Metronidazole; by SeaChem, API, More

 

Revised 1/16/19

Metronidazole is an antibiotic (for anaerobic bacteria) and anti-protozoal medication used to treat various conditions internally and externally in fish.

As for Anaerobic bacteria, these are bacterium that thrive in environments in which there is little oxygen (anaerobic environments) and can cause disease in such environments as the intestinal tract and liver.

Metronidazole belongs to a class of antibiotics known as nitroimidazoles which work by ceasing the growth of bacteria and protozoa. Metronidazole works by selectively blocking some of the functions within the bacterial cells and some parasites resulting in their death.
Metronidazole is metabolized in the liver (whether a fish or a human).

Metronidazoles primary use is for the treatment of ANAEROBIC gram positive & SOME negative bacteria including those that produce beta-lactamase.
However, it is not effective against aerobic bacterium. This means Metronidazole is a poor choice for suspected bacterial diseases in open heavily oxygenated aquariums/ponds such as Columnaris, while it is an excellent choice for diseases of the low/no oxygen environment of the intestinal tract or other internal suspected bacterial pathogens (generally used ina fish food soak for best results).
Metronidazole may be a good choice for any bacterial disease present in low oxygen, high bio-load aquariums or ponds.

As well Metronidazole is effective for some protozoa.
It was originally found effective for the management of infection caused by Trichomonas vaginalis.
For fish applications Metronidazole has been shown to be in particular more effective for internal and external flagellates.

Metronidazole is also sometimes effective for other protozoan parasite infections, especially for Cryptocaryon in marine aquaria as well as Hexamita & Ichthyophthirius.

Metronidazole is often recommended for disease in Cichlids which is often thought to be caused by Hexamita, HOWEVER there is considerable evidence that the cause of "Hole in the Head" is simply the lack of Calcium and even positive calcium ions. This is especially common in aquariums utilizing water softened using sodium chloride or potassium chloride to drive out hard water minerals.
Use of such water should be ceased prior to using Metronidazole and as well, the use of products such as Wonder Shells mineral blocks should also be used first before treating with Metronidazole (or combined).
References:
Hole in the Head Disease
AAP Wonder Shells; Unique Version

Due to Metronidazoles effectiveness against anaerobic bacteria by selectively blocking some of the cell functions of anaerobic bacteria, Metronidazole along with Neomycin is a good choice for bloating of the digestive tract (common in goldfish).
Metronidazole selectively blocks some of the cell functions in anaerobic bacteria, resulting in their demise.

Metronidazole is also effective used in combination (such as with Praziquantel) or by itself for internal parasites such as Nematodes or Trematodes.
In marine aquarium infections is where Metronidazole really shines as it is very effective internally and since Marine fish are always drinking the water around them, medication is easily transported to the infected area.
In Freshwater, treatment can be improved by soaking food as well and this is still an effective freshwater treatment as well.

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USAGE:

Directions from SeaChem Metronidazole; use 100 mg. for every 10 gallons (40 L).
Repeat every 2 days until symptoms disappear.
Make sure any UV Sterilizer (if used) is turned off and any carbon, Purigen, Chemipure or similar chemical filter media is also removed during treatment.

To feed (use as for a medicated food), use 100 mg. with approximately i tablespoon of frozen or dried food (fried food would need to be placed in just a enough water to cover and make wet/moist). Feed until symptoms disappear.
Introduction of Metronidazole to the aquarium water when feeding is OK.

Metronidazole can also be used in a fish bath. This is generally performed at double the "in tank" dose as per amount of water used in this bath. I recommend the use of Methylene Blue and maybe salt during this bath treatment too (once or twice per day for 7-10 days).
See: Fish Baths, Dips, Swabs

As with ANY treatment regimen, it is extremely important to follow correct procedures that includes addressing ALL water parameters and stressors (including oxidative stress.
Please read this easy to read article and follow ALL advice given as to proper treatment regimens:
Fish Diseases | How to Treat Sick Fish

PRODUCTS CONTAINING METRONIDAZOLE:

*SeaChem Metronidazole, for Purchase
Recommended source to purchase based on extensive aquarium and pond professional experience dating back to 1978.
SeaChem's Metronidazole is the MOST PURE and easily used form of this antibiotic available to the fish keeping community

*API General Cure, for Purchase Contains Metronidazole & Praziquantel

VIDEO:

AAP Professional Aquarium & Pond Medications
THE BEST AQUARIUM TREATMENTS ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD! Fresh Product found EXCLUSIVELY at AAP

REFERENCES:

Aquarium Medications 2; Antibiotics, Antimicrobials

*How Medications Work, and Which Ones to Use and Not to Use

Suggested other aquarium information resources & products:

AAP Spectrogram
THERE IS NO MORE EFFECTIVE treatment for Fish Columnaris!!

Fish Diseases | How to Treat Sick Fish

Aquarium UV Sterilization; How UVC Sterilizers Work

Purchasing Aquarium & Pond Equipment via Amazon

ALSO FROM THE ABOVE WEB SITE:
YouTube & Facebook for Aquarium Keeping Information

SEACHEM PRODUCTS
Some of the best aquarium treatments available.

AAP Wonder Shells
The ONLY Authorized online seller of the full line of this unique product. Only FRESH product, not clearance product!!

