My experience with Esha Gdex

[blakki73]

Hello everyone,

I'm now going through the first tragedy of my reef keeping experience, it feels pretty bad

My tank is 120 l + 30 l sump, it has been running almost 4 months. I had 2 clownfish, 3 Chromis Viridis, and a lawnmower Blenny.

Here in Italy the QT culture is kinda different it seems, my LFS recommended that I don't QT as it's only stressful for the fish, and tempted by the less work needed, that's what I did.

My tank has been going really great, a bit of GHA but I suppose it's normal for this tank age, corals were extended and growing.

Two weeks ago I noticed that one of the clowns was not eating anymore, last week it was trying to mouth the food, but he spit it out right away. This, and both clowns have stringy white poop. At the same time, although I see it eating, I don't notice my Blenny pooping anymore, and he's getting thinner.

The Chromis were absolutely active and eating like pigs, their poop was normal and healthy.

I decided that there probably was some type of internal parasite issue, and since one of the clowns was not eating, I found that Praziquantel was the first thing to attempt. The only product that I could her ahold containing it, apart from Droncit in pills, is Esha Gdex, which supposedly has 66ml of Prazi per ml.

As per instructions, I dosed 140 drops 3 days ago now, then 70 yesterday, and everything started going south. Corals are retracted, especially torches and the Stylophora, but nothing crazy, inverts are all fine, there was some Pods reduction but not a complete wipe out.

The real problem is fishes, one of the Chromis literally suicided in front of my eyes, it started ramming into the rocks, another one followed and it's pretty beat up now, breathing very heavily, the third is hiding somewhere within the Scape but it seemed less stressed. The Blenny is starting to freak out same right now.

As soon as I saw it, I just added Carbon to my sump, I was supposed to even add another 70 drops today, but that's not happening. I'll be doing a water change later , I just wanted to say that whatever it is the solvent that Esha is using in its product, which they don't want to disclose, has some really bad effects on some fishes.

The clowns still have stringy poop but are fine, they are not acting different tham usual.

My next step would be setting up a QT and trying the Flagyl on them, I'm just really scared

 

[threebuoys]

Did you add an airstone to the tank when you added praziquantel? Prazi depletes oxygen during treatment. Also, do you know what other ingredients, if any, are in Esha Gdex?

 

[blakki73]

Yes sorry I forgot to mention. I left the skimmer on without collection cup, AND added an airstone powered by a Tetra APS 300.

Esha does not want to disclose what else is in it, they just say 66mg of Prazi per ml.

 

[dowdalld]

I've been using Gdex in a QT system for the past 13 months. None of the fish going through the system have had any problems.
Also Gdex is for marine use in QT systems, has an unknown effect on corals and is not suitable for use with snails/mussels in saltwater. All this is on the Gdex product webpage.

eSHa gdex • Flatworms, Gill Flukes & Tapeworms Treatment

eSHa gdex is outstanding at controlling the likes of flatworms (Gyrodactylus), skin flukes, gill flukes (Dactylogyrus) and tapeworms.

eshalabs.com

 

[blakki73]

I know that, but it would have been impossible to catch the Blenny, and truthfully snails and corals are fine, not as extended but nothing crazy.

From now on I will QT, I just didn't until now so it made sense to treat everyone.

This is just my experience with it, I hope that carbon and water changes are going to at least save some fish.

 

[dowdalld]

I know that, but it would have been impossible to catch the Blenny, and truthfully snails and corals are fine, not as extended but nothing crazy.

From now on I will QT, I just didn't until now so it made sense to treat everyone.

This is just my experience with it, I hope that carbon and water changes are going to at least save some fish.

It certainly makes things easier. Hopefully the other fish are ok.

 

[threebuoys]

Sorry, this is not a product available in the States, I'm always leery of medications for which a complete ingredient list is not available. First, you don't know for sure that the medication caused the problem (although that appears likely), and, second you don't know how to handle. Carbon tends to work slowly. If the situation worsens, major water change is needed.

 

[blakki73]

Sorry, this is not a product available in the States, I'm always leery of medications for which a complete ingredient list is not available. First, you don't know for sure that the medication caused the problem (although that appears likely), and, second you don't know how to handle. Carbon tends to work slowly. If the situation worsens, major water change is needed.

I am heating 60l of water as that's the biggest container I have atm, will change later.

 

[blakki73]

Unfortunately another Chromis is dead, can't find the third one. I hope he's alive, the Blenny is also stressed but not as much they were.

 

[blakki73]

I have noticed that the airstone I got left a little blue stain on the silicon tubing, is it possible that it leached something? It was brand new and I rinsed it.

