Question about Metro + Focus and feeding.

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philipraposo1982

philipraposo1982

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Feb 21, 2016
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Hi Everyone, I finally got the metro and focus in the mail and I want to start feeding my GT this with his pellets or other foods I got.

I tried mixing metro + focus and some small 1mm pellets with a bit of tank water and letting it sit in the mix then dumping to the tank. This didn't seem to work well at all. The food didn't look like it had anything stuck to it at all.

So as a test I took a 3mm algae disc I got from hikari and made at a bit damp with water then tossed some metro on it with a bit of focus. Dropped it in the tank and he eat it right up. Meds and focus was clearly stuck to the algae disc.

So here are my questions:

1. on the metro container it says to dose 1 scoop per tablespoon of food. No way in hell can Kai eat close to that much food in a sitting. Do i need to just do some math here and cut down the dosage?
2. If i want to continue to feed these algae wafers which he loves covered in metro and focus does how can i ensure I am not overdosing the metro. He literally eats the 3mm disc whole 1 sec after it his the water. so I think this is the best way to feed. My biggest concern right now is about overdosing the metro.
3. I was also thinking about using some of my red wigglers aka composting worms to feed with the meds. I am sure it will stick to the wetish body of the worms with ease and because he eats like 3-4 per serving it would be easy to put the metro on them and ensure no waste.
I worry that maybe this food source for the duration of the treatment might be too rich aka unhealthy for my GT. thoughts?
4. how many days should i feed metro? i feed 2 times a day everyday. so maybe 1 week? 2 weeks? more?

he is just under 7" now if that helps. if someone has a suggestion for how much of the metro to feed per feeding this would be great. I know I can get him to ingest it with this method which is the good news.

Thanks a lot!
 
According to Seachem, "Feed the medicated food mix (recipe below) every day until the infection clears or up to 3 weeks."

You could let the pellet dry before throwing it into the tank so that the focus and metro mixture stick to the algae wafer more. I would just feed him as much as he can eat in the day, spread out in more than 1 feeding. I interpreted their directions for the ratio of metro to food was a recommendation of how much food is needed in relation to the dosing of metro, not the amount of food that the fish should consume per day.

According to Dr. Edward Noga, metro via feed should be injested at

"...25 mg/Kg of body weight for 5 to 10 days, or 100 mg/kg of body weight for 3 days. Retreat once if required...."
 
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I interpreted their directions for the ratio of metro to food was a recommendation of how much food is needed in relation to the dosing of metro, not the amount of food that the fish should consume per day.
Click to expand...

+1

Only other thing I would advise, is to NOT go by Seachem's recommendation of feeding up to 3 weeks. Stick to Dr. Noga's recommendation, he's the expert in this field.

Use the algae discs, and feed twice a day to keep the medication in his body at full strength.
 
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So estimating that Kai weighs in at 1/4 pound (likely less though) doing the math would suggest I need to dose 2.8mg of metro per feeding for 5-10 days.

Does that sound right?
 
philipraposo1982 said:
So estimating that Kai weighs in at 1/4 pound (likely less though) doing the math would suggest I need to dose 2.8mg of metro per feeding for 5-10 days.

Does that sound right?
Click to expand...

I get 1/5th of a pound and consequently 2.3mg, but I think slightly more is better unless you are certain all the food is consumed. Same ball park. If your fish is on the chubby side, certainly your number looks better.

I have no idea if this medication is one you should err on the high or low side, however. Under dosing isn't typically a good plan, although overdosing has risks with certain meds.
 
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