antibacterial treatment

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Therese
Posts: 45
Joined: Thu Dec 30, 2010 9:55 pm
Location: Lantana, Florida, USA

antibacterial treatment

Post by Therese » Mon Apr 25, 2011 10:39 am

I have had a case of tail and fin rot on one now 2 dojos...wish to begin antibacterial treatment for tank. Had tried Maracyn Plus, but at half dose a couple weeks ago, did not have an impact. Asking advice as to what treatment to use...maracyn plus at the full recommended dose, maracyn and maracyn 2, or melafix...have all those on hand. Or something else. The tank has all loaches and one rainbow shark (which may be bloated and hiding) and a algae eater, who seems just fine. The loaches as a whole are hiding more. The TDS has been higher in spite of water changes (400s). I am new to the hobby, so I ask those with experience, What would be best course of treatment.

Therese
Posts: 45
Joined: Thu Dec 30, 2010 9:55 pm
Location: Lantana, Florida, USA

Re: antibacterial treatment

Post by Therese » Tue Apr 26, 2011 10:26 am

I am going with maracyn plus at full dose and also going to feed them Jungle's anti-bacteria fish food, which states can be used with external water treatments..however, I wonder if that would be too much...maybe I should do the food after the treatment?

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ahmandi2
Posts: 221
Joined: Tue Oct 12, 2010 7:43 am
Location: Northeast Pennsylvania

Re: antibacterial treatment

Post by ahmandi2 » Tue Apr 26, 2011 8:58 pm

Great info from Loach Orgy when I was also dealing with a wicked, awful fin rot/*possibly columnaris* infection......great advice...and a great link to check out your symptoms (a great place to start, worst case...a great place to find the cure, best case!)...
Postby LoachOrgy » Fri Feb 18, 2011 7:14 pm
i was battling bacterial septicima/fin rot in my tank for a good 2 years. i could not get rid of it. it only affected my tropical fish not the loaches. i tried mycin, metronidazole, kanaplex, aquadoxy, nitrofurizone, furan 2, fungus clear, acriflavin, formalin. none worked.
i tried this stuff called tmp sulfa. i had some results using the triple sulfa available at the local fs. but it was so expensive that i stopped using it. someone told me that this triple sulfa can be toxic if you don't do the proper water changes. this is what i did.
i treated the recommended dose and did a 25% water change for a 10 day dose. after 5 days the symptoms started to lighten on the fish. after 2 weeks, the visible signs were gone for the symptoms. both fish are doing well now with no issues. otherwise, i lost about 15 tropical fish over a 2 year period from this nasty stuff. i tried everything everyone recommended. none worked. it might just be my particular situation. or whatever is in my tank, but for me this stuff worked great. and it filters out easy with charcoal.
i also vacuumed my gravel about 2 times weekly. not the entire tank just in 3rds so i didn't stir up too much nastiness. ive got my tds in my tank about 180 and the water is about 130 after the water conditioner.
this blog has some useful information. this is just my personal experience. take it with a grain of salt. i also used those test strips to check the parameters on a bi daily basis.
http://aquarium-medictions.blogspot.com/
here is where i got it. i only got a gram of it. tmp sulfa on this page.http://www.nationalfishpharm.com/products5.html
their shipping is over priced but they have bulk meds available.im scared to use maracyn2 it crashed my qt tank bio filter when i was treating fish and killed them all.i can't constantly monitor that type of thing when i work all day. so i get scared of bacterial meds that kill the bio filter.get a tds test meter and see how the tds in your tank is. if its over 300 thats not so great.i think the legal limit in drinkin water is 500. im not 100% sure.
"I'm not *THAT* kind of hunter"

Therese
Posts: 45
Joined: Thu Dec 30, 2010 9:55 pm
Location: Lantana, Florida, USA

Re: antibacterial treatment

Post by Therese » Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:29 am

thanks for info/links. I plan to finish with the Maracyn Plus treatment I started , one more dose on Friday...then do major water change...I did pick up some triple sulfa yesterday as I had been researching archives and saw that clip. It is only my 2 dojos that have a tail/ fin issue. The TDS is too high in tank. I think it is partially because I had added small amount of aquarium salt not long ago, thinking that may help with healing the fins, and I think I have been feeding my fish too much. They have all more then doubled in size since I have had them, about 5 months. I also had a problem with filter...have new, more powerful filter now.

I plan to tranfer all the fish except dojos to a new tank I have been setting up. I do have a problem because the tds in current tank is 372 and new tank is 264...Diana advised me, I believe that there shouldn't be more then 10-15% change in tds. Hopefully with one more water change after treatment, the tds will be closer... I guess that's another problem, I am thinking to add a tablespoon of salt to new tank if needed to get them closer in tds, then continue with partial water changes to reduce tds over time.
So, hopefully I will be able to transfer other fish this weekend (if I can get them out of the big rock cave they all --except dojos--hide in) to new tank, do some more vacuuming and water changes in that tank, then proceed with treating dojos with triple sulfa if they are no better or worse. With something like a tail fin, how long should does it take to heal? How quickly should I see difference from current treatment? Have you tried medicated food?

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ahmandi2
Posts: 221
Joined: Tue Oct 12, 2010 7:43 am
Location: Northeast Pennsylvania

Re: antibacterial treatment

Post by ahmandi2 » Thu Apr 28, 2011 4:27 pm

I haven't used medicated food except when combating a parasitic problem. And no fish would eat it lol. I think the dojo's did end up eating one or two, but by accident mostly :D. And my betta had some as well.
There is a procedure to make food medicated using powdered meds. You soak the food in the medication or something; I do not know how you do it; I've found instructions online a while back.
I'm positive someone in LoL could tell you how; that way, the fish get their fave treats and also a good dose of medication, without it affecting the tank/water....well not as much.
"I'm not *THAT* kind of hunter"

Therese
Posts: 45
Joined: Thu Dec 30, 2010 9:55 pm
Location: Lantana, Florida, USA

Re: antibacterial treatment

Post by Therese » Sat Apr 30, 2011 2:27 pm

...today the tank as a whole seems more perky...I am hoping the treatment will take.

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