Chloroquine phosphate

[AcanthurusRex]

@Humblefish I know you mentioned that CP has a shelf life of 2-3 yrs. Would you be comfortable using this after the discard date?

I used CP after the Diamonback discard date. I didn't pay any attention since the tribal knowledge indicated a longer shelf life. I am experiencing my first QT failure after many successful runs.
I ran 6 ignitus anthias, yes I know the warning on anthias, and one small yellow tang. Everything looked normal for the first 2 weeks. During the 3rd week, the tangs appetite went down. During the 4th week, the tang quit eating altogether.
I pulled them a few days early and moved them to a clean QT tank. The tang immediately started eating again, only algae. After 6 days I thought I saw him flash, the next day he was obviously flashing and quit eating again. I did a round of Prazi and a FW dip with no results and no detectable flukes. Changed water after Prazi, tang not eating.
Since I've been using CP I didn't have copper on hand so I picked up Copper Power and a Hanna checker. The QT reached effective concentration yesterday, tang is not flashing but will not eat.
Anthias are fine, no issues, piglets. I wanted to report a successful anthias QT using CP but I don't know what I have right now.
The only thing out of the ordinary was there were some algae in the QT this time. The CP is almost 6 months out of date.

 

[PeterG]

I used CP after the Diamonback discard date. I didn't pay any attention since the tribal knowledge indicated a longer shelf life. I am experiencing my first QT failure after many successful runs.
I ran 6 ignitus anthias, yes I know the warning on anthias, and one small yellow tang. Everything looked normal for the first 2 weeks. During the 3rd week, the tangs appetite went down. During the 4th week, the tang quit eating altogether.
I pulled them a few days early and moved them to a clean QT tank. The tang immediately started eating again, only algae. After 6 days I thought I saw him flash, the next day he was obviously flashing and quit eating again. I did a round of Prazi and a FW dip with no results and no detectable flukes. Changed water after Prazi, tang not eating.
Since I've been using CP I didn't have copper on hand so I picked up Copper Power and a Hanna checker. The QT reached effective concentration yesterday, tang is not flashing but will not eat.
Anthias are fine, no issues, piglets. I wanted to report a successful anthias QT using CP but I don't know what I have right now.
The only thing out of the ordinary was there were some algae in the QT this time. The CP is almost 6 months out of date.

Thanks for this info. I was a bit disappointed in the early expiration date on my CP as there is no way I’ll use it all over the next six months. At least my vet ordered up 2 refills over the next year.
I’ve only got one 90 gal DT so I’ll eventually reach a saturation point on adding fish and as I’ve already got two wrasses will probably pick CP safe species in my next buy.
Glad to hear your Anthias doing fine albeit with some uncertainty as to the potency of your CP. Hope your Yellow Tang comes around. I really like tangs and think they are smong the coolest looking species but they were the culprits in a recent outbreak that cost me most of my fish and lots of grief. I was not QTing my fish and paid the price.
I’m still a novice in reefing and have to pause often to look terms and acronyms I come across. (Wasn’t quite sure what flashing was!)This is all new to me and a learning experience. I’ll be following your progress with interest. Good Luck.

 

[rkpetersen]

I was a bit disappointed in the early expiration date on my CP as there is no way I’ll use it all over the next six months. At least my vet ordered up 2 refills over the next year.

I might just use a bit more of the medication the further out you get from the purchase date.

Most medications will lose their potency in a more or less linear fashion with time and this starts the moment it's manufactured. However expiration dates are very arbitrary and generally conservative. Every drug is different, but several studies have been done that show that about 90% of medications retain most and sometimes nearly all of their potency a decade or more after their expiration dates. (Some antibiotics, though, and drugs like insulin, do tend to lose potency relatively fast. )

 

[AcanthurusRex]

I set the initial dose at 45mg/gal. With each water change, I add a little extra to compensate for error and absorption. Normally the theoretical dose would rise to around 55mg/gal for a 4 week QT. This time I did a few extra water changes due to the anthias and I probably dosed as high as 62mg/gal.
There is no way to know that expired CP failed in this instance. There is no way to test concentration or effectiveness. In my opinion, the CP probably was effective but I have to assume it was not since one fish still has an issue. The algae growth was unusual as well.
The suspect fish has never had any external symptoms, no "spots" anywhere. Just flashing and heavy respiration. No improvement so far in copper. I think the anthias were just as tolerant of CP as they are with copper, so far.

