API General Cure not so reef safe ?

[DarkTonio]

Hello reefers,
One of my clown fishes had a white string coming from his butt. I decided to treat with api general cure soaked in food following Humblefish’s recipe.
Unfortunately my lysmata amboinesis shrimp grabbed a chunk and went away with it. Next day i found it dead on a rock…
I am very surprised (and sad) because the shrimp was young and I read everywhere that this method is reef safe. I tested water and no change. It cant be just a coincidence… Maybe it is not that safe for inverts after all?

 

[DrZoidburg]

Only because it is a combination of medications I can't say which it would be. I have a suspicion what one. Some inverts may not be effected. It is clear this shrimp is in the do not list. I would agree with you in your case it seemed to be not reef safe. As I understand it not supposed to feed in a way where food escapes. Sorry about your shrimp though.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hello reefers,
One of my clown fishes had a white string coming from his butt. I decided to treat with api general cure soaked in food following Humblefish’s recipe.
Unfortunately my lysmata amboinesis shrimp grabbed a chunk and went away with it. Next day i found it dead on a rock…
I am very surprised (and sad) because the shrimp was young and I read everywhere that this method is reef safe. I tested water and no change. It cant be just a coincidence… Maybe it is not that safe for inverts after all?

Sorry to hear about your shrimp. Dosing medicated foods is surprisingly difficult to do properly. Then, as you saw, uneaten food can reach non-target animals. Usually, this isn't too much of an issue. In this case, I suspect the metronidazole in the GC caused the problem (because shrimp handle baths in the other GC ingredient (praziquantel) pretty well.

Here is an article I posted on medicated foods:

https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/proper-dosing-of-medicated-foods.780/


Jay Hemdal

 

[websurfer]

hello I'm also following @Humblefish OT guide for my Engineer Goby's.

They have been doing great for 2 weeks now and I'm starting the 10-14 day soak with Api general cure.
The only thing I cant figure out is how much do you put in your food as I have the 10 gallon packets. How much did you dose in your food?

 

[Breadbox]

I'm not sure why API meds never caution against using it in reef tanks, whatever that kills parasite is going to affect, if not kill desirable invertebrates.