Split topic - Maracyn use

Oh no! Sick fish?! Come here and see if someone can help!
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Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.

1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.

2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.

3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)

4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.

5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.

We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.

While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.

Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
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Re: GSP is still sick, fighting an uphill battle here.

Post by RTR »

I do have to agree w/LGP & PP. Using any med at 1/2 strength is shooting yourself in the foot. Really, really bad idea. Erythromycin (the active ingredient of Maracyn) os safe for puffers and has created few resistant strains, but half doses are the best possible way to generate resistant stains. Terrible advice IMHO, NIMFT, not ever.

Ditto why on earth would you dose Erythromycin for IPs? It will have no effect whatsoever on the agent causing the problems. Again I agree w/PP, treat the problem, not some imaginary blanket or shotgun treatment.
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Re: GSP is still sick, fighting an uphill battle here.

Post by Puffer King »

RTR wrote:IK do have to agree w/LGP & PP. Using any med at 1/2 strength is shooting yourself in the foot. Really realy bad idea. Erythromycin (the active ingrdient of maracyn) os safe for pyffers and has created few resistant strains, but half doses are the best possible way to generate resostant stains. Terrible advice IMHO, NIMFT, not ever.

Ditto why on earth would you dose Erythromycin for IPs? It will have no effect whatsoever on the agent causing the problems. Again I agree w/PP, treat the problem, not some imaginary blanket or shotgun treatment.
Rob , only if half doses were used for a prolonged period , actually the strength of the dosage is irrelevant it has more to do with long term exposure and regular exposure , for viruses etc to become immune . I very much doubt this puffer is suffering from just ip's , bacteria will be present in the ips themselves , and as the puffers immune system isn't coping they can ytake a hold and be fatal .
Anyway i think lgp moved this thread , and debate on , and half the posts seem to be missing ...uummm i wonder .
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Re: Split topic - Maracyn use

Post by wagner7123 »

Disease-causing microbes that have become resistant to drug therapy are an increasing public health problem. Tuberculosis, gonorrhea, malaria, and childhood ear infections are just a few of the diseases that have become hard to treat with antibiotic drugs. Part of the problem is that bacteria and other microorganisms that cause infections are remarkably resilient and can develop ways to survive drugs meant to kill or weaken them. This antibiotic resistance is due largely to the increasing use of antibiotics. Smart use of antibiotics is the key to controlling the spread of resistance. It is important to understand that, although they are very useful drugs, antibiotics designed for bacterial infections are not useful for viral infections such as cold, cough, or flu.

Half dosing antibiotic is about the worst thing you can do as far as creating resistant bacteria. Give them a taste, then let the ones that didn't die reproduce unhindered by any additional antibiotics. There is a reason the instructions on the bottle your doctor gives you say to take every pill even if you feel better.
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Re: Split topic - Maracyn use

Post by Puffer King »

wagner7123 wrote:Disease-causing microbes that have become resistant to drug therapy are an increasing public health problem. Tuberculosis, gonorrhea, malaria, and childhood ear infections are just a few of the diseases that have become hard to treat with antibiotic drugs. Part of the problem is that bacteria and other microorganisms that cause infections are remarkably resilient and can develop ways to survive drugs meant to kill or weaken them. This antibiotic resistance is due largely to the increasing use of antibiotics. Smart use of antibiotics is the key to controlling the spread of resistance. It is important to understand that, although they are very useful drugs, antibiotics designed for bacterial infections are not useful for viral infections such as cold, cough, or flu.

