bacterial infection in quaratine tank

[homegrowncichlid]

Hi all,
got a fish in QT with what started out as a small bacterial looking spot on his body, which has grown while using cupramine for ich for the past 3 weeks. I'm sure had I've done water changes every other day, it wouldn't have bloomed so much, but what's past is past. Now that I'm off cupramine, what works well for a slimy looking infection which covers half the body and fins? Looking for something that I can use for this, and maybe have a broader general use for the future.

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Have you looked into pimafix and melafix?

 

[homegrowncichlid]

from what I can see about pimafix (clove oil) or melafix (tea tree oil) is that they both have limited uses and only work on external infections. Since I don't know exactly what's infecting my fish, I've decided against them and am leaning towards antibiotics (triple sulfa), but that's really going to hit the fish hard.

Now that I'm off cupramine, I've stuck lots of calerupa in there (copper kills calerupa) and shining my lights so the algae can soak up the excess nutrients, limiting any futher bacterial blooms resulting from feedings. Also doing water changes twice a week, hoping the fish will clear it on his own.

I personally use tea tree oil in my mouthwash. Works great there. Better then scope by itself.

Their website recommends the combined use of both primafix and melafix and if that doesn't work then use antibiotics.

http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/AquariumMedication4.html

 

[Reef Fixations]

I like PraziPro and Maracyn.

 

[mbg75]

BiFuran works on gram neg and gram pos bacterias.

 

[homegrowncichlid]

maracyn is neutralized by calcium.
Quote from the website I linked earlier.

Minocycline (like other Tetracyclines) is easily absorbed by calcium, making this a poor choice for saltwater or high GH freshwater aquariums (such as African Cichlids, livebearers), in these cases Kanamycin is the better choice.

Bifuran seems promising and Kanamycin seems good. Now to see what they have locally.

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

Check E-mycin but I think they stop production, ask the pharmacist which is the substitute. Please check whether E-mycin falls along the same structure as the Tetracycline, if so no need to try. Information is available in the web.

 

[homegrowncichlid]

well couldn't find kanamycin anywhere, so I used furan-2 from API, a blend of nitrofurazone and furazolidone, and it is working wonders. Looks the same as bifuran+ from Hikari. The body slime and tail fin rot cleared up within hours. Unfortunately, I think it also destroyed what little biological capacity the little filter sponge had as the water turned pretty cloudy over night. So instead of redosing on day 2 as per instructions, I'm doing a 90% water change to flush out all the polutants and try to get the fish to eat something, before round 2. His tail fin is almost gone, and he's having problems swimming, but his pectorla fins are pretty active. Hopefully he'll get his appitite back in the next few hours, so I can redose.

 

[homegrowncichlid]

well ich broke out again, so I'm forced to use both furan-2 and cupramine at the same time. Guess I was too quick switching out of cupramine last week. Damn these butterflies with their bacterial/ichy infections!