General Medication

[flukes]

I was reading about a product called Metronidazole, i was wondering if this medication was available in australia or a similar product.
Cheers
Scott

[kevkoi]

Metronidazole..... it's not available over the counter or legally packaged for fish. Metronidazole does need to be obtained from a vet or by prescription from a pharmacy.

If you walk up to the lady at the pharmacy and ask her for some metronidazole.... she's going to give you a dirty look. :lol: ;)

kev

[Annie]

That sucks...what would you use in place of it then?

[IKeepFish]

You should be able to get it from any vet.
Mine charges me $ 9:00 for 12 x 200 mg tablets

Thats enough to treat a 2'x18'x18'
4 tabs per treatment repeating every second day for
3 treatments.

Regards,
IkeepFish

[flukes]

And this cures what kind of deseases?? bacterial, fungal, flesh wounds etc???

[Annie]

Its primary use is for the control of Hexamita.
Basically "hole-in-the-head" , and it is suppose to treat Ich, Weight Loss
Not Eating & Wasting Away, Unexplained Fish Death, Discus Disease, Angel & Cichlid Disease, and Protozoan.

[luvfishies]

It is "the" bomb for internal parasites.

[IKeepFish]

Yeah,
Internal Parasites. Primarily Hexamita.
The problem is that often by the time you realise that there is a problem the fish have stopped eating. :cry:
One method often used is ...
Grind the tablets to a powder then "feed" it to some LIVE black worms.
Wait 20 minutes for the Worms to eat it and before they are dead feed them to your fish.

I then feed chopped up earth worms to get them healthy again asap.

Regards,
IKeepFish

[flukes]

Ive been asking around for earth worms and no one seems to have them, do you buy them live??
Anyone know where abouts in melbourne i can get some?? and i already tried aquaforce which have just about all different food types but to no evail.

Scott

[IKeepFish]

Hi Scott,
Go to a local nursery and get yourself a worm farm.

Or order some "Reds" off the net.

Here is some info on worm farms ...
http://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/envirom/wormfarm.htm
http://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/index.cfm?CategoryID=1&TopicID=66&InfoPageID=969&ContentFile=infopage.cfm
- Includes where to buy worms,
but there are heaps more sources on the net, ( red worm farm - Australian Google search )

You'll need about a kilo to get started quickly.
The more worms in the farm the more often they run into each other the more likely they are to reproduce.

I use a worm farm and NOT garden worms as I then know what I'm feeding my fish. No pesticides, No fertilisers, just good wholesome vege scraps from the food that the family eats, and tea bags.
No onions, no citrus, though, worms don't like it.
Bread is good.
Apparently you can feed them other things too, but mine get enough just from the vege peelings etc.
There is actually no soil in the farm, just peat, coconut husks and vegetables.
My fish get the worms and my orchids get the "liquid" fertiliser. :)
And my bin is not full at the end of the week.

Oh, BTW ...
It is true that it does NOT smell. Well OK there is the mildest hint of a pleasant earthy odour, sort of like mushrooms.
I usually keep it in the garage with the fish, but it has been outside in a well shaded spot for a couple of months due to lack of space at the moment. I added another rack of tanks and something had to go, and it sure wasn't going to be the beer fridge, sorry freezer for the beef heart mix and frozen worms.
:wink:

Good Luck and happy worming ..

Regards,
James

[flukes]

So are you buying any worms atm or are there enough in there to keep reproducing to keep a constant amount? Also how long did you leave it once you set it up before you started to use the worms??
And one other thing are they too big for juvi discus?? Sounds great ill give those articles a good read tommorow just a bit tired atm and i have computer eyes. :shock: :evil:

Thanks Mate
Scott

[IKeepFish]

Hi Scott,

I started my farm about 7 years ago !
with a small box of worm - probably 200 gram.
Initially it was for fertiliser only so the worms had heaps of time to multiply.

I'm guessing that a kilo would be a good starting qty if you are going to feed a few to the fish every couple of days.
I recon I've got 1-2 kilos in the farm ATM, and have never had to add any.

They don't grow HUGE. The biggest I've seen are about 2 inches but I chop them into about 1 cm segments prior to feeding them to the fish.

The small thin young worms I leave whole.

Happy Farming,
Regards,
James

[flukes]

Thoughs 2 sites contridict each other, one say not to use dog/horse droppings and the other one say its good for them.

[Rowtag]

Thanks guys for sharing information.