Vertonex

[vitara1]

Has anyone ever used Vertonex to treat parasites on Discus. The guy from the pet shop recommended it but I'm not so sure. It says on the bottle for marine aquarium fish. Not sure if I should just chuck it out?

Any advice is appreciated.

[Hollowman]

Never heard of it, but if the bottle says it's for Marine fish, it aint for discus. Probably another case of mis-information!!

[Noddy65]

Has anyone ever used Vertonex to treat parasites on Discus. The guy from the pet shop recommended it but I'm not so sure. It says on the bottle for marine aquarium fish. Not sure if I should just chuck it out?

Any advice is appreciated.

What are the ingredients?

[vitara1]

Each mL of solution contains : 10mg of quinine hydrochloride and 1.27mg of malachite green.

[Merrilyn]

I'd wait for Noddy65 to come back to us with his opinion. He's a vet, and will be the right person to advise us.

Do you think hour fish have parasites? If so, what are the symptoms.

[vitara1]

One fish had two faint spots/marks on its tail. It had been like that for about two weeks. I thought nothing of it until yesterday when one of those faint spots turned whitish. So I am thinking some sort of Fungus.

One of my Tetras also has a cloudy eye.

I have been doing a 50% water change weekly and water conditions appear good.

Until I find out if this vertonex is safe to use I was thinking of dosing with Pimafix/Melafix. Not sure if I should use one or both?

[Merrilyn]

Primafix/Melafix is useless for discus. Something to do with the unique slime coat of the discus. Anyway, doesn't seem to do any good with our discus.

If you want to do something for your fish, the safest thing would be adding salt to your tank. Start with one level tablespoon per 40 litres of water, and then after 24 hours you can add another tablespoon per 40 litres.

A parasite cure would not be appropriate to treat cloudy eye or fungus, but salt will help both conditions.

[vitara1]

Do I use Aquarium salt? Also I don't have a sick tank, I'm guessing I will have to remove the plants If I treat the whole tank. Do bristlenoses and tetras do ok with salt?

[Merrilyn]

Just plain old cooking salt from the supermarket is the stuff you want. Don't use table salt, it has fillers in it to make it run freely.

At that concentration, your plants and tetras will be fine. I'd move the bristlenose into another tank during treatment if possible.

[boxters]

A cloudy eye is usually a sign of bacterial infection.antibiotics are the most affective, but you need to know what you are treating first.

[Hollowman]

Clean water is always the first treatment for a cloudy eye

[lpiasente]

Some of my discus get transparent white marks on their tail and fins sometimes it goes whiter than other times but it's not fungus.

[Robdog]

I believe the Quinine component of Vertenex is a substitute for Formalin or Formaldehyde in the treatment of marine whitespot(C. irritans). Formalin and Malachite treatments are more affective but I think the carcinogenic properties of Formalin would make it a pretty regulated drug.

Considering we aren't talking about a marine fish or anything that sounds like a parasite I think you may have misdiagnosed and Mez's directions are probably on the money. I would be tempted to salt bath instead of a whole tank treatment unless of course more than one fish is showing the same symptoms

[vitara1]

Thanks for all your input guys.

My original question was whether Vertonex is safe to use on Discus ever. Maybe in this instance it is not appropriate.

The nick on the tail turned into a white spot that was a bit lumpy, like a small growth. I also have a white swan that has slight redness on it dorsal fin and tips of its fins a slightly torn/tattered.

I guess I'm going to have to find funds and set up a hospital tank :cry:

[Noddy65]

Sorry for the slow reply
Quinine is used to treat Cryptocaryon irritans, a white spot infection of marine fish....its a different genus to the white spot we see in fresh water fish so MAY not work at all (but then again it MIGHT work).

Its a very old drug (it fell out of favour in the 1940's) so I am a bit surprised its still being used. It seems its mostly used these days to add a bitter flavour to some drinks and to cut some street drugs.

While it may not be harmful to freshwter fish, it may also just not treat anything either.

Like most things...get a diagnosis first if possible... then treat

Mike