Amoxicillin or other antibiotics to treat livestock: Are you doing it?

[Greybeard]

1. Are you using Amoxicillin or other antibiotics to treat corals or other livestock?

2. What have you used and what were the results?

Yup...

My chickens . (That would be 'other livestock', right?)

In my tank? Nope. Was always told that antibiotics can be harmful to our bio filter. Might well be one of those old saws with no basis in truth... I wouldn't have a clue.

 

[BobbyCline]

I’m very confident this stuff saved my Euphyllia from extinction.

 

[Proteus Meep]

Only twice In the past I used Chemiclean (for its antibiotic properties )..to dip zoas for a bacterial issue and to treat a hammer that got brown jelly due to a manic clownfish showing it a little too much love...it successfully halted and treated the BJD

 

[Proteus Meep]

I did the same to successfully stop a BJD infection on an orange wall hammer. I did not dose the DT though, I moved the hammer to a hospital tank for a week. I did dose chemiclean in the DT though as I was losing some mushrooms and had some cyano problems in the attached frag tank. Seemed to help stop the loss of the shroom colony that was dying. I only did a half dose too.

Are you sure? The box specifically says that it is not erythromycin.

I got my cipro, amoxicillin and erythromycin from chewy without a prescription.

It says it's not erythromycin succinate, there are other forms ....the smell of erythromycin is... unmistakable

 

[brandon429]

Deadly fungi are becoming drug-resistant, and it's the next big public health threat, experts say

Before COVID-19 was even a part of our vocabulary, the CDC had long been monitoring a different, increasingly urgent threat.

www.yahoo.com

 

[ThRoewer]

I have used Cipro successfully to treat sick anemones.

For fish with finrot I use mostly Furan-2 (Nitrofurazone & Doxycycline Hyclate) as a go-to medication these days. Only if that doesn't help I try something stronger.

For Amphiprion species with skin and gill infections like Brooklynella or Trichodina I found Septra to be helpful, generally in combination with formalin baths.

I have more antibiotics on hand like Neomycin (Neoplex), Kanamycin (Kanaplex), Amoxicillin, Erythromycin (Chemiclean), just in case because by the time you need them it is usually too late trying to get them.

I also have Fluconazole (Reef Flux) against fungal infections (normally used as hair algae-killer).

I found that generally only new fish need treatments and even there only a few or certain species. I do my best to pre-screen all fish I buy at the store to make sure they don't come with something nasty, but sometimes things slip through. The majority of fish I had to treat were mail-order where screening wasn't possible.

 

[rusty hannon]

My wife uses it in her seahorse tank when needed although it hasn't been needed yet

 

[vlangel]

I had seahorses which are prone to infection and have treated very effectively with antibiotics. I chose Furan 2 or Triple Sulfa. I never treated in the tank but rather I treated in a hospital tank. Also many years ago I successfully treated a navarchus angel with cloudy pop eye with an antibiotic. Any fish with red streaks or ulcers can be healed a lot of the time with antibiotics.

 

[Belgian Anthias]

In several European countries the use in aquariums of products containing antibiotics has been banned because of the danger of breeding resistant strains in a small closed community. Certainly in aquariums with skimmers, which, due to the selective effect, promote the development of certain strains to the detriment of other strains, the risk of unwanted mutations is considerable.

Aside from the above, what happens to the all-important coral holobiont? Does the treatment solve anything?
How long should treated corals be kept in quarantine and how can the necessary diversity be restored after the genocide?

 

[van7271]

I've used Chemiclean on one of my tanks for Cyano. If you don't know, Chemiclean is erythromycin.

Didn’t know that. Thanks

 

[Robert Ranciato]

I have been losing corals to STN. Not 100% sure about the cause of the STN but I think I am fighting a bacterial issue at this point. Acans are showing skeleton and holed up, my trumpets have bailed out over a 2 month period and I am losing hope. Going to try Koral Recover but I just don't know the way to put the breaks on the sudden decline. Softies are doing fine, goni is doing great and birdsnest/montis are doing fine but I lose about a head a week on most of my LPS...

BJD seems pretty easy to identify but how about other bacterial infections? Where do you source Cipro?