 

[blakki73]

I've been using Gdex in a QT system for the past 13 months. None of the fish going through the system have had any problems.
Also Gdex is for marine use in QT systems, has an unknown effect on corals and is not suitable for use with snails/mussels in saltwater. All this is on the Gdex product webpage.

eSHa gdex • Flatworms, Gill Flukes & Tapeworms Treatment

eSHa gdex is outstanding at controlling the likes of flatworms (Gyrodactylus), skin flukes, gill flukes (Dactylogyrus) and tapeworms.

eshalabs.com

Can I ask you if you follow their protocol for the treatment, meaning 1 drop per liter day 1, and .5 per liter day 2 and 3?


The third Chromis is fine by the way, I did the water change now and he came out.

 

[dowdalld]

Can I ask you if you follow their protocol for the treatment, meaning 1 drop per liter day 1, and .5 per liter day 2 and 3?


The third Chromis is fine by the way, I did the water change now and he came out.

Hi, I do. I follow their QT protocol in a 45 L tank. So along with their other meds I do the above, then a water change on the fifth day and repeat two weeks later. I have noticed a loss in appetite during the Gdex treatment but nothing else of note. Glad at least one is OK

 

[blakki73]

Hello everyone, today the clown that wasn't eating actually tried to take some food, spit some out, but I'm pretty sure that he held some in. IF I also won't see stringy poop anymore, it could indeed mean that the problem was internal parasites.

This would mean that I'd have to treat again in a few days to kill the next generation of internals, but for obvious reasons I really don't want to treat the water again.

Would it be possible to treat the food instead, for the second treatment? Would it be possible to treat food with Gdex and gelatin, or would it be better to use Praziquantel in powder (Droncit)?

 

[threebuoys]

Medicating food can be challenging to do successfully. The following link goes into details you need to know.

Proper Dosing of Medicated Foods

Proper Dosing of Medicated Foods Jay Hemdal c. 2020 Oral medications are an excellent way to target internal diseases of fishes. Marine fish absorb aquarium water, so in certain cases, they “drink” enough medication from the water to effect a cure. However, freshwater fish actively export...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[blakki73]

Update, the last Chromis has died a few days later, and I found the blenny floating paralized upside down in the water. Pulling it out and putting it into a QT tank saved it, but I don't know what I'm going to do now, as there is no algae in there and it doesn't take pellets.

I did several water changes since then, according to my calculations and not considering any binding to the rocks or absorption by carbon, the concentration of the medication should now be 14%.

I should start Prazi over, as not doing the second cycle and not completing the first one does mean that my fish still have parasites, but I'm considering getting the blenny to eat first.

The clownfish that wasn't eating is now crushing food, but the one that was eating before stopped; they both have still stringy white poop.

Also, all my corals were wiped out slowly, there are a couple euphyllia hanging on but looking worse every day, zoas browned and melted, the Stylophora bleached.

Only two things still looking ok are a goniastrea, that doesn't extend polyps at night anymore, and the ricordea, which is even splitting.

I hope this is helpful for someone using Gdex in the future, this product is NOT the same as Prazipro, it does not affect the livestock the same way and has most likely a different composition.

 

[Stelioshah]

I just went through using a full dose (5 day period, per instructions) of esha gdex in my dt. First it was my blasto, then in was my leptastrea in the end my zoas and my stylo, all started melting. I also did a repeated dose because my clowns had tape worms. Within a few days all of my corals lost their color and most started melting. No invert deaths, there's definitely something else in it unfortunately.

I did a 50-60% water change in the end and added a huge bag of carbon, it's been 5 days without any reduction in coral stress. As esha say, they do not have enough evidence yet to claim that it is completely reef safe. I guess that if it was pure praziquantel, given that other praziquantel solutions are concedered reef safe, it would be in their favour to claim their product as completely reef safe aswell. This makes it even more likely to me that there is also something else in it.

 

[blakki73]

Yes, that's the same conclusion I got to, the deaths of my Chromis were most likely due to toxins in the water, that the carbon can only absorb to a certain point, cause they are continuously released.

I did manage to save a few corals in the end, what reverted the down spiral was removing all zoas and soft corals from the DT, that seemed to be what kept me from recovering, cause as soon as I did, everything started to come back.

The Stylophora now is growing again, and the goniastrea is coming back. The ricordea was completely unaffected by everything lol

It's also worth saying that I did use Gdex in QT while the tank was fallow, and it worked flawlessly and painlessly there, no problems at all. The two clowns and the Salarias are still alive, fat and happy, back in DT, no white feces ever.

 

[Stelioshah]

lol, this thing is so toxic that it literally wiped the entire aiptasia population I had in my dt. Yet, no CAUTION message in instructions. The negative effects at least seem to slow down..