Disease?

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I typically use 250mg of cipro per gallon of water for a one to two hour dip.

Can you expand your point on Nitrofurazone? I thought it’s a commonly used anti-bacterial med and common meds like fura-2 or the green powder from fish pharma has it as a main ingredient.

Antibiotics are just not as effective when used as an external dip, even at higher than static bath doses. A typical static bath for cipro/enro is 25mg to 50mg/gallon. so your shorter dose is over five times that. You end up incurring all of the possible toxicity of the higher dose, without the long term benefits of a lower dose, 24 hour static bath.

Nitrofurazone (Nifurpirinol) has a lot going against it when used in aquariums; aside from the annoying discoloration of the water - it is bacteriostatic versus bactericidal, some fish do not absorb it from the water (and there is no definitive list). Some fish are sensitive to it (catfish, etc.) it is a human health concern, and worst of all for reef tanks, it is rapidly deactivated by bright light.

I used to use it by the kilo (grin) but I've gone on to using other antibiotics.

I will say that choosing ANY antibiotic for use in aquariums without running a sensitivity study is a pure guess. When anyone says, "use this antibiotic" they are really just saying, "this is my best guess". Sometimes, the guess pans out, sometimes it doesn't.

Jay