# How to add Seachem Metronidazole with Focus to Pellets?



## fddlss (Apr 7, 2011)

Hi guys,

I have a 120 gallon aquarium with 9 African cichlids and I've noticed that 3 of my fish have sunken bellies and one of them has damaged fins and tail, also.

All of them are eating and one of them remains hiding, except when he eats. I saw white stringy poop a couple of times and the fish with the damaged fins that was previously hiding but it's not hiding that much anymore. Now, he is constantly being chased by my male Venustus.

The water parameters are good, Nitrates were a little high, but that's fixed now.

I've treated them with Jungle Parasite Clear first, then I've tried API General Cure, and today I tried Seachem Metro + Focus for the first time since the other methods didn't work.

This is where my question comes, I feed them pellets and I would prefer not to change their food, unless it's necessary, I know that frozen food is recommended when blending with Seachem's meds. What I did is get a very small amount of tank water in a plastic cup and add 24 measures of Metro and about 120 measures of Focus, since they recommend one measure or two of Metro for every 10 gallons and my tank is 120 g. I used 24 measures of Metro and 120 measures of Focus because the ratio is Focus 5:1 to Metro. Then, I put the pellets in the cup and mixed everything and let it sit for about 20 minutes. When feeding the fish I made sure that all of them ate at least two pellets and the rest of the mixture I dropped it in the water after I was done feeding. Did I do something wrong or that is the way to do it?

By the way, I've used more than one bottle of Focus, if I plan on treating every 48 hours for the next 10 days I will need 15 bottles of Focus and about 4-5 bottles of Metro which is A LOT! and a lot of $$, too. Is there a way to use less medication maybe mixing according to food portion instead of water volume? I have a QT but there are new fish in quarantine right now, so that's not an option and I prefer to be safe and treat the whole tank since this has been going on for about a month now.

Thanks in advance.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I just measure the Metronidazole and mix it with their usual amount of food with a little tank water. No need for the Focus.

PM me for an economical source of Metronidazole.


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## fddlss (Apr 7, 2011)

DJRansome said:


> I just measure the Metronidazole and mix it with their usual amount of food with a little tank water. No need for the Focus.
> 
> PM me for an economical source of Metronidazole.


Thanks. I'm overthinking it. I will just do the same thing I did last night but without Focus and the same measurement of Metro needed for 120 gallons. I will do it every 48 hours for about 10 days.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I actually dose 2X daily and higher than the recommended amount. There is a sticky with the plan I follow.


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## fddlss (Apr 7, 2011)

Ok, great. I will look for it. I also posted this on Seachem's forum, I will post their response here or a link to the thread. It's prety interesting.


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## fddlss (Apr 7, 2011)

This is what Seachem says about it. I will stop using Focus once I ran out of it. http://www.seachem.com/support/forums/s ... 1&posted=1


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## SACattack722 (Sep 14, 2011)

If your asking how much metro to use then it's 1 measure to 1tbs of food. I may be misunderstanding your question but, I am actually treating my Victorians for flashing. You shouldn't be using that much metro & focus just to feed.  if I misunderstood sorry!


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## fddlss (Apr 7, 2011)

SACattack722 said:


> If your asking how much metro to use then it's 1 measure to 1tbs of food. I may be misunderstanding your question but, I am actually treating my Victorians for flashing. You shouldn't be using that much metro & focus just to feed.  if I misunderstood sorry!


Thanks!

That's actually what I'm doing now. 1 measure of Metro and Focus to even less than half a tablespoon of food because 1 tablespoon is too much pellets for them. I guess it's also more concentrated that way, maybe... The way I treat them the first two times, with 24 measures of Metro, is to treat the whole water column, but it's more effective, easier and cheaper to treat with food.


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## SACattack722 (Sep 14, 2011)

Ya I agree! It is cheaper. When I treat mine I save the rest of the food for a late feeding or for the next day. I also have been adding the Seachem Nourish to the mix of food. Give them that extra boost to their immune system. I just started to treat with the Seachem ParaGuard. It's cheaper and a much bigger volume and can be used daily w/o a water change. And still cover all 4 of the types of diseases. Of course I'll do a water change after I don't see any symptoms. I've only been useing it for 2 days and aready looks like it did the trick!  Good luck to you!