 

[Dr. Reef]

Anthias usually will not survive CP treatment.

 

[AcanthurusRex]

The recommendation is to avoid using CP with anthias. If you go through this thread you will find a number of cases that CP was used in QT for anthias. The problem is that there are no proper studies for much of what we are doing. The notion that anthias are sensitive to CP is purely anecdotal, which is all we really have.
I chose to take the risk based on anecdotal accounts, Humblefish for instance, my source of CP, Diamondback, and the species of anthias. The anthias, 6 fish, were sourced from LA looked very good out of the bag and quickly started eating. Appetite increased over the 4 weeks QT period. If it were not issues with the yellow tang this would have been an uneventful QT.
There are many outliers, species that appear to be sensitive to CP, that don't make sense. Hippo tangs for instance. The yellow tang I had in QT with the anthias appeared to do poorly in CP; is this significant, I suspect not.

 

[Humblefish]

@AcanthurusRex Which species of anthias have you successfully QTd using CP and at what dosage? TIA

 

[Dr. Reef]

I have never had luck with CP with ignitus or lyretail or dispar. Only time they were ever a bit tolerant was at 10-20mg/gal. Even then they didn't eat and swam drunk. Soon as dose went up to 40 they were all dead by morning.
Just my experience along with what I had read and researched online. Maybe someone has a different experience.
All fish were from LA

 

[AcanthurusRex]

@AcanthurusRex Which species of anthias have you successfully QTd using CP and at what dosage? TIA

ignitus
The initial dose was 700mg/15 gal; a hair over 45mg/gal. I did six 4 gal water changes with 200 mg which barring any absorption would have brought up the concentration to greater than 60mg/gal, higher than I should have allowed.
With 6 fish you would think that at least one would be sensitive to CP. Or my CP is ineffective and degraded into a benign compound; it is past the discard date.

 

[Dr. Reef]

I have bought CP from eBay and few other online hobbyist and it was always in effective. My last batch came from an online pharmacy that did not ask for prescription and sold me 100g. It works wonders.

 

[AcanthurusRex]

Diamondback has a discard date one year after purchase. No way to test, no way to know if it’s good or not.

 

[Gregorjw]

I have a question regarding Biofilm and CP.
I have 4 firefish going through prophylactic qt in a 20g at the moment. They have been in there for about 2 weeks and are just beginning the second round of prazipro. After this I had planned on doing either CP or copper, I'm leaning towards CP.
The tank itself is a 20g with 4 pieces of pvc, and an aquaclear HOB with only foam.
My question is will the biofilm from the foam filters and such be enough to effect the CP? By the time I start the treatments the tank will be running for about 2 months.

 

[Gregorjw]

sorryfor the double post

 

[Humblefish]

I have a question regarding Biofilm and CP.
I have 4 firefish going through prophylactic qt in a 20g at the moment. They have been in there for about 2 weeks and are just beginning the second round of prazipro. After this I had planned on doing either CP or copper, I'm leaning towards CP.
The tank itself is a 20g with 4 pieces of pvc, and an aquaclear HOB with only foam.
My question is will the biofilm from the foam filters and such be enough to effect the CP? By the time I start the treatments the tank will be running for about 2 months.

You'll probably be fine right at 2 months, but I would break down & sterilize the QT after the firefish are out.

 

[Gregorjw]

You'll probably be fine right at 2 months, but I would break down & sterilize the QT after the firefish are out.

Thanks

 

[rkpetersen]

My question is will the biofilm from the foam filters and such be enough to effect the CP? By the time I start the treatments the tank will be running for about 2 months.

Is the concern that the chloroquine will adsorb to or be metabolized by the bacteria?

 

[Gregorjw]

Is the concern that the chloroquine will adsorb to or be metabolized by the bacteria?

My concern was that having too much biofilm build up would degrade the CP. There are a couple posts a while back in the thread talking about it. Im on my phone and having trouble quoting the posts, im sorry

 

[Japtastic]

Hi chaps, a little bit of trouble getting hold of CP in the UK.

Has any one used this seller?

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/231636780028

 

[Dr. Reef]

my personal experience is already stated in post #1210. it never did anything for the fish. i had to buy some directly from an online pharmacy.

 

[Japtastic]

Thanks, didn’t see your post. I thought that because they had sold a heck of a lot, someone on here may have bought and tested. Will perservere with trying to get it here through the traditional route.