I have a question about dosing Cipro

[kevgib67]

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]

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 Verified Community Expert]

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 Verified Community Expert]

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]

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 Verified Community Expert]

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]

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.

 

[reefmaster70]

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

not sure how unless you are a doctor of some sort , but if you do, I'd keep your source a secret. LOL

 

[ktran]

not sure how unless you are a doctor of some sort , but if you do, I'd keep your source a secret. LOL

Yes straight from the pharm

 

[RSNJReef]

Hey guys, not to start a bit of a fight here but have you guys really been dosing a full 500mg pill per 20 gallons of water in your display tank?

This just seems a bit high. I’ve used cipro several times in the past successfully over the years and the recommended dosage i had gathered was one 500mg pill per 100 gallons every other day for 10 days (so 5 pills over 10 days). I have done this several times with no losses at all.

Not trying to start a back and forth, just don’t want to see the OP nuke his tank cause he killed all of the bacteria in it.

 

[JGT]

While I’ve seen people have said they’ve dosed far more than the recommended amounts with no deleterious effects, you are correct. The formula typically used is convert tank gallons to liters and multiply this by .125. This gives the amount to be dosed in ml. So in this case 33 gallons is 125 liters x .125 equals 15.6 ml to be dosed.

 

[StartingATank]

I have prepped the cipro, for some reason I wasn’t getting any notifications from this thread, but I have prepared 750 mg of treatment. Should I just measure out a little bit or do you think it would be ok if I did the full treatment?

 

[reefmaster70]

I have prepped the cipro, for some reason I wasn’t getting any notifications from this thread, but I have prepared 750 mg of treatment. Should I just measure out a little bit or do you think it would be ok if I did the full treatment?

Have you done the calculations to know how much you need to dose each day?

 

[StartingATank]

I have prepped the cipro, for some reason I wasn’t getting any notifications from this thread, but I have prepared 750 mg of treatment. Should I just measure out a little bit or do you think it would be ok if I did the full treatment?

Have you done the calculations to know how much you need to dose each day?

I was under the impression that I only need to dose once, because I do not run UV in any way and sunlight doesn’t really get in the tank. So I was planning on dosing once the 750 and then just leaving it, turn off protein skimmer, and give it 7-10 days then do an 8 gal WC

 

[reefmaster70]

I have prepped the cipro, for some reason I wasn’t getting any notifications from this thread, but I have prepared 750 mg of treatment. Should I just measure out a little bit or do you think it would be ok if I did the full treatment?

Have you done the calculations to know how much you need to dose each day?

I was under the impression that I only need to dose once, because I do not run UV in any way and sunlight doesn’t really get in the tank. So I was planning on dosing once the 750 and then just leaving it, turn off protein skimmer, and give it 7-10 days then do an 8 gal WC

That's not how treatment works. You NEED. To do a 7-10 day course.

 

[StartingATank]

I have prepped the cipro, for some reason I wasn’t getting any notifications from this thread, but I have prepared 750 mg of treatment. Should I just measure out a little bit or do you think it would be ok if I did the full treatment?

Have you done the calculations to know how much you need to dose each day?

I was under the impression that I only need to dose once, because I do not run UV in any way and sunlight doesn’t really get in the tank. So I was planning on dosing once the 750 and then just leaving it, turn off protein skimmer, and give it 7-10 days then do an 8 gal WC

That's not how treatment works. You NEED. To do a 7-10 day course.

That’s what I was planning on doing, but someone earlier in this thread mentioned that you need to do a single large treatment and not add more after that, give it 7-10 days, and then WC

 

[JGT]

I’ve provided what you need to dose. You need to to do every other day for 7-10 days. 750 mg is way too much for 33 gal tank.

 

[reefmaster70]

That’s what I was planning on doing, but someone earlier in this thread mentioned that you need to do a single large treatment and not add more after that, give it 7-10 days, and then WC

NO.. a single dose will not work. Not to mention putting way too much into your tank at one time. Use the provided equation. DO the math, and dose Daily. I've done this many times. I actually dose twice a day. Once at night when lights go out and then once again as lights come up the morning. I have many many healthy and happy corals. It's not my first rodeo. With skimmer off you'll need to watch your nutrient levels closely, and don't feed heavy during the treatment time.

 

[reefmaster70]

to help you even more....you COULD round up your dose to an even 16mg per dose. So you can dose 16mg at lights out and then another 16mg the next day when lights are coming up. Continue this treatment for 7-10 days.

 

[StartingATank]

So I want to check my math on this, so if I am aiming for 16 mg, and I have 750 mg total in 75 ml of water, that would be (16/750)x75 to find out how many ml I need to add? I got 1.6 with this, is this correct?