Recommended medication

wontonflip

wontonflip

I failed Kobayashi Maru
What is the best medication for a bacterial infection? I'm pretty sure my coral beauty and chromis has some type of bacterial infection.

Basically, my coral beauty has had this patch of white around her eyes for a few months now, but she always ate like a pig. But lately, she hasn't been eating, and her fin is starting to look ragged (not fungal-looking; just ragged). And tonight, one of my chromis (the more aggressive one) was lingering at one corner, and when I came at him w/ a net, he didn't even swim away until I brushed him with it. He's actually acting blind. No marks on him, and he was eating yesterday. He's bumping into rocks but jerking away when he feels the rock.

So based off some info I've found, I'm thinking they've got some kind of bacterial infection. I'm going to round them up tomorrow, and put them in QT. So what's the best medication for a bacterial infection?
 
I'd look at doing Maracyn and Maracyn II simultaneously. You can also do a food-based antibiotic through Dr. G's. All can be done in the reef, w/ the understanding that the antibiotics can make the corals more light sensitive, so ramp your lights down if possible. This is what M Petersen has been using to treat the LMC whose had chronic bacterial problems for the past few months. I think you can find a recent article or two on reef builders and more info on his blog.
 
I'm fowlr :) but i can't do the food route because the 2 fish in question aren't eating. But I might put some in the food anyway as a preventative measure for the others.
 
A while back I got something NASTY from a fish store. Killing fish left and right...lost a blue spotted jawfish to it. I have no idea if what we had was anything near the same thing but what I did was get the actual garlic drops and put that in the tank and then I soaked their food in it to help. It stimulated their appetites quite a bit. I also ran a good amount of carbon in there and did 2 50% water changes. Helped tremendously.
 
wontonflip said:
I'm fowlr :) but i can't do the food route because the 2 fish in question aren't eating. But I might put some in the food anyway as a preventative measure for the others.
Click to expand...

If you treat w/ the maracyn/maracyn II combo (which you can do in the DT), then I don't think you'd need to dose w/ Dr. G's for those who are eating, as they'd get a preventative dose from the rest of the tank. If you do treat in the DT (and from all that I've read this is safe to do), I'd just watch your ammonia levels and have a bottle of Dr. Tim's on hand to add to the tank if your ammonia rises. This product seems to be one of the few that actually really adds nitrifying bacteria to the tank to prevent cycling (again, if you read through reefbuilders and the LMC blog you'll find discussions on the successful use of these products and the antibiotics). I'm pretty hesitant to make such recommendations, but I do consider this as coming from a trusted source...
 
My tank has 160 gallons of water lol might have to dump a whole bottle if i dosed it :) I'll qt because i want to monitor them in a smaller environment.
 
Yeah, that's a great point about tank size! Good luck catching them and I hope they do well w/ the treatment. Keep us posted!

Btw, what makes you think its bacterial?
 
A scrape on the cb never healing, stress since my power outage, stress from lights being on 24-7 for 4 days straight, and the chromis was a good hint....no symptoms/marks until tonight...acting blind. eyes look normal. a quick search on wetwebmedia suggests possible bacterial infection. My gut agrees.
ammonia, nitrites 0, nitrates around 10ppm, no one new introduced.

Everyone else is fine so far.
 
Sorry to hear. Are you sure that the CB doesnt have the start of HLLE? I really would do the QT and treat with antibiotics. Also I would soak the food in garlic since they are not eating, it may help. I would always say not to treat the DT. I just killed all my snails even though the meds I used were supposedly reef safe/invert safe.
For general bacteria infections I have always used Melafix with great results. Until recently API was the only meds that I have trusted.
 
HLLE also crossed my mind from the start, so I increased my water changes. I already feed a mix of emerald entree, mysis, and of course algae sheets.
 
I don't know. I'd look online and see. I know maracyn and maracyn II can be used together (one attacks gram positive bacteria and the other gram negative bacteria), but I don't know about melafix.
 
I'm thinking HLLE now...hopefully a more controlled smaller environment will help. I'm wondering if I should even bother w/ Maracyn. I'll probably still do melafix to help w/ healing the fin.
 
No...I didn't think they like spongey stuff. Maybe I should toss in some foods that are specific to angels. I forgot I usually also feed spirulina in the mix, but I haven't in a couple of months -- forgot to buy more.

I was just thinking how tossing ideas on a forum and getting input is easier than coming up with things on my own LOL Even though I know all this stuff, it helps to be reminded and slapped up side the head ;)
 
:mrgreen:

Its all good! I have to feed the angel specific food to the entire tank otherwise my angels leave it alone and go for the other foods.
 

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