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## fddlss (Apr 7, 2011)

I've treated my fish for 14 days now and everything stayed the same, they are still eating but they still look the same. anything else I can do? any other meds?

Two of them have been like this for about a month and one of them has been like this for a while now.

I've treated them with Jungle Labs Clear Parasite tabs, API General Cure, Seachem Metro + Focus with pellets. My water parameters are good and I do weekly water changes of about 50%.

One of them, the Red Zebra, is never bothered by the other fish, except when I just added him to the tank, but now all of them respect him, even the dominant male, that attacked him right when I put him in the tank.

Another one (Aulonocara) fights with an OB peacock sometimes and is a little shy when eating, but still eats.

The one that's been like this forever (Aulonocara, as well) is constantly being harassed by 3 or 4 fish and he hides 80% of the time but still eats very well, he's the only one with damaged fins and he lost some color, plus the sunken belly. Hi begun to hide about 3-4 months ago, then he started with damaged fins that Melafix didn't heal, then he got skinny and about a month ago he got the sunken belly.

The other ones just have the sunken belly problem, that started about a week or two after I noticed the sunken belly on the fish that's been like this for a long time, which was also about 2 weeks after adding the new Red Zebra to the tank and the Red Zebra also loses some scales once in a while I see one or two scales when I clean the tank, but you can't really tell he loses them. I've noticed this when I just brought him and before he got the sunken belly.

Any clue on what should I do at this point?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I'd sort out the stocking and probably add fish. What are the dimensions of your tank and what species/genders do you have?

The damaged fins and scales are due to aggression even if you don't witness it.


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## fddlss (Apr 7, 2011)

5 ft. by 18 in. by 26 in. H 120 gallons. Biggest fish are venustus and livigstonii, but both are not full grown. The venustus is around 5 or 6 inches and the livingstonii around 3 in. I have 9 fish total and the rest are smaller tham4 in. There's the Red Zebra that's about 6 or 7 in. and this is one of the sick fish and the last one I've added, he's also the only fish that the dominant venustus respects, however he still has the sunken belly. I have some new fish to add from my QT tank but I'm afraid that since they will be new to the main tank and probably a little stressed they can get sick, too. They are small about 1.5 in. They are a leleupi, red zebra and Rock krib. I have more fish in the QT but they are babies still, so I will wait on those. Should I stop the treatment?
Thanks.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I'm not sure your fish are sick, but rather stressed by aggression.

More fish should help but adding 1.5" fish into a tank with a 5" venustus could be a mistake.

Also you have haps and mbuna, Tangs and Kribs. Maybe not compatible together even when mature. You are better off with one red zebra than two...and it is an aggressive mbuna to mix with haps.

So I would stop treatment.

And I would post a stocking topic, maybe in Malawi and see if you can get suggestions on how to stock your tank given you are starting with the big haps (not my thing, so I don't know what can/can't work with them).

I did try leleupi in a hap/peacock tank and the fish were not happy...I removed the leleupi.

Good luck! :thumb:


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## fddlss (Apr 7, 2011)

Thank you so much! Makes me feel better in a way. It makes you think that if they were really sick, especially the one with the damaged fins, at least him would be dead by now because of the illness + aggressiveness of the other fish and the long time that he's been like this.

My Venustus usually doesn't bother the smaller fish, but he focuses on the bigger fish that could be a threat, however, it's still a risky situation because the OB Peacock is pretty aggressive with smaller fish. The big Red Zebra is a hybrid with something else I think, not 100% sure, but he's very calm and about 6 times bigger than the Red Zebra that's in the hospital tank. So far in the QT the leleupi runs the show, before it was the Victorian Krib and the Red Zebra second, but since I got the leleupi the leleupi is 1st, then the RZ and then the Krib. They don't bother the smaller Tangs and Malawi fry that I have in the QT, at least I never saw them bothering them.

I have 2 Fronts in the QT, as well as 4 brichardi, 1 placidochromis electra, 1 placidochromis phenochilus, 1 black calvus, all of these are babies and I will wait until they grow before adding them to the main tank. I know I got crazy and made a pretty big mix that I'm not sure it will work.


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