Erythromycin dosage

[ryewalk84]

Is the dosage for erythromycin different for saltwater? Package says to dose 1 packet per 10 gallons. Have a fish in QC that has an infection from flukes all over the top of its head. Currently dosed what the package says but a lot of stuff that I’ve been reading says that saltwater requires double the dosage. Can’t find anything on erythromycin.

 

[ryewalk84]

 

[ryewalk84]

Pictures didn’t capture well so here is a video. Is it possible this is brook or is it just a really bad infection. Never had to deal with brook before.

 

[Big G]

It's hard to see in the video, is it only the head area peeling, sloughing off?

 

[ryewalk84]

So far yes. Have had the fish in qt for 11 days. Was slowly ramping up cupramine with 5 drops a day in a 20 gallon. Checked for flukes and it was pretty bad around the eyes and head. Prazipro was dosed this past Sunday and a 25% water change was done yesterday after 24 hours with Prazipro in the tank. I didn’t notice the shedding of the skin until today after work. Didn’t get a super good look when I left this morning so not sure when it started.

 

[Big G]

Check out this link and take a good look at the fish at the top of the first page. Does this resemble what you are seeing. Bacterial infections are usually secondary to some other primary actor like parasites, worms, etc.

TANK TERROR: Bacterial Infections in the Reef Tank - REEFEDITION

Editor’s Note: The reef aquarium hobby is not for the faint of heart. Maintaining a complex ecosystem can be a daunting task with many variables in play that all have effect on one another. However, beyond the effort to maintain the ecosystem and address common day-to-day Read more here...

www.reefedition.com

 

[ryewalk84]

It looks fairly similar. It’s more red but could just be the coloration off the fish showing through more. It looks like it’s only the top layer of skin where as that fish looks like the infection is deeper.

 

[Big G]

OK, so I'm leaning bacterial infection. Brook is usually wide spread head to tail. This is probably the result of those flukes. Erythromycin is really more of a gram positive and a little bit gram negative bacterial treatment med. And it works great on eye infections. But, for head infections highly recommend Sufaplex + neoplex.

 

[ryewalk84]

I went with erythromycin because I noticed the cloudy eyes first. I can get furan 2 much faster. Thoughts on that? Will have to order your recommendation or go on the hunt to see if anyone local carries it.

 

[Big G]

Furan2 is very good.
NFG powder is even better.
Both are very good all purpose wide spectrum antibiotics.

Sulfaplex is also known as Triple Sulfa

 

[ryewalk84]

Thanks for the infOrmation. Hopefully the antibiotics will heal it quickly and it can get back to its normal self. It’s been pretty lethargic but I’ve also been keeping the lights out. Have any knowledge on swim bladder problems? This batch of fish has not been good so far. Have another wrasse that is upside down. It can sometimes flip over but it’s pretty rare. I’ve tried Epsom salts in hopes of constipation and it is also in erythromycin right now in case of bacteria. Next step would be trying to release the gas from the swim bladder if it doesn’t improve.

 

[Big G]

Antibiotics work very slowly on fish. 10-14 days usually for them to work completely through the process.

Swim bladder infections can be difficult as they are usually the result of poor collection techniques. But we see some success by treating with Kanaplex. Can treat the water in a QT or even better if the fish is eating, mix food + kanaplex + focus (binder) + RO to your desired consistency to work with. The kanaplex has a couple of benefits. One it being a wide spectrum antibiotic, helps with the infection of the bladder. Two it has as a side effect can help with expelling poo. Sometimes it is quite dramatic, "whoosh" out comes the poo. Feed the mix every day for up to 10 days.

 

[ryewalk84]

Will see if I can find those. In regards to the other one with the skin shedding on it’s head, it doesn’t look to be worse but doesn’t look better yet. After reading/watching about doing the procedure on the swim bladder they recommended adding iodine to reduce infection. This is new to me. I have lugols iodine. Should I put some on the sound of the fish that already has the infection to speed up the process or is that a bad idea?

 

[Big G]

This is the only product I've used on wounds/lesions.

The iodine might be a bit harsh on that large of a wound/lesion. Similar to how we avoid putting H2O2 on large wounds.