Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Is it true that only ammonia-based disinfectants like Oocide will kill coccidia and crypto?

Anyone know where I can buy some online?

Thanks,

Quaternary Ammonia based disinfectants are the only ones proven to kill cryptosporidium. They will also kill other coccidians. One very good brand is Roccal-D. It is available through veterinary supply houses at about $50.00 per gallon. You dilute it 128:1 with water, so one gallon of Raccal-D concentrate will make 128 gallons of disinfectant. There are some viruses that Roccal won't kill, but Chlorine Bleach will. I use both, in rotation. I clean once with Roccal, then the next time with a 20% Chlorine bleach solution. With both you need to make very sure that you rinse all residue off thoroughly, then dry before placing the animals back in the cage. All disinfectants are inhibited by the presence of solid fecal material (you can't disinfect poop), so you should clean the cage first removing all fecal matter with just water, then use the Roccal or Bleach. Roccal-D is very toxic, so it should be kept out of the reach of children.

Oldherper, you are the best.

I ran across an article at a univeristy site (will find the link if you are interested) about disinfectants. What caught my attention was that it listed Roccal-D (quaternary ammonium) as ineffective against coccidia and crypto. Instead it listed ammonia (not the same thing as ammonium) as effective against the oocysts from these beasts.

Some further checking confirmed that Oocide (ammonia based) is what they use in the livestock industry (poultry, sheep, etc) to control coccidians.

According the doc I saw, the only other thing that works on crypto is formaldehyde--with a minimum of 18 hours of exposure!

Anyway, someone somewhere has to know the scoop. In the meantime I'm disinfecting with dish soap, ammonia, thoroughly rinse, bleach (not mixing with ammonia!), then rinse again thoroughly and sun dry for 12 hours minimum. I've ordered some Roccal-D and will try that too when it arrives.

Turns out this isn't available in the US. Oh well.

Roccal isn't available in the US? I have it and I live in the US....I have about 1/3 gallon left. Who said it isn't available? You may have to get a Vet to order it for you, but as far as I know it's available unless this is something recent (since I last ordered it a couple of years ago).

My bad. OO-Cide isn't available in the US. Roccal-D most certainly is. My Roccal was delivered on Monday.

BTW: Any microscrope recommendations?

No joke. Quick freeze the surface with liquid nitrogen.

See this link:

http://www.inweh.unu.edu/inweh/cryptosporidium/1x6_s5.htm

Other interesting points about Oocysts:

-they don't mind sunlight
-they are unaffected by any and all liquid disinfectants
-they can survive temperature extremes of -22C to 60C

Aside fron quick freezing, the best way to kill them seems to be dessication (making the surface absolutely dry).

Would those portable steam cleaners like the steam buggy be good for disinfecting surfaces? I'm guessing exposure isn't long enough.

I've been corresponding with some folks in the aggie department at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Here's the final word I got today:

"No disinfectants kill coccidia. Heat or drying work best."

Which basically confirms what I've been reading elsewhere. Extremes of temperature will kill the oocysts. The other way is to dry them out. If they get too dry then they open up and the little sporozoites emerge (which normally only happens inside the host animal's intestines once the oocysts are ingested). The sporozoites don't last long out of the oocysts in the environment. How long does this take? Still looking into that, but probably longer than 10 minutes and shorter than 6 months.

Steam is a fantastic sterilizer because of the heat (the water conveys the heat). That's how an autoclave works. But in this case I think you are correct that exposure times would be problematic--it would just take too long to hold the steam on one area for, say, a minute, then move on. You'd be there all day. And the residual moisture would work against you.

BTW: I wrote to the manufacturer of Roccal and they confirmed it is ineffective against coccidians. Maybe I'll write up a chart of all the various disinfectants once I fill in a few more blanks.

Anyway, I think this may be why the Bearded Dragons guys and gals have such a time dealing with coccidia--none of their cleaning or disinfecting is killing any oocysts. You kill the parasite inside the hosts body with Albon (though, since they live inside the animal's cells that's not 100% effective either) but they just keep getting reinfected by oocysts in the enclosure.

Hey, if anyone has a Bearded Dragon and coccidia problem and is willing to experiment I would love to hear from you.

Here's the link to the manufacturer website:

http://www.antecint.co.uk/index.htm

Here's some info from the site:

OO-CIDE -Breaking the cycle of coccidial infection

3. PROBLEMS OF DISINFECTION

There are numerous recommendations for coccidia control by disinfectant manufacturers proposing the use of products which have been shown by independent researchers to be ineffective in reducing the oocyst population in the environment.

Tabulated below are chemical recently reported as UNSUITABLE for oocyst control (Campbell et al 1982 and Poultry World 1978).

Iodophor at 4% concentration
Cresylic Acid at 5% concentration
Sodium Hypochlorite at 3% concentration
Benzalkonium Chloride at 10% concentration
Formalin at 5% concentration
Copper Sulphate at 5% concentration
Sulphuric Acid at 10% concentration
Potassium Hydroxide at 5% concentration
Potassium Iodide at 5% concentration
Potassium Dichromate at 2.5% concentration
Formaldehyde fumigation
Peracetic Acid fumigation

The reason they are ineffective in killing oocysts is related directly to the structure of the oocyst.

Structure of oocysts

The walls of the oocyst consist of an electron-dense, 10nm outer layer and 90nm inner layer. The former constitutes 25% of the total wall mass and contains fatty acids, fatty alcohols, phospholipids and cholesterol. P-Hexacosanol makes up 23% of the oocyst wall allowing passage of only small uncharged molecules. The inner layer is readily soluble in any agents which are capable of breaking disulphide linkages. It is mainly composed of glycoprotein with a molecular weight of 10,000. Cysteine is not found in the free glycoprotein but is associated with the fraction of low molecular weight after solubilisation. Since the outer layer, the protective barrier, will only allow the passage of small uncharged molecules, it is clear why the products tested, and indeed any liquid disinfectant, cannot possible be effective.

OO-CIDE - THE CONCEPT

The severity of coccidial infection of a given host by a given species of Eimeria is DIRECTLY RELATED TO THE NUMBER OF SPORULATED OOCYTS INGESTED.

The aim in developing OO-Cide was to produce a coccidiacidal disinfectant capable of reducing the numbers of oocysts in the environment to such a low level that:

Coccidiostats or coccidiacides in feed or water can be more effective, and/or used at lower dosage levels or frequency.
The problem of toxicity and performance suppression associated with coccidiostats can gradually be reduced.
The possibility challenge can be minimized during the critical susceptible period prior to vaccination (when possible) and development of immunity.

OO-CIDE - THE PRODUCT

OO-Cide is fully effective in destroying coccidial oocyst, because, unlike other disinfectants, it penetrates the electron dense outer layer of the wall of the oocyst. This is achieved by the production of a low molecular weight gas in situ on the outer wall of the oocyst, which is not repelled by the charged electron barrier. The active biocides in OO-Cide then gain access to the disulphide links of the inner layer and rupture them.