# Seachem Paraguard or Hikari Prazipro (loach/shrimps safe?)



## Manami (Sep 29, 2015)

Hello. I have a Electric Blue Ram that is making poop (parasite?). But he seems ok. He's not swimming in the surface or staying still in a corner. He's even the first to reach the surface to get food. Only negative I'm seeing is that he's neither too fat or noticibly thin... his belly is simply not rounded enough like the bolivian ram.

I tested the water of my tank and it's reading almost high on nitrate (or the other). Ammonia is good. Maybe that's why the EBR is pooping white? I read somewhere that the white poop can sometimes be that the fish is feeling stressed.

I bought a "natural" anti parasite called Microlift Herbtana from petco. But I don't want to use it yet because I still haven't found info about if it's safe for shrimps and loaches. The bottles says that it's safe for "all fish", but I'm still not convinced.

I'm going to buy online either the seachem paraguard or Hikari prazipro, but which one is safest for shrimps and loaches? I want to use it directly to the tank (in case of parasite spread).

Thank you.


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## WaterLife (Jul 1, 2015)

Do you mean the poop is clear/white? Is it slimy?

Fish can also poop clear/empty strands simply if their stomach is empty. Whether they are healthy and just didn't eat/get fed or they are sick/stressed and not eating.
I've also heard a internal bacterial infection can cause white/clear slimy poo.

By ammonia being "good", it should be 0 ppm, same for nitrites. Nitrates being high isn't much of a worry and would not cause enough stress for a fish not to eat.
Stress can also be from other disease/illness or stress from tankmates or other factors.

The belly being not too big or too small, and if the fish does indeed eat a lot/as much as the chubby fish, then it could be internal parasites. If not fed well/much, then it would get skinny.

If it is internal parasites, you can use Praziquantel (found in PraziPro) or Metronidazole (found in Seachem MetroPlex/Aquazole). There is also API General Cure which contains some of both ingredients, but I would just use one or the other preferably. For your case I would use Metronidazole preferably (it does a bit more, especially since disease isn't 100% confirmed). Prazi is still good though. Treating the water column dosing. All safe for plants and inverts. Metro isn't specifically listed as invert safe due to the required testing to prove so (many species of inverts), but many people have used Metro with inverts and have had no problems at all. Even heard of it being used on a tank with daphnia, which is a small sensitive crustacean, and no problems. Safe for "scaleless" fish also. Very gentle in my experience.

Paraguard would definitely be "less safe"/harsher than Prazi or Metro.

In regards to Herbtana, that one's in the air. They don't even list their ingredients on a MSDS report. Under the "Health Hazard Data" a lot of cautions about irritations or infections, so I would personally be hesitant of using it. When I was considering/researching Herbtana a while back, I looked up reviews/experiences with it, although most of them being used on Saltwater tanks, but the effectiveness of the product doesn't seem to hold up well, with the majority of users not having success. There was people who even used it for over a month and it never cured the infection, it slowed progression down some, but no cure. I will give it the benefit of the doubt, since there are many variables (water parameters) that can effect meds effectiveness and so others treatment outcome may be affected as a result. I myself, like to use safer, natural methods of curing diseases, and so I wanted to like Herbtana, but from all I have read on it, it's not one I would feel comfortable using or recommending. Some have complained that it harmed their corals/reefs, others not, so I am unsure how safe it is for inverts and plants. It does caution about using it on open wounds, which is concerning of how "safe" it is.

There is also this article about Herbtana
Organic Aquarium Treatments; Melaluca, Pimenta, Naphthoquinones

Oh, just read Herbtana's explained "use" on parasites. It is not a dewormer/anti-parasitic, so it won't expel/kill off the internal parasites. If I am understanding it correctly, it is simply saying the product will increase the immune system strength and allow the fish to live and naturally fend off parasites. Pretty much means the fish shouldn't succumb/die/get progressively worse even though it has parasites (which in itself isn't too promising). Or maybe through Redox, it prevents parasites from infecting the fish (but read the article above disputing this claim). Oh, sorry, just read the product description on F&S, it says it will treat gill and skin flukes (parasites), but says nothing about other parasites such as worms (trematodes, etc).

Well enough of that. The fish sounds to be doing well so there is no big concern. Prazi and Metro are very safe and so are worth trying out if you are unsure what actually (if anything) is effecting the one ram (maybe it's healthy and just a sexual dimorphism or lower in the hierarchy/just eats less?).


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## Manami (Sep 29, 2015)

Sorry for the late reply.

His poop sometimes looks more clear white than full white and a little long (but not longer than half his body). I'm not sure if his poop ever looked completely white before. It's the first time any of my fish ever showed that symptom before (it's either ich or dropsy). I don't think it looks slimy. 

He does breathes faster than the rest. But so far he looks good physically. Not too thin or worry fat.

Yes, ammonia is 0ppm. What worries me is nitrate. I'll need to do a water change tomorrow. 

One of my otocinclus is missing. It's either hiding or maybe sick? I hope not. I moved and cut some plants last night. Hope I didn't bury him by accident! Yikes!

I wouldn't want to use API general cure. I never used it, but I prefer to use liquid.

I looked info about prazipro and it looks like people like to use it once or twice a year for preventing parasites in the tank (not sure if they used it only for one day or several days). I haven't looked at metro yet, but so far I liked what I read about people using prazipro.

I'll keep the herbtana just in case. It's just weird that something called "natural" doesn't show the list of the ingredients. I bought it out of desperation XD.

Oh my, it's so hard taking a good picture of my ram! I also give them Vitachem once a week. Gotta give them their vitamins!


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