Just curious, How many members automatically treat their WC rays for parasites during the quarantine period as a preventative or only treat when/if a problem occurs?
WC Rays-Treating Prophilactically for Parasites
- Thread starter ShadowStryder
- Start date
if its a WC and HAS NOT been treated already then its a GREAT IDEA to treat it.. especially if ur going to add it into a tank with other rays or fish!
i always treat because even it its not WC it may have been in a tank with WC fish or it may have been fed live foods such as goldfish or feeders that can have a nasty array of parasites! my system that has worked for me many times consists of a few steps:
1) put the ray by itsself in a bare bottm 75 gallon tank kept at 80 deg F (larger tank for larger ray if necessary)
2) daily water changes of the 50%-75% variety (this is a great way to remove free swimming parasite populations from the water column AND it really seems to get the rays appetites up in my experience! it also gets the rays used to water changes and used to you.
3) dose with prazipro for the first 7 days. prazipro works best becasue praziquantel power alone does not dissolve in water. some people mix it with vodka or grain alchohol to solubize it but when you pour that into your tank most of it precipitates back into powder and is rendered useless!!! prazipro uses oxibipropanol to keep the praziquantel in solution... this is what it works!!! genius!
4) afer the prazi i dose with metronidazole (i like metro+ by ARG) for the next 7 days. dose the metro+ at DOUBLE dose. this is OK. metro is very safe and stable and i IME the metro plus is more effective at this dose.
5) dose with prazipro again 14 days AFTER the end of the initial dosing and after the dosing of metro is done and you have done at least 2 water changes to get the residuals out of the water. the reason for this is because tapeworm is only succeptible to praziquantal when it is actually a tapeworm. its life cycle takes longer than the initial 7 days of the first prazipro treatment so by waiting 14 more days after the initial treatment (21 days total) you can be sure that any larval stage tapeworm is in the stage inits life cycle where it is succeptible to the treatment of praziquantel.
6) after runng the course of medication i leave the ray in the quarentine for 2 more months for a total of 90 days to be sure that no other diseases manifest themselves and that the ray is EATING WELL AND HAS LEARNED TO EAT AT LEAST SOME OF THE FOODS THAT THE RAYS IN THE MAIN TANKS EAT!!!!!!!! this is very important because without this life can become VERY difficult!!!
this is prettyt thourough and some may say excessive but i have had a bad experience and i dont want to live through that again!!! the rays pay the price in the end for our impatience!!!
1) put the ray by itsself in a bare bottm 75 gallon tank kept at 80 deg F (larger tank for larger ray if necessary)
2) daily water changes of the 50%-75% variety (this is a great way to remove free swimming parasite populations from the water column AND it really seems to get the rays appetites up in my experience! it also gets the rays used to water changes and used to you.
3) dose with prazipro for the first 7 days. prazipro works best becasue praziquantel power alone does not dissolve in water. some people mix it with vodka or grain alchohol to solubize it but when you pour that into your tank most of it precipitates back into powder and is rendered useless!!! prazipro uses oxibipropanol to keep the praziquantel in solution... this is what it works!!! genius!
4) afer the prazi i dose with metronidazole (i like metro+ by ARG) for the next 7 days. dose the metro+ at DOUBLE dose. this is OK. metro is very safe and stable and i IME the metro plus is more effective at this dose.
5) dose with prazipro again 14 days AFTER the end of the initial dosing and after the dosing of metro is done and you have done at least 2 water changes to get the residuals out of the water. the reason for this is because tapeworm is only succeptible to praziquantal when it is actually a tapeworm. its life cycle takes longer than the initial 7 days of the first prazipro treatment so by waiting 14 more days after the initial treatment (21 days total) you can be sure that any larval stage tapeworm is in the stage inits life cycle where it is succeptible to the treatment of praziquantel.
6) after runng the course of medication i leave the ray in the quarentine for 2 more months for a total of 90 days to be sure that no other diseases manifest themselves and that the ray is EATING WELL AND HAS LEARNED TO EAT AT LEAST SOME OF THE FOODS THAT THE RAYS IN THE MAIN TANKS EAT!!!!!!!! this is very important because without this life can become VERY difficult!!!
this is prettyt thourough and some may say excessive but i have had a bad experience and i dont want to live through that again!!! the rays pay the price in the end for our impatience!!!
Never treat when quarantining unless thiers problems. I'm just bad for not quarantining long enough.
