Treating Bacterial Infections

[ca1ore]

One of the biggest challenges for me has been what to keep on hand to treat fish. Although I had used cupramine for many years to treat ich, I've now moved over to chloroquine phosphate to address any ich, velvet or even uronema problems that may crop up in QT. I am able to get proper CP from a local vet so am comfortable with it. I am unsure whether it will also treat brook, but am fortunate to not have ever had it. Other than more common incidence of ich and velvet, I have also been seeing more frequent bacterial infections, usually gram-negative pathogens. I typically keep a number of antibiotics in hand. I always use Nitrofuracin green powder in a single dose for incoming fish to ease acclimation and any ammonia burn that may have occurred during collection and transport. I will also use repeating doses as my first line of defense against bacterial infections. I had a long thread over on RC recounting my issues with mouth infections in pyramid butterflyfish and how NGP was instrumental in getting them through (still have 3 of them years later). Sometimes NGP isn't enough, and I will turn to Cipro, usually in the form of Fish Flox. I have kept magnifica anemones for decades, and antibiotic treatments of Cipro have proven significant in improving the sucess rate with these anemones. I figured Cipro would be a good option for fish. I can almost always successfully treat ich, sometimes velvet .... My success with bacterial infections is in between. I recently took in a 'rescue' flame angel that was in really rough shape. Either a really bad case of ich or velvet. I was able to successfully treat that with CP, but then it developed a secondary bacterial infection. Thought it was likely a gonner (was also quite thin at that point), but with a seven day course of Fish Flox, it pulled though. Took a few months, but it gradually put back in most of what I'd judge to be a healthy weight. I have not always had success. Lost some anthais at about the same time that was either uronema or a vibrio infection. I took a guess that it was the latter - still don't know, but the fish all perished.

I generally use 250 mg of Fish Flox/Cipro per 10 gallons of water. Same dosage that I used with anemones based on the recommendation of OrionN (the author of the anemone thread). I also keep septra on hand (Fish Sulfa Forte) in case the Cipro fails to work .... and the fish is still alive.

I'm certainly not the last word on this, so didn't do this as an article, preferring a thread. Please contribute any thoughts or experiences.

 

[Humblefish]

Excellent thread! I'm a big fan of NFG as well, although I typically use it in a small uncycled QT due to methylene blue's tendency to destroy nitrifying bacteria. Have you noticed the same issue with cipro? Have you ever combined cipro with CP, prazi, or other medications??

 

[ca1ore]

Oh, as an addendum, these antibiotic treatments will often bugger up the bacterial filters on the QT tank, so having some ammonia neutralizer like prime on hand is wise. As far as I can tell, prime isn't problematic with either CP or Cipro like it is with cupramine.

 

[ca1ore]

Have you ever combined cipro with CP, prazi, or other medications??

I have not ..... mostly because I haven't had to. If Minh/OrionN sees this perhaps he can comment. I'm not aware of problems in combining them, but he may have a more informed view.

 

[Humblefish]

@OrionN

 

[OrionN]

I am not home. I will post once I return home on Monday. We may need to increase antibiotic to a higher dose to get the concentration to effective level in the fish.

 

[Big G]

++1 on the NFG. For me it is my go to for incoming butterfly fish, especially Copperbands.

 

[drstardust]

I always use Nitrofuracin green powder in a single dose for incoming fish to ease acclimation and any ammonia burn that may have occurred during collection and transport. I will also use repeating doses as my first line of defense against bacterial infections.

Very interesting and sounds like a great idea. I was hoping you could provide some more details....
So you do one dose into a QT (or do you do it as a prolonged dip beforehand)? For how long? Followed by a water change? Combined with CP?

 

[ca1ore]

I add a single dose of NGP to my QT when a new fish is inbound. I set mine up as needed rather than keeping them running fallow (with one exception). It's a quarter teaspoon per 20 gallons dosed to the tank water, not as a dip. I typically run the tank on the dark side and don't feed for a couple of days. As the lights come up, I will do a 50% water change and then add seeded biomedia, that way the NGP will have less affect on the biofilter. Removing meds is actually the only time I do water changes. I cannot see why using CP with NGP would be a problem, but CP can depress appetite, so unless there are observable disease symptoms I don't use it until the fish are eating well.

 

[drstardust]

Great, thanks

 

[OrionN]

Using Cipro 25 mg/gallon like adequate for infection on the surface of the fish or on the gill. Internal infection, it is going much harder to estimate. We have no way of knowing how the antibiotic get into the fish. It is highly unlikley that the drug defuse into the fish unimpeded though the gill.
I would consider increase the dosage 10 fold, 250 mg per gal, but only keep the fish in it for 1 hr then remove him back to antibiotic free water. This is equivalent to delivering medication though inhalation in human. The other way to get med into a fish is have him eat it, ot take him out and pump it into his stomach