Chewy.com has antibiotics

 

[Isolatedreefer]

Only twice In the past I used Chemiclean (for its antibiotic properties )..to dip zoas for a bacterial issue and to treat a hammer that got brown jelly due to a manic clownfish showing it a little too much love...it successfully halted and treated the BJD

When you used Chemiclean as a dip, do you remember what concentration you used?

 

[Proteus Meep]

When you used Chemiclean as a dip, do you remember what concentration you used?

If I remember correctly I just put about a third of a scoop in a couple of litres of tank water to make a strong dip, I dipped the zoas for about 20 minutes while also basting, they opened back up fully the next day after being closed for a couple of weeks

Same with the gold hammer for bjd.. I decided there was nothing to loose at that point, i blew off the visible infection with a baster and then let it sit for 20 mins, what remained of the heads flesh recovered

This leads me to assume that the Chemiclean hit the BJD a few other people here on UK forums have had similar success with it and zoa dipping for colony's that remain puzzlingly closed

 

[Isolatedreefer]

If I remember correctly I just put about a third of a scoop in a couple of litres of tank water to make a strong dip, I dipped the zoas for about 20 minutes while also basting, they opened back up fully the next day after being closed for a couple of weeks

Same with the gold hammer for bjd.. I decided there was nothing to loose at that point, i blew off the visible infection with a baster and then let it sit for 20 mins, what remained of the heads flesh recovered

This leads me to assume that the Chemiclean hit the BJD a few other people here on UK forums have had similar success with it and zoa dipping for colony's that remain puzzlingly closed

Thanks very much- worth a shot!

 

[Butcher333]

No, I rarely use chemicals in my tank. Makes for a more natural ecosystem.

People not being treated for bacterial infections would make for a more natural ecosystem as well. LoL. Scientists are using antibiotics in the ocean to try to save coral, so I don’t think someone using them for RTN/STN in a home aquarium to save thousands of dollars in coral is unfair or going to disrupt the ecosystem. Antibiotics are pretty rudimentary. I believe phages are a more scientific concept and the future of fighting pathogens. Natural and not likely to create resistant strains.

To answer the thread. After losing almost all my SPS to bacterial STN I started looking into a lot of things. I would consider it and am now starting an in tank treatment of Cipro. I also wouldn’t be shocked to learn that some coral farmers have used unnatural remedies to preserve livestock. Who knows?

 

[Andrews_aquarium]

People not being treated for bacterial infections would make for a more natural ecosystem as well. LoL. Scientists are using antibiotics in the ocean to try to save coral, so I don’t think someone using them for RTN/STN in a home aquarium to save thousands of dollars in coral is unfair or going to disrupt the ecosystem. Antibiotics are pretty rudimentary. I believe phages are a more scientific concept and the future of fighting pathogens. Natural and not likely to create resistant strains.

To answer the thread. After losing almost all my SPS to bacterial STN I started looking into a lot of things. I would consider it and am now starting an in tank treatment of Cipro. I also wouldn’t be shocked to learn that some coral farmers have used unnatural remedies to preserve livestock. Who knows?

How has the Cipro worked for you so far?

 

[Butcher333]

The tank seemed to perk up. I only did three doses a couple/few days apart. I’m going to move slow toward reducing the organics. I have a lot of bacteria so….. I have a Sunset monti, and a half not so ok plate monti Left. Everything else in tank is fine. I was attempting to reset the bacteria.
I’m going to start Vodka dosing. I just scraped an insane amount of coralline which is everywhere. I noticed no negative affects from Cipro.
I have a group of antibiotics to use next time I buy a $20 frag. I’m going to try some observations.
(Outside of tank. As a dip) When or if it happens.
With 6 fish breathing ammonia/urea, I don’t think the ammonia from waste is beneficial and I also think you can have too much bacteria which disrupts the bacteria growing on the SPS and that this causes the SPS to become susceptible to the bacteria that cause the STN which is apparent from treating. The coral should be allowed to feed the bacteria it wants to culture. Biome blah blah.
ULN, remove waste. Small amount of ammonium, urea in water.