Chloroquine phosphate

[dale sarver]

Chloroquine phosphate: Treats Ich (Cryptocaryon irritans), Marine Velvet Disease (Amyloodinium), Brooklynella hostilis & Uronema marinum.

How To Treat - Chloroquine phosphate (CP) is a “new drug” that actually was widely used to control external protozoa in saltwater aquariums back in the 70s & 80s. It was even used in some aquarium medications sold at LFS. Nowadays CP requires a prescription to purchase legitimately, making it more difficult to obtain. Fast forward to today and thanks to the power of the Internet, CP has come roaring back! The biggest obstacle to overcome is obtaining pharmaceutical grade 99% pure CP. I cannot stress the importance of this enough. Do not buy it from some guy on eBay or even an online vendor. The only way to be sure you are getting 99% pure CP is to get your vet (or an MD) to write a prescription which can then be filled by a compounding pharmacy.

CP is a “one and done” medication, meaning you dose once and that’s it. There are no test kits for CP, so it’s important that you dose accurately using a digital scale. Also, don’t forget to dose any replacement water (from water changes, but not top-off) with CP. The dosage rates are as follows:

• Prophylactic treatment is 40 mg per gallon.
• For active infections (visible symptoms present), I typically will up the dosage to 60mg/gal. However, I cannot say if this is anymore effective than the "standard" 40mg/gal dose.
• For Uronema marinum and really bad infestations, you can dose up to 80mg/gal. However, I have noticed appetite suppression and lethargy at this concentration.

As you can see, there is quite a bit of wiggle room between the minimum & maximum dosage. Practically speaking, 40mg/gal will treat all external protozoa issues… its just that the higher dosages may get the job done a little faster. Treatment lasts 30 consecutive days, and no carbon, UV, etc. may be used during this time (although it can be used later when you wish to remove the medication from the water.) A little quirk about CP is that light will degrade it; however it appears this mainly applies to the powder itself, so store your CP in a cool, dark place. Once in water, you may use an aquarium light with CP - however fish with velvet are light sensitive so I would only use ambient lighting (ex. lamp across the room) if treating for that. CP is NOT reef safe. In addition to killing your corals, it is a very strong algaecide.

Pros - Gentle on most fish (see DO NOT USE list below), a “one and done” medication that treats most external protozoa. CP is the closest thing there is to a “wonder drug” in our hobby.

Cons/Side Effects - Expensive, hard to get (requires a prescription), powder is light sensitive. Attempts to feed CP laced food are usually not successful due to its bad metallic taste.

** Based upon anecdotal experience (mine and others), DO NOT USE CP on the following species: Hippo Tangs and certain wrasses. I have experienced sudden deaths using CP on both Sixline & Melanurus wrasses, so members of the Pseudocheilinus and Halichoeres genus are probably best avoided until I can do further testing. However, every "flasher" or "fairy" wrasse I have tried thus far has done fine in CP. **

** Finally, a place to buy Chloroquine: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/a-place-to-buy-chloroquine.252610/ **

It

 

[dale sarver]

It is said oral treatment is not good as the metalic taste puts them off the food. We have found that mixing in garlic powder gets them to eat food they usually won't eat. Has there been any work with dosage and exposure if you could get them to eat?

 

[Humblefish]

Has there been any work with dosage and exposure if you could get them to eat?

Not to my knowledge.

 

[MT. Reefer]

First off, I want to thank @DrCooper - a vet & R2R member who put me in touch with this place.

Thanks to him, we now have access to a leading National Veterinary Compounding Pharmacy to supply CP for R2R members: http://www.diamondbackdrugs.com/

This is how it works:

1. You will still need to obtain a Rx from your local vet! However, knowing that a place who supplies medications for veterinary hospitals, zoos, public aquariums, etc. carries CP should alleviate the concerns of many local vets.
2. Have your vet contact Diamondback Drugs with the Rx, and they will arrange payment and ship the CP directly to your door! That's it!

I have confirmed that Diamondback is sourcing their CP thru a Canadian wholesaler AND testing each & every batch before selling it. If its not 99.5% pure, it gets sent back to the wholesaler. They can provide a Certificate of Analysis to you or your vet.

