Medicated flakes between rounds of GC?

Hi all,
I just finished a first round of General Cure. I am suspecting internal parasites and would like to know if it would be safe to give a round of medicated flakes before administering a second round of General Cure.
Factors influencing me include:
1) high pH (8.2) which can affect the effectiveness of the General Cure in the water column
2) the medicated flakes have levamisole, which is not included in General Cure- however praziquantel is in both products
3) I’ve already lost two fish. I want to try to get rid of this parasite as quickly as possible before losing any more while still being safe.
I appreciate your advice.
Thanks!

 

I am in a similar situation (death last night) and don’t have meds yet. Following

 

I am in a similar situation (death last night) and don’t have meds yet. Following

Well, looks like we may be on our own here. I’m going forward with my medicated flakes in between general cure rounds. They have praziquantel and levamisole. Since I don’t really know what parasite it is, I feel better with the levamisole coverage added. Plus, my high pH has potential to decrease the GC effectiveness.

 

Maybe I'm a bit late to the party, but for your information:
Praziquantel is only effective against hair-, round- and tapeworms.
Levamisole is only effective against round worms.
Meaning without Metronidazole the whole group of protozoan internal parasites is not being covered at all.

In case of Levamisole the treatment has to be repeated after 2 weeks as the worms are not immediately killed off but paralyzed and excreted with the feces. Eggs (in case the worms are egg laying, as there are also viviparous ones) survive the treatment with Levamisole, only Praziquantel kills them and the worms off for good.
I find a double treatment with both is redundant and puts unnecessary extra strain on the fish.

Also, how many rounds are you planning? ONE with Praziquantel OR Metronidazole is enough, provided you know it's worms or protozoans.

What's your source for the lower effectiveness of that med cocktail in high pH? Which of the active ingredients is affected?

 

Maybe I'm a bit late to the party, but for your information:
Praziquantel is only effective against hair-, round- and tapeworms.
Levamisole is only effective against round worms.
Meaning without Metronidazole the whole group of protozoan internal parasites is not being covered at all.

In case of Levamisole the treatment has to be repeated after 2 weeks as the worms are not immediately killed off but paralyzed and excreted with the feces. Eggs (in case the worms are egg laying, as there are also viviparous ones) survive the treatment with Levamisole, only Praziquantel kills them and the worms off for good.
I find a double treatment with both is redundant and puts unnecessary extra strain on the fish.

Also, how many rounds are you planning? ONE with Praziquantel OR Metronidazole is enough, provided you know it's worms or protozoans.

What's your source for the lower effectiveness of that med cocktail in high pH? Which of the active ingredients is affected?

Thanks for your reply! The General Cure has metronidazole in it along with the praziquantel. I've read things from a lot of different sources, so I can't say for certain where I read about pH affecting GC's effectiveness, but I think it was this forum when I was trying to find an answer to my treatment questions.
Aquarium Co-Op recommends doing treatment two weeks later with metro/prazi. Pretty sure that's where I got that idea.

 

Thanks for your reply! The General Cure has metronidazole in it along with the praziquantel. I've read things from a lot of different sources, so I can't say for certain where I read about pH affecting GC's effectiveness, but I think it was this forum when I was trying to find an answer to my treatment questions.

Hm. I see. I'm not a friend of using two meds at the same time unless absolutely necessary, as it raises the chances of losses of weaker animals up to a degree I would not be willing to go to.

Aquarium Co-Op recommends doing treatment two weeks later with metro/prazi. Pretty sure that's where I got that idea.

I promised myself not to rant about them for a month and I want to keep that promise.