# How often to do preventative metro soaked food?



## k7gixxerguy (Jan 12, 2012)

A while back I had what I guess to have been bloat hit my tank. I lost about 4 or 5 fish or so before I got it all sorted out with metro in the whole tank as a few of the fish werent eating at that point. I never really saw any stringy white feces or fish that wouldnt eat until a day or two before they succumbed. My fish are always near jumping out of the tank at feeding time. This all happened a good 5 months ago or so if I'm remembering correctly. Anyways, ever since, a few of my fish have seemed to have a bit sunken bellies and while trying not to overfeed due to high nitrates I slowly have watched them over time. I decided now that I have gotten the old nitrate situation under control thanks to a couple val and tons of algae that has been growing since my lighting upgrade that I would try feeding them metro soaked nls again for a couple days. How often do you all do this and for how long? I have been actually feeding them once a day most days but sometimes twice to try and fatten them all up a little. I feed NLS 1mm pellets and occasional spirulina flake and about ever couple weeks a few shelled peas. I have seen the thinner look in some of the dominant fish as well so I am not too inclined to think that it is an aggression issue. This doesnt affect all the fish by any means. My two 3" female rusties are holding every three weeks and after each time they get a little thin then look great by the time that they are holding again. If its relevant, I do 50-70% water changes at least weekly and havent had nitrates over 20 for about 5 weeks now. Before that they would get to at most 30 or so by water change time. At that point it was every 3-4 days.


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## lilscoots (Mar 13, 2012)

Antibiotics should never be used as a preventative measure... They should be used in response to a specific bacterial infection and then used for the full course of a prescribed treatment.


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## Narwhal72 (Sep 26, 2006)

Although metronidazole is not technically an antibiotic, I agree exactly with what lilscoots said.

Overuse of medicatiosn (antibiotics in particular) leads to medication resistant pathogens which is a problem that we are currently facing on a global basis (not just in fish either).

In this case it does not really seem like the fish are suffering from an intestinal parasite and the problem can probably be fixed with dietary solutions such as increasing the frequency of feeding or changing the fat or protein content of the food.

Andy


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## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

lilscoots said:


> Antibiotics should never be used as a preventative measure... They should be used in response to a specific bacterial infection and then used for the full course of a prescribed treatment.


I would agree for the most part, however in some cases you can treat prophylactically with metronidazole. An example would be when adding a group of bloat prone fish, such as tropheus or demasoni.
In this case, I would probably feed more, at the risk of increasing nitrates. It's a balancing act between feeding enough for your fish, controlling nitrates, and performing sufficient water changes to keep nitrates in check.
If you're looking at a more serious case of malnutrition, which would include a sunken stomach and a generally emaciated looking fish, you may be dealing with a parasite, in which case I'd rather treat with a antiparasitic like praziquantel.


Narwhal72 said:


> Although metronidazole is not technically an antibiotic


Actually, it is an antibiotic (anaerobic) and antiprotozoal.


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## k7gixxerguy (Jan 12, 2012)

Ok, to add to this. I had pulled three female labs (over 4 to 4.5" long fish) and put them in my 55 grow out for about three weeks to a month. I fed them two to three times a day during this time as all three were thin and one looked bad. Two of them looked very good after this while the third still had a little bit of a concaved belly. I reintroduced them all back to my main tank which does contain a big gorgeous female lab that tends to get in moods and chase two of the three. This isn't all the time and the biggest female is truly the best looking yellow lab that I have seen in person and I can't bring myself to get rid of her. I'd love for her to start breeding but the labs don't seem to want to get it done with the demasoni and rusties there.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Never. :thumb:


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## Narwhal72 (Sep 26, 2006)

My mistake. Metronidazole is an antibiotic for anaerobic bacteria. I have always used it for treating protozoan infections (which aren't bacteria) so I assumed it was only an antiprotozoal rather than an antibiotic.

I can't think of any anaerobic pathogenic bacteria that affect fish however.

Learned something today I guess.

Andy


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