I just brought over a copy of this thread, the articles you suggested and pics of my aquariums, fish and supplies to my vet. He wasn't there so I know he will be calling me when he looks over the material. Question is, I want to use the CP in my QT. I am working on a 90gallon setup which should be ready in a couple months. I use a 10 gallon QT. Lets figure on 10 fish. That's high but just to have enough around in case of an emergency. How much CP should I ask for?
Also, I have been trying to find Kanaplex but can't locate any. Where to look?

 

[melypr1985]

Also, I have been trying to find Kanaplex but can't locate any. Where to look?

We sell kanaplex at the fish store I work at. Check the specialty LFS in your area (walmart and petco wont have it) and amazon has everything.

 

[MT. Reefer]

Well, my vet read the material on his lunch hour and called me up to tell me that my prescription is ready and thanked me for providing him with all the information.
So thanks to you HUMBLEFISH, it was easy!!!

 

[Humblefish]

I use a 10 gallon QT. Lets figure on 10 fish. That's high but just to have enough around in case of an emergency. How much CP should I ask for?
Also, I have been trying to find Kanaplex but can't locate any. Where to look?

4 grams of CP would treat a 10 gal QT 10x. But you might wanna get 10 grams just to play it safe (CP has a shelf life of 3 years.)

Kanaplex can be found here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CJ0VY8G/

Well, my vet read the material on his lunch hour and called me up to tell me that my prescription is ready and thanked me for providing him with all the information.
So thanks to you HUMBLEFISH, it was easy!!!

Glad to hear this!!!

 

[MT. Reefer]

Well, he gave me a script for 30 grams, so maybe I will ask the pharmacy if I can get it half now and half later. I was planning on calling the pharmacy you suggested in the morning.
Thanks again!

 

[02tts]

Question, does CP have any effect on pH? I just put some in and my pH, according to the probe dropped .03 - not a huge deal but I only put in half the dose so far, going to wait a little while and put the rest of the dose throughout a 1-2 hour span so as not to cause a shock.
Also, is a prescription still needed for this? Because I just bought some from an ebay buyer who other people have recommended to be legit and he has 100% feedback on ebay...thoughts?

 

[Humblefish]

Question, does CP have any effect on pH?

Not that I'm aware of, but admittedly I don't check the pH of my QTs very often.

Also, is a prescription still needed for this? Because I just bought some from an ebay buyer who other people have recommended to be legit and he has 100% feedback on ebay...thoughts?

A vet Rx is required, but this is your best bet: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/a-place-to-buy-chloroquine.252610/

 

[02tts]

Not that I'm aware of, but admittedly I don't check the pH of my QTs very often.



A vet Rx is required, but this is your best bet: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/a-place-to-buy-chloroquine.252610/

Thanks. I called my vet and waiting to hear back if he'll write it.

The guy I bought it from says he gets it from Fishman Chemical, said they are the largest US supplier of vet meds.

http://r.ebay.com/m1hRh9

 

[Humblefish]

Thanks. I called my vet and waiting to hear back if he'll write it.

The guy I bought it from says he gets it from Fishman Chemical, said they are the largest US supplier of vet meds.

http://r.ebay.com/m1hRh9

Fishman sources all of their CP from China and they have questionable QC measures over there.

Diamondback sources their CP through a Canadian wholesaler AND tests each & every batch before selling it. If its not 99.5% pure, it gets sent back to the wholesaler. They can provide a Certificate of Analysis to you or your vet.

 

[02tts]

Fishman sources all of their CP from China and they have questionable QC measures over there.

Diamondback sources their CP through a Canadian wholesaler AND tests each & every batch before selling it. If its not 99.5% pure, it gets sent back to the wholesaler. They can provide a Certificate of Analysis to you or your vet.

So dumb question here, why is it he can legally sell it on eBay and the other one requires a Rx? Assuming his stuff is real, which someone on another site had it tested and it was, though I can't confirm the reliability of another users post but I will say he is referenced by a few folks.

So, assuming it's real do you by any chance know why he is able to legally sell it where as I need a prescription to get it from diamond?

Sorry, I'm a little lost.

