure for intestional parasites ? i am purchasing some choati leopard wrasses and found that 75 to 85 %of them supposidly have parasites, the remedy is piperazine ,praziquanled ,levamisol or niclosamide ,are amy of thease reef safe ? my opinion with delicate wrasses is they need to go into a stress free enviroment ,to me this is a reef tank with no other fish in it . i would like to do this but they also need to be treated for the parasites . i know a quarrinteen tank is the best method but you lose the comfort of the home from where they came from ie . reef tank . any help would be cool ,i have tried thease fish before with little sucess , but have great sucess with other wrasses . they are considered bad shippers also , so i always have blamed it on that .i really think it may be the parasites in thier belly. i should be getting thease fish in about a week so i want to be prepared any help would be awesome !

 

[Domboski]

I have found praziquantel to be the best for internal parasites but I have only used it through ingestion delivery, something you probably can not do with the LW. I think it will be a challenge for you to find something completely reef safe that is delivered through water suspension. I know you don't want to hear this but a QT is the safest and most effective way. Set up something small with a deep sand bed. The LW will hide in the sand for a day or so and feel somewhat secure. In the meantime you can treat them. I'd set up a 10 gallon with sand from your main tank if possible or live sand that is smooth enough for the LW. I've kept LWs in a 14 gallon Biocube for QT and they were eating mysis in a couple of days. The mistake I made was not to treat them for parasites while in QT. This is just my experience though.

Good luck. They are beautiful fish.

 

[KathyC]

I concur with Dom, unfortunately you'll need to treat them in a QT. 2" of sand should be enough, just be sure that it is live sand and don't return it to your tank afterwards.
Best of luck with the fish!!

 

[wrasseman]

thanks for the reply , i have everything to do the Q T so it wont be difficult just wanted to go strait into tank with them, dosent sound wise. i will treat them in QT w live rock and live sand , got a lot extra . should probably discard after use or only use for QT i assume , never used a QT before and have had good luck except with the choati leopards , the need that added touch . lets hope im sucessful , its probably the last time i'll try them if i fail

 

[KathyC]

The fish themselves won't care much about the live rock, the sandbed is more important to them. You could even use the plasitic rock they sell for FW tanks to make it more 'homey', and no none of these items should ever be used in a functioning SW tank again.
Also best to paint (or cover with the plastic stuff sold at LSF) the rear and both sides of the tank to provide a more secure environment for them/it.
You're making a wise decision in this case. Best of luck to you and please do keep us updated!!

 

[wrasseman]

i have found praziquantel online @ DR fosters but it doesnt say anything about salt water fish . is it the right stuff ?the number that im looking at is CE-33479 at Dr fosters and smith . it says its used for ponds and koi fish , just want to get the right stuff ! thanks again

 

[KathyC]

Yes, it is safe for SW fish in a QT tank.

 

[wrasseman]

thanks we'll keep ya posted ! its gonn be soon.

 

[ellebelle]

Dave, I agree with Dom and Kathy 100%. If you don't want to use rock, you can even toss a couple of lengths of PVC in there for them to swim around in. The sand bed is the key factor.

Good luck!

 

[wrasseman]

cool thnks for the reply,s they have reassured me of the right thing to do !