Batteling Hexamita in my CA cichlids. Any suggestions?

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Rivers2k

Rivers2k

Piranha
MFK Member
Dec 27, 2011
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I have been battling Hexamita in my tank for over a month now. This is my first case of this in decades of fish keeping and I can't seem to beat it. I first thought it was an IP and treated with Prazi as that didn't work I did more research and found out it was hexamita. After a few weeks of loosing fish and not being able to cure I disposed of every fish that showed signs of it trying to save my most prized fish.

A week later the other fish are showing signs. So I have been treating with seachem metroplex for two weeks now. It has seemed to keep fish form getting worse but not curing. I am so frustrated! I am doing water changes and dosing ever 2-3 days. I have added aeration.

Anyone who has beaten this please help me.

PS. I am talking about the intestinal protazoa not HITH
 
I'd be surprised if metro doesn't work on it unless its to far advanced. I'm by no means an expert but RD has a great write up on the disease on here. I'd keep up with the metro, soak their food and dose the tank if it doesn't seem to be helping, I'd also dose the tank and food with Epsom salts (yes I know its not a cure but it could help to flush the parasites from their systems) as well as a touch of regular salt. That's about all I know to do with hex and how I've beaten it in my tanks before.
 
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Haven't fought it before but best of luck getting rid of it. Shame to hear your losing fish over it.
 
I had this problem with my istlanum that came recently. What I do for "white stringy poo" is epsom salt soaked pellets. If they are not eating i will forcefully give them an epsom salt treatment. Nls also has a hex shield that works really well ime.

If you go to the illness disease section there is a write up by rd. If you post in that section you should get some really helpful replies by some of the best.
 
Just read RD's write up I am going to give it a shot tonight. I ordered NLS hex shield have it sent over night so I should have it by tomorrow. The Metro doesn't seem to be working. But I dont want to waste it as it was expensive anyone know if there would be an issue using it in conjunction with Salt?

The write up says 3% mixture for the food anyone know how much to add to the tank. For regular IP's I do 1 Tblspn per 5 gallons. I have a cold myself so a little foggy headed sorry if I missed it in the write up.
 
Rivers2k said:
Just read RD's write up I am going to give it a shot tonight. I ordered NLS hex shield have it sent over night so I should have it by tomorrow. The Metro doesn't seem to be working. But I dont want to waste it as it was expensive anyone know if there would be an issue using it in conjunction with Salt?

The write up says 3% mixture for the food anyone know how much to add to the tank. For regular IP's I do 1 Tblspn per 5 gallons. I have a cold myself so a little foggy headed sorry if I missed it in the write up.
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providing you don't overdose either there should be no issue combining the two. I often use salt in conjunction with most of my meds, if nothing else it helps the fish breathe a little easier during treatment, especially harsher meds. The dosing of the med should be right on the bottle, I can't recall it offhand, I haven't used metro in a while. I assume since its seachem you have the little vial?
 
Don't add the Epsom salt to the tank. It needs to be ingested either on their own or forcefully done by you.
 
heres a link to hikari's metro bath directions.

http://www.hikariusa.com/solutions/healthaid/metroplus/

In my understanding its going to work best with food rather than a bath for the none HITH symptoms.

9.7 grams per 10 gallons for a bath.

I've beaten hex with espom and metro mixed with food granted the fish was eating and it worked very well!


Now as a last resort!

If the fish was not eating I used a syringe and airtubing to "force feed." The way I did this is I cut a piece of airtubing and connected it to the syringes end given no needle is present. The other end I burned with a lighter to soften the hard edges. Now my fishes were large in size so I had about 3 inches of length. I mixed a small amount of Epsom and Metro with distilled water. I then used the syringe to gather the solution and turned the fish sideways so I could see how far the tube was going in the esophagus. And very gently and slowly administered the medications.

heres a link for forcefeeding http://www.mchportal.com/fishkeepin...eding-mainmenu-81/540-force-feeding-fish.html

I did this three times a day for seven days.

The fish made a complete recovery from severe HITH that started with just white stringy poop.

If the fish will eat I would buy the hex shield or kens pellets with metro its just easier to do.
"Clear" for flowerhorns is awesome. Just mix it with food or forcefeed it. Theres videos for it on youtube.

I would feed all your fish the medicated food for prevention and treatment purposes. Water changes, uv filters, and cleaning the filters helps during this time.

Again force feeding is stressful and should only be the last resort!
 
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