Hypo and Antibiotics

[stcardoza]

Hi,
I've been doing hyposalinity in my hospital tank to treat an ick outbreak in my main tank. One of my fish has a little damage around his eye that is healing and my coral beauty has one of the fins on his bottom that is sort of eaten away, although the other side fin is fine. I was wondering if some antibiotics like mela-fix would be OK to add to the tank while I am doing the hypo. I'm about 1 week into the hypo and all signs of ick are gone and the fish seem happy and are all eating, but I'm just worried about some secondary bacterial infections. If I do add some mela-fix, is there a better time to do it, say toward the end of the hypo treatment in a few weeks? Please let me know if you've had any experience with this. I'm worried about destroying the bio-filter in my 20 gallon tank with my 6 fish if I add the antibiotic and causing more stress to my fish. Thanks.
-Steve

 

[seaguru]

I am not sure if hypo affects/changes the effectiveness of antibiotics. Hopefully those more experienced with hypo (I am currently trying it for the 1st time) on this forum will post their replys soon...
On another note, I have used "bacteria in a bottle" the Tropical Sciences brand from here:
<a href="http://www.**************.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?siteid=6&pCatId=4003" target="_blank">http://www.**************.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?siteid=6&pCatId=4003</a>
during my Q periods with success. Specifially, before I learned about hypo I would Q using copper and Maricyn2 together. Due to fears of killing off my biofilter I also used the above along with the copper and M2. I kept 5 fish seemingly happy during that period. In all honesty tho I did not specifically test for ammonia or nitrites, just noted the fish acting very active and normal.
Now I am using hypo and I only used the Nitromax Marine again as a supplement to my already cycled bio balls in my home made wet/dry/drip filter... the reason being that my bio-balls had been used in a 60g system with 5 fish (and I was practically given a 125g setup) so I am now holding/quarantining a total of 9 fish, successfully I might add. Am also in my first week of total/correct hypo (1.009). Fish are happy, eating well, great color and no signs of problems. Tho there are some on our forum that do not recommend the bacteria in a bottle products, I like to have the psychological edge/comfort that they perhaps do work/help. Just one more note, if I were to notice anything out of the ordinary such as heavy breathing or any signs of stress I would immediately test the water parameters, I have not beacuse I probably place more faith in this product than I should... Good luck, Joe.

 

[beth]

I would suggest that you not add anything at this point. As the fish are recouping from parasites, the frayed fins, etc. may just heal up on their own. Make sure that you maintain optimum water conditions, and, if you are not already using garlic and/or vitamin supplements do this with the fishes' food. For supplements, I'd recommend Zoe or Zoecon.
If these conditions continue or worsen, however, then you will need antibiotics. No, it doesn't matter that the water is hypo, that will not effect the viability of antibiotics. Keep a close watch out for developments or improvements and act accordingly.

 

[john f]

I think Beth gave you sound advice.
BTW, it is pH and not salinity which affects the efficacy of many antibiotics. Since even under hyposalinity your pH should be over 8.0, it will not matter much what the salinity is.
John

 

[stcardoza]

Hi,
Thanks for the replies. I'm currently feeding a mix of mysis, brine, pygmy angel formula, and formula 1 flake, and I soak it all in zoe and garlic for them. I also added a ph buffer since my ph dropped a little after starting hypo. The ph is steady at 8.2 and the salinity is 1.009. I don't have a refractometer but I did get a nice glass hydrometer. I'll watch and wait and see what happens. One thing I did notice too was that my coral beauty has a slight, hard to see cloudiness to one of his eyes. It seems like it comes and goes, meaning some days it's there, other days it doesn't seem to be. His behavior never seems to change though. Do you think that will be a problem? Should I wait to see if it gets worse? Thanks again for all of the help!
-Steve