Chloroquine Phosphate powder Dosing issues

[Mariette]

Instructions say 60mg/g. Seems a bit much no? Also, doesn’t specify if tank can have live rock during dosing. Will the rock absorb it like it does w copper? I’m at a loss here. Any info would be helpful. Thanks

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

That works out to be 15 mg/l which is a pretty standard dose.

Chloroquine is toxic to algae and many invertebrates. Using it with live rock will lower the quality of the rock by killing off invertebrates.

Run a Google search for: hemdal aquarium chloroquine . That should pull up an article I wrote about it a few years ago.

 

[Mariette]

That works out to be 15 mg/l which is a pretty standard dose.

Chloroquine is toxic to algae and many invertebrates. Using it with live rock will lower the quality of the rock, but it Jay

Run a Google search for: hemdal aquarium chloroquine . That should pull up an article I wrote about it a few years ago.

“Using it with live rock will lower the quality of the rock but it Jay”?

I will look up the article thanks. But I’m in Canada and there’s a sweeping ban on all kinds of meds here. I got lucky and ordered from the US a while back before the ban.

I wanted it for use w tangs and a watchman goby. They don’t do well w out algae and live rock so Chloroquine Phosphate is a really good alternative to copper. No inverts in qt to worry about.

 

[ThRoewer]

“Using it with live rock will lower the quality of the rock but it Jay”?

I will look up the article thanks. But I’m in Canada and there’s a sweeping ban on all kinds of meds here. I got lucky and ordered from the US a while back before the ban.

I wanted it for use w tangs and a watchman goby. They don’t do well w out algae and live rock so Chloroquine Phosphate is a really good alternative to copper. No inverts in qt to worry about.

I would use it in a sterile tank as certain bacteria "eat" the medication or render it ineffective.

 

[Mariette]

I would use it in a sterile tank as certain bacteria "eat" the medication or render it ineffective.

Thanks!

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

“Using it with live rock will lower the quality of the rock but it Jay”?

I will look up the article thanks. But I’m in Canada and there’s a sweeping ban on all kinds of meds here. I got lucky and ordered from the US a while back before the ban.

I wanted it for use w tangs and a watchman goby. They don’t do well w out algae and live rock so Chloroquine Phosphate is a really good alternative to copper. No inverts in qt to worry about.

Sorry - I was using my phone and that was a typo. I meant that Chloroquine will kill off any invertebrates on the live rock, rendering less "live" and more "rock".

Jay

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I would use it in a sterile tank as certain bacteria "eat" the medication or render it ineffective.

While that's true with praziquantel, I have a UV spectrophotometer, and can measure CP in solution and didn't find that the concentration dropped off very fast at all - over weeks as opposed to days/hours with prazi.

Jay

 

[Jposch]

While that's true with praziquantel, I have a UV spectrophotometer, and can measure CP in solution and didn't find that the concentration dropped off very fast at all - over weeks as opposed to days/hours with prazi.

Jay

Interesting. In the past, I've qt'd with CP with no biofikter established. Just clean tank, and prime daily until ammonia is no longer detected. No w/c, no "top up" dosing. Never had issues. Now, I'm being more careful about doing w/c and dosing back that amount, etc. I guess I'll stop worrying as much about degradation. I've seen mentions that even 20mg/gal. Is effective, so if one starts at 40mg, how long would that last with a strong biofilter present?

 

[ThRoewer]

While that's true with praziquantel, I have a UV spectrophotometer, and can measure CP in solution and didn't find that the concentration dropped off very fast at all - over weeks as opposed to days/hours with prazi.

Jay

Well, it may be that some bacteria degrade it while others don't and the results depend on the bacteria strains you have in a given tank. People have had mixed results and there were some reports where they tested it also with a spectrometer and, as I recall, it was found degrading. So I think there would have to be a much broader study done to come to a definitive conclusion.
So I would rather err on the side of caution.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Interesting. In the past, I've qt'd with CP with no biofikter established. Just clean tank, and prime daily until ammonia is no longer detected. No w/c, no "top up" dosing. Never had issues. Now, I'm being more careful about doing w/c and dosing back that amount, etc. I guess I'll stop worrying as much about degradation. I've seen mentions that even 20mg/gal. Is effective, so if one starts at 40mg, how long would that last with a strong biofilter present?

