I have a question about dosing Cipro

kevgib67 · 2026-11-02T21:16:51-0500

reefmaster70 said:
I'd be curious to know how they manage to sell an FDA approved, "prescription only" drug..but I digress. At $5.99 a pill, they are making bank. I picked up a bottle of twelve 500mg tablets from my Vet for $25.

Anyway, I keep a bottle of "Cipro" mixed up at all times and kept in my fridge. Since I have over 2 dozen Euphyllia in my reef tank, I do a maintenance dose every 2 weeks. I have not had any BJD on anything going on two years.

I got my last bottle from my vet after explaining why I needed it.

reefmaster70 · 2026-11-02T21:26:20-0500

kevgib67 said:
I got my last bottle from my vet after explaining why I needed it.

yep, that's all you have to do..go to your vet, tell them you have a "bacterial virus/infection" in your reef tank. bacteria specifically being Vibrio spp. and also a protozoan infection "Philaster lucinda". If your vet looks them up, they'll see you can really benefit from the Cipro. If they DON'T have Ciprofloxacin, you can ask if they have Kanamycin, as this is just as effective treating BJD in LPS and SPS. Although you need a bit higher dose of Kanamycin, then Cipro.

Randy Holmes-Farley · 2026-11-02T21:37:12-0500

StartingATank said:
Well just got one question. I read bright lighting can cause it to degrade. Wouldn’t that mean I need to dose more every night?

Reef lighting won’t degrade Cipro. It takes the uv portion of natural sunlight to degrade it. A uv systems will degrade it.

Randy Holmes-Farley · 2026-11-02T21:42:36-0500

reefmaster70 said:
If you have a coral in your tank that has BJD on it, you already have the bacterial virus in your tank, and you need to treat the tank.

What is a bacterial virus in this context? I mean, I know what the words literally mean, but it is not something that causes coral issues nor is it something an antibiotic (any antibiotic) will eliminate.

reefmaster70 · 2026-11-03T00:15:24-0500

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
What is a bacterial virus in this context? I mean, I know what the words literally mean, but it is not something that causes coral issues nor is it something an antibiotic (any antibiotic) will eliminate.

I was oversimplifying the context, and maybe I shouldn't have. First, I think we all know when we say that "lighting" degrades Cipro, it means under full spectrum light, that includes the UV wavelengths that degrade the Cipro's antibiotic activity.

Second, Bacterial Virus, may be oversimplified, or my ignorant use of wording, again to simplify the meaning. I guess I SHOULD have said that IF you see BJD on your corals and are losing corals..the "jelly" you see is the symptom, NOT the cause. The cause is most likely a pathogen or other opportunistic microbe. (i.e. Vibrio or Acrobacter.) These opportunistic microbes are then shed in the brown slime we call "Brown Jelly" and are then in the water column. this is what I termed as the "bacterial virus" that is then in the water. Again simplifying it for conversation sake. I could have written out a very lengthy and much more scientific explanation to the OP, but I figured, they'd get the point, if I kept it simple.

Randy Holmes-Farley · 2026-11-03T09:46:58-0500

many people using Cipro assumed their reef lights degraded it since it is widely claimed that light degrades it. I was and will here again clarify that this is not important in any inside reefing context unless one uses a UV.

A bacterial virus is a virus that infects bacteria. Such organisms are not known to be invoked in bjd. If you are talking about bacteria, leave off the virus part.

ktran · 2026-11-03T09:50:51-0500

reefmaster70 said:
I'd be curious to know how they manage to sell an FDA approved, "prescription only" drug..but I digress. At $5.99 a pill, they are making bank. I picked up a bottle of twelve 500mg tablets from my Vet for $25.

Anyway, I keep a bottle of "Cipro" mixed up at all times and kept in my fridge. Since I have over 2 dozen Euphyllia in my reef tank, I do a maintenance dose every 2 weeks. I have not had any BJD on anything going on two years.

I get bottles of 500mg / 100 pills for less than $10. Maybe I should start an online reef tank treatment business lol.