 

[Legonch]

I used CP for 30 days, and one of the fish in the qt was a yellow watchman goby. Never really saw him the entire time. Pulled the fish out and put in DT, the goby was the last to get caught. Before I caught him, he started swimming around weird, and ended up on the bottom of the tank, appearing dead. I bumped him with the net, nothing, looked dead. Felt really bad, and went back to putting the other fish in the DT. Came back to QT to get the goby and send him down the toilet about an hour later, and voila, there is the watchman, laying on the bottom of the tank, right side up, breathing, and hes fine. Went to catch him, and he did the swim around and act dead thing. Put him in the DT, five minutes later he found his cave, and is fine. Three weeks down the road, hes good to go. Survived the CP just fine. Never saw him eat for those 30 days, but he did sometime. Funny little fish.

 

[Humblefish]

So dumb question here, why is it he can legally sell it on eBay and the other one requires a Rx? Assuming his stuff is real, which someone on another site had it tested and it was, though I can't confirm the reliability of another users post but I will say he is referenced by a few folks.

So, assuming it's real do you by any chance know why he is able to legally sell it where as I need a prescription to get it from diamond?

Being it's an FDA regulated drug, it probably is technically illegal to sell CP without going thru the proper channels to acquire the drug, requiring a prescription, etc. However, thanks to all the crack addicts & meth heads the DEA has bigger fish to fry than some guy on eBay selling CP.

I've read different reviews on Fishman Chemical's CP. Some say it works, some say it doesn't. I can tell you that only 99% pure CP (or better) is gonna work as advertised. I think before I bought from the eBay seller, I'd roll the dice on this (better reviews): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MNQWACU/

 

[Legonch]

No way would I buy cp off ebay or amazon. There is a reason this stuff needs a prescription. For all we know, the stuff off ebay is expired, mixed with something, etc. Human grade cp costs a lot more than the ebay stuff for a reason. No way Im buying a 250 dollar fish, treating it with cheap cp, and ending up with an outbreak in my DT and dead fish........That would cost me thousands, not to mention the time of starting all over. To me its worth the extra cost to get the good cp, actually one of the cheaper things I buy for my fish actually.

 

[Orly20]

Anyone experience buying CP from Long Island Reef?
They claim to hav

 

[02tts]

I was able to get a prescription from my vet; however, I will also say that the one I bought from the eBay link I listed did in fact work as I had to medicate as it took me almost 2 weeks to get my vet to write the script. I now have enough CP script to treat the tank over a few times over if needed.

 

[TheRealDmorty217]

Humblefish, I QT and treat every new arrival with CP regardless of signs of disease or not. Long story short introduced 3 frags that's sat fallow since Jan 1, 2 weeks ago Saturday now all my fish have Ich. I treated the tank with 60mg/g of CP 3 days ago but the fish all still have spots, but the macro algae in the tank is dead but the soft coral frags are still alive. Is it safe to say the CP isn't working for whatever reason or should I wait it out longer? In the past I feel like the spots were gone in 3 days, hence why I'm concerned. (It's actually been 72 hrs at 6pm today) I have a storage container with sand in my sump for my mangroves, do you think that's causing the CP not to work? I have worked SO hard to make sure my fish are disease free and now this. Moral of the story is fallow times mean crap since after 8 months the Ich is still there.

 

[monkiboy]

Humblefish, I QT and treat every new arrival with CP regardless of signs of disease or not. Long story short introduced 3 frags that's sat fallow since Jan 1, 2 weeks ago Saturday now all my fish have Ich. I treated the tank with 60mg/g of CP 3 days ago but the fish all still have spots, but the macro algae in the tank is dead but the soft coral frags are still alive. Is it safe to say the CP isn't working for whatever reason or should I wait it out longer? In the past I feel like the spots were gone in 3 days, hence why I'm concerned. (It's actually been 72 hrs at 6pm today) I have a storage container with sand in my sump for my mangroves, do you think that's causing the CP not to work? I have worked SO hard to make sure my fish are disease free and now this. Moral of the story is fallow times mean crap since after 8 months the Ich is still there.

are you using vet prescribed CP? i've had ich remain or come back on fish in CP from the ebay seller, fishman chemicals, NLS ich shield, and fishremedies - all of which source their CP from china. while there are many things that could have happened here i dont know if the fallow time is the culprit of ich in your tank. if using CP, one really needs to look at securing a prescription from a vet. it can be difficult otherwise as often time in qt symptoms may appear and go away and one may think it's the CP from china being effective when sometimes it is not.