I’ve never used it as low as 20 mg/gallon, so can’t tell you if it works well or not.
I’ve always used 4 weeks as the time chloroquine remains effective in aquariums, but that is based on the old Marex instructions. Noga says 3 weeks, and I’d probably opt for that value. Trouble is, without a UV spec you have now way of determining the residual dose.
Jay

 

[Jposch]

Well, I treat them 10-14 days at 80F and transfer them to a clean tank. The treatment tanks are heated up to like 108 for a few hours (104F for an hour is minimum) between batches just in case. I run it hotter and longer to account for any "cool spots." That keeps the biofilter intact. And should take care of any Tomonts. 99% water change on treatment tanks before starting a new batch. Cp dose split up to 2 doses of 20mg/gal. 24hrs. Apart. After a 2 day period of settling in with no meds. So, I imagine in 10-14 days, the chloroquine concentration should not be degraded much.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Well, I treat them 10-14 days at 80F and transfer them to a clean tank. The treatment tanks are heated up to like 108 for a few hours (104F for an hour is minimum) between batches just in case. I run it hotter and longer to account for any "cool spots." That keeps the biofilter intact. And should take care of any Tomonts. 99% water change on treatment tanks before starting a new batch. Cp dose split up to 2 doses of 20mg/gal. 24hrs. Apart. After a 2 day period of settling in with no meds. So, I imagine in 10-14 days, the chloroquine concentration should not be degraded much.

I agree, the CP should still be at the treated dose after only two weeks.

Jay

 

[Operation Philo Beddoe]

That works out to be 15 mg/l which is a pretty standard dose.

Chloroquine is toxic to algae and many invertebrates. Using it with live rock will lower the quality of the rock by killing off invertebrates.

Run a Google search for: hemdal aquarium chloroquine . That should pull up an article I wrote about it a few years ago.

Great article, thx

 

[Operation Philo Beddoe]

I agree, the CP should still be at the treated dose after only two weeks.

Jay

Hello Jay,
Thanks again for the article. I’ve recently been advised by my QT Marine vendor that they recommend 80mg/gallon with 10-15% redose every 48hrs.
I’m doing the 80mg dose w/ re-dose to an established QT (was green algae on rocks) which is more like a new DT.
40 gal breeder w/ 20Long sump. Here on day 9 all green algae has been gone. Water was cloudy until day 8, did a 15 gal water change ( w/ CP) on day 6.
After reading your article, and with all algae dead and gone I was thinking about dialing back upon the re-dose. I’m planning to have them in meds for 30 days.
What are your thoughts on dialing back to maybe every 4 days to redose, or more?
3440 mg initial
516mg = 15% re-dose
43 gallon water volume (conservative)
2 small tangs, 2 clowns 1 coral beauty.
Cryptic (not Chaeto) reactor.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hello Jay,
Thanks again for the article. I’ve recently been advised by my QT Marine vendor that they recommend 80mg/gallon with 10-15% redose every 48hrs.
I’m doing the 80mg dose w/ re-dose to an established QT (was green algae on rocks) which is more like a new DT.
40 gal breeder w/ 20Long sump. Here on day 9 all green algae has been gone. Water was cloudy until day 8, did a 15 gal water change ( w/ CP) on day 6.
After reading your article, and with all algae dead and gone I was thinking about dialing back upon the re-dose. I’m planning to have them in meds for 30 days.
What are your thoughts on dialing back to maybe every 4 days to redose, or more?
3440 mg initial
516mg = 15% re-dose
43 gallon water volume (conservative)
2 small tangs, 2 clowns 1 coral beauty.
Cryptic (not Chaeto) reactor.

That is a pretty high dose for CP. I started seeing fish toxicity at that dose - wrasses and lion fish for sure, maybe others.
The time that CP remains active in an aquarium is determined by biological breakdown of the compound. I used to think I could measure it with a UV spectrophotometer, but somebody here on R2R from Europe showed me that when CP breaks down, the resulting compound still shows up n the test. Therefore, you cannot measure how long CP remains active. I’ve then since changed my advice to changing 25% of the tank water weekly and adding a 25% dose of CP at the same time.
Jay

 

[ReefHog]

I’ve been very successful at 60ml/gal with 25% pre-treated water changes every other day for 14 days. Then into new sterile observation tank with active bio filter.