Half dosing antibiotic is about the worst thing you can do as far as creating resistant bacteria. Give them a taste, then let the ones that didn't die reproduce unhindered by any additional antibiotics. There is a reason the instructions on the bottle your doctor gives you say to take every pill even if you feel better.
Simply put there hasn't really been enough pharmacokinetics anaylsis if hardly any on ornamental fish let alone individual species .
Yes of course with humans you follow the label on the bottle and do it exactly as it says . But were not talking about humans , were talking about fish . The worse thing you can actually do with antibiotics is make them ' available over the counter ' , it just encourages people to use them to often and this is what causes bacteria etc to eventually become immune .
As for my advice on half dosage , that is because until full pharmacokinetics anaylysis has been carried out extensively on each individual fish species ( which won't happen in our life time ) , no one knows for sure how to determine the optimum dosage (example is the stated dose really a full dose for that individual fish species and at that point in its lifetime and with the unknown bacteria it contains ??? or is it too much or not enough ???? ), no one knows .
One short treatment (im talking 24 hours maximum ) won't harm the fish as any surviving pathogens , bacteria etc won't be exposed long enough . But yes if you were to treat lets say a human ( where conclusive PKA has been carried out extensively ) at half dosage for short period more than this time then you would be running a risk .
If one were to treat the fish ' at full dosage 'a figure which in the first place is pretty much plucked from the air . Then damage to the fishes internal organs is a lot higher , So i and others like to err on the side of caution . Which im pleased to say over the years has saved many a wet pets life :)
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Re: Split topic - Maracyn use

Post by scpion »

The debate in this thread is pointless IMO. Recommended treatments/medication are all based on personal experience and at a certain level of risk. When your pet is sick, U bring it to a Vet. Are U going to question the vet by asking if the med is going to work or is it tested thoroughly enough? U do not give a sick child half a tab of painkiller either rite? i believe when reputable companies release meds they would be tested to a acceptable level to treat specific disease at the recommeded dosage.
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Re: Split topic - Maracyn use

Post by Puffer King »

scpion wrote:The debate in this thread is pointless IMO. Recommended treatments/medication are all based on personal experience and at a certain level of risk. When your pet is sick, U bring it to a Vet. Are U going to question the vet by asking if the med is going to work or is it tested thoroughly enough? U do not give a sick child half a tab of painkiller either rite? i believe when reputable companies release meds they would be tested to a acceptable level to treat specific disease at the recommeded dosage.
If its pointless then please don't feel you have to contribute .lol
although you do have a valid point , as without PKA is just arguing opinions and inconclusive .
You don't honestly believe 'reputable companies release meds they would be tested to a acceptable level to treat specific disease at the recommeded dosage' . They only make sure they cover there own arses and profit margins .
Pet is open ended . Cats and dogs get much higher priority than ornamental fish . More studies have been carried out and therefore they are much better catered for by the vetinary practises .
Please don't compare a child to a fish !! . PKA on humans is in another league altogether , dosages are bang on . With fish its unknown species to species, so in the first instance you can't determine the correct dosage for that individual fish to begin with . So its impossible to tell if your giving half , full or whatever percentage of the correct dosage that would/should apply to that individual fish.
What you don't want to do is risk overdosing the fish and causing long term internal organ damage and/or death .
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Re: GSP is still sick, fighting an uphill battle here.

Post by scpion »

Puffer King wrote:.......i'll say what i like thanyou very much .
Just because you don't agree , doesn't mean i won't exercise my right to express my advice .
Sounds familiar?
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Re: GSP is still sick, fighting an uphill battle here.

Post by Puffer King »

scpion wrote:
Puffer King wrote:.......i'll say what i like thanyou very much .
Just because you don't agree , doesn't mean i won't exercise my right to express my advice .
Sounds familiar?
your point being ???
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Re: Split topic - Maracyn use

Post by scpion »

My point being exactly what's your point when u said that.
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Re: Split topic - Maracyn use

Post by Dadof4 »

Ok everyone, this has gone on enough. I will not let this thread, that had great potential for learning for all involved, deteriorate in to a verbal sparring match, that is not what this forum is for. Forums are for discussion and I refer you to this posting from Thought Catalog:

http://thoughtcatalog.com/2011/how-to-h ... iscussion/

Note: Nowhere in there does it say anyone has the right to tell someone with another opinion not to speak.
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