Flagyl tablets (metronidazole) okay to dose, instead of powder/fish medication?

[Muffin87]

Flagyl is only sold as a human prescription-only drug where I live.
Is it okay to dose Flagyl tablets instead of metronidazole powder, or a metronidazole-containing fish medication?

Going through the forum I know it's been done before, I don't know tho if the tablet form somehow could cause some issue.
I know for example that in some cases 250 mg Chloroquine Phosphate tablets actually contained only 150 mg of Chloroquine Phosphate.

Each tablet contains: 250 mg metronidazole.
Excipients/bulking agents:

• corn starch; could be fine?
• polyvinylpyrrolidone; could be fine?
• microgranular cellulose; no idea. Intuitively, it does not sound too risky?
• croscarmellose sodium; could be fine?
• magnesium stearate; If any dissolved to begin with (it is quite insoluble in water), it would precipitate as magnesium hydroxide.
• lactose; no idea.

 

[MnFish1]

Flagyl is only sold as a human prescription-only drug where I live.
Is it okay to dose Flagyl tablets instead of metronidazole powder, or a metronidazole-containing fish medication?

Going through the forum I know it's been done before, I don't know tho if the tablet form somehow could cause some issue.
I know for example that in some cases 250 mg Chloroquine Phosphate tablets actually contained only 150 mg of Chloroquine Phosphate.

Each tablet contains: 250 mg metronidazole.
Excipients/bulking agents:

• corn starch; could be fine?
• polyvinylpyrrolidone; could be fine?
• microgranular cellulose; no idea. Intuitively, it does not sound too risky?
• croscarmellose sodium; could be fine?
• magnesium stearate; If any dissolved to begin with (it is quite insoluble in water), it would precipitate as magnesium hydroxide.
• lactose; no idea.

If you NEED metronidazole (Flagyl) - and you can only get tablets - the ingredients should be fine. But - digging deeper - why do you think you need it? And 2. You can get a prescription from a veterinarian.

 

[MnFish1]

PS - I'm not sure about your chloroquine comment - NORMALLY, the active ingredient amount is listed. I.e. a 250 mg tablet of metronidazole contains 250 mg of metronidazole

 

[vetteguy53081]

Should be ok as metronidazole treat both protozoan and anaerobic bacterial diseases such as crypto, ich and hexamita with disturbing the biological filter. Best , If you can to dilute it for application versus raw pill form.

 

[Muffin87]

PS - I'm not sure about your chloroquine comment - NORMALLY, the active ingredient amount is listed. I.e. a 250 mg tablet of metronidazole contains 250 mg of metronidazole

The following was taken from Bob Goemans online book, THE LIVING AQUARIUM MANUAL: (as quoted here)

In most cases, 250 mg tablets have an equivalence of 150 mg chloroquine base, and 500 mg tablets have an equivalence of 300 mg chloroquine base. Although the purity mentioned above is generally accurate, it would be best to verify the chloroquine base contained in the tablets of your choice in order to be able to properly calculate the exact dosage.

Maybe I misunderstood what they mean by chloroquine base? I assumed they meant the active without the excipients.

 

[Muffin87]

But - digging deeper - why do you think you need it? And 2. You can get a prescription from a veterinarian.

Basically fish medications don't exist in Italy. There are only two by Aquarium Münster, as they are the only ones who bothered to register their fish medications with the Italian government and fork out the necessary money the bureaucracy required.
I posted a thread about meds on an Italian forum, and a famous Italian LFS replied "fish meds don't exist in Italy. just buy the fish if it looks healthy, or leave it. that's all you can do"

I got a prescription for chloroquine phosphate but local pharmacies can't even get hold of raw substance, after Bayer discontinued the industrial tablets in 2019.

I intend to treat all fish going into my new tank prophylactically, and quarantine all coral, so that I can have tangs without wondering "when is it gonna get ick?"

 

[MnFish1]

This can be interpreted in a number of ways. So - lets take chloroquine - Its really 'Chloroquine phosphate'. So - if they are including the weight of phosphate as well - ok. But the dose is still the same. In other words - I am not sure about the link you provided - i.e. that it makes sense. In looking up flagyl tablets - a 250 mg tablet contains 250 mg of metronidazole

 

[MnFish1]

PS - I realize that in Europe - that antibiotics are (rightly so) restricted. I do not know the laws there - My guess is that a veterinarian would not write a prescription for prophylactic 'anything'.

 

[Muffin87]

This can be interpreted in a number of ways. So - lets take chloroquine - Its really 'Chloroquine phosphate'. So - if they are including the weight of phosphate as well - ok. But the dose is still the same. In other words - I am not sure about the link you provided - i.e. that it makes sense. In looking up flagyl tablets - a 250 mg tablet contains 250 mg of flagyl

Well the quote comes from humble fish's website. He'd probably know what it means, but I've tagged him at least twice recently, so I'm not gonna bother him again.

 

[Muffin87]

PS - I realize that in Europe - that antibiotics are (rightly so) restricted. I do not know the laws there - My guess is that a veterinarian would not write a prescription for prophylactic 'anything'.

everyone in my family is a doctor, getting a prescription isn't a big problem. the only problem is knowing what I can use.

 

[Malcontent]

For reference, a 500 mg ciprofloxacin tablet is around 772 mg total. If I'm dosing in food I need to know the "purity" but not when dosing in water.

 

[Muffin87]

For future reference, it would seem that 250 mg flagyl tablets have an equivalence of 250 mg metronidazole base (source here).
If anyone can chime in and confirm it'd be awesome.

 

[MnFish1]

For reference, a 500 mg ciprofloxacin tablet is around 772 mg total. If I'm dosing in food I need to know the "purity" but not when dosing in water.

Yes - the weight of the tablet is not the weight when using in a person or a tank. The total weight - is always going to be HIGHER. The dose on the tablet - is the dose of the active ingredient

 

[MnFish1]

For future reference, it would seem that 250 mg flagyl tablets have an equivalence of 250 mg metronidazole base (source here).
If anyone can chime in and confirm it'd be awesome.

I said that a couple posts up i.e. I looked it up

 

[Malcontent]

I don't have any 250 mg metronidazole tablets but the 500 mg ones I bought recently are 782 mg total. I've weighed a lot of tablets in my days and have never come across one that wasn't significantly heavier than the stated mass of active ingredient.

An 875 mg Augmentin tablet is 1,492 mg!

 

[MnFish1]

I don't have any 250 mg metronidazole tablets but the 500 mg ones I bought recently are 782 mg total. I've weighed a lot of tablets in my days and have never come across one that wasn't significantly heavier than the stated mass of active ingredient.

An 875 mg Augmentin tablet is 1,492 mg!

We are staying the same thing (I think)

A 250 mg TABLET of metronidazole probably weighs 350 mg. So what? To dose 250 mg, you just dissolve the whole tablet - and you're dosing 250 mg.

To dose 125 mg, you would take 1/2 of the tablet, dissolve it - and put it in (whatever)

My guess is that people are getting mixed up when lets say they want to dose 33 mg. (And I think this is the point of Humblefish's post). To dose 33 mg you can do it any number of ways. Dissolve the 250 mg tablet in x volume of water. Then 33mg/250mg X the volume of liquid is the amount to dose.

Augmentin is even more complicated. Augmentin is actually 2 drugs - 875 mg of amoxicillin and 125 mg of clavulanant - then add the rest of the stuff to bind it. Augmentin is dosed based on the amoxicillin component.