Aquarium Heaters; Submersible Quartz, Titanium

Erythromycin for Aquarium Fish

 

Updated 1-16-19

Erythromycin is a primarily gram positive antibiotic with a slightly "wider" antimicrobial spectrum to otherwise similar to penicillin.

A popular albeit often incorrectly and over recommended for fish infections. In humans Erythromycin is often used respiratory tract infections, which of coarse does not exist in fish (gills versus lungs).

During treatment Erythromycin is rapidly absorbed in a microbiologically active form into most tissues and phagocytes found in vertebrates (such as fish). Due to the often resulting high concentration of Erythromycin in phagocytes (white blood cells), Erythromycin is actively transported to the area of infection.
Over use of Erythromycin may result in muscle (including heart) and kidney damage, providing electrolytes, in particular calcium while treating with Erythromycin can aid in prevention or reversal of this damage

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USE:

The primary disease pathogens for use of Erythromycin are Staphylococcus and Streptococcus (which often includes many eye and mouth infections of fish).
Occasionally these bacterial pathogens can result in fin and tail rot as well.

Erythromycin can generally be combined safely with Triple Sulfa for a more wider spectrum treatment (especially for use against Staphylococcus infections).

Another use for Erythromycin is for cloudy aquariums and cyanobacteria blooms, however Erythromycin Sulfate is much more effective for these applications (as well better for fish pathogens) and most Erythromycin (such as API) is not of this form of Erythromycin.
Sometime in 2019, "AAP Professional Aquarium Treatments" will have this preferred form of Erythromycin available for aquarium/pond use again.
Resource: AAP Professional Aquarium Treatments

Although often recommended for Columnaris and Fish Fungus, these are simply INCORRECT uses for Erythromycin.

As with ANY treatment regimen, it is extremely important to follow correct procedures that includes addressing ALL water parameters and stressors (including oxidative stress.
Please read this easy to read article and follow ALL advice given as to proper treatment regimens:
Fish Diseases | How to Treat Sick Fish

DIAGNOSTIC CHART
Please realize diagnostic charts are generalizations with many inaccuracies such as use for "true" mouth fungus.
Please click on the picture to enlarge for better view

FINALLY: While I strongly recommend the use of a UV Sterilizer both before and after treatment (24/7), use of this device should be discontinued during treatment with Erythromycin.



"API Erythromycin" can be purchased here (A business with professional aquarium medication experience dating back to 1978):
API Erythromycin

Sources:
*Aquarium Medications; How They Work
*Aquarium Medications; Antibiotics, Erythromycin *http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erythromycin
*https://www.drugs.com/pro/erythrocin.html

Suggested other aquarium information resources & products:

Fish Diseases | How to Treat Sick Fish

*For a proven step by step method to reduce the incidence of disease in your aquarium fish:
Aquarium Fish Disease Prevention; A Healthy Aquarium

AAP Hydro Sponge Filters

THE PREMIUM Aquarium Sponge Filter with as much as 5 TIMES the bio and mechanical capacity of commonly sold Chinese knock offs!!
Definitely worth the extra $1-3

*For Replacement UVC Bulbs to keep your UV Sterilizer (such as a TMC Vecton or Advantage UV) in peak performance, please visit this resource:
UV Bulbs

*Submersible Quartz & Digital Titanium Heaters

*Economy Submersible Aquarium, Vivarium, or Terrarium Fountain Pumps
Pumps ranging from 160, 238, 238 Gallons per Hour (gph)

Nitrofurazone, Yellow Powder, Furan 2; For Aquarium, Pond

Revised 3/20/23

This article is copied in part courtesy:
Aquarium Medications 2, Antibiotics/ Anti-microbials

Nitrofurazone also known as Nitrofural, is a broad-spectrum bactericidal drug, with some anti-protozoal activity. Nitrofurazone can be used both therapeutically (treatment) and prophylactically (prevention).

Nitrofurazone inhibits several bacterial enzymes, especially those involved in the aerobic and anaerobic degradation of glucose and pyruvate.

This antibacterial is effective for control of:
Aeromonas (Symptoms: fish have blisters forming on the skin that are full of a clear to yellowish fluid. The blisters may turn into large sores.), Vibrio and related bacterial species.
AND partly effective Flexibacter/Columnaris (Symptoms: Fuzzy, thin, white coating on the body and fins. Looks like a fungus) it works well with Kanamycin (best used in AAP Yellow Powder) for difficult incidences of this pathogen.

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Nitrofurazone/ Nitrofural (AAP Yellow Powder) is particularly useful for control of minor topical skin infections of freshwater & marine fish that have not become systemic.
As well, Nitrofurazone is effective for surface skin infections of Streptococcus iniae which may appear as a milky peeling slime.
Effective as well against marine external ulcer disease and some protozoan infestations. For this reason, Nitrofurazone is a good next step treatment for wounds and other topical infections when first step treatments such as Pimafix or Melafix fail.
Nitrofurazone is also useful in treating Furunculosis found in Koi (best treated in a small "kid pool" or bathtub with a seasoned Sponge Filter).

Serious adverse reactions related to general nitrofurans are very rare in aquarium or pond fish. Acquired resistance of bacteria to nitrofurans during therapy has been rare and has not appeared on a significant scale in over 50 years of use.
Do not use in the presence of invertebrates.

TIPS

*Nitrofurazone is more effective at lower pH levels. Nitrofurazone is not Skin absorbed, so use of this Bactericidal for systemic infections is not recommended.
However Aquatronics and myself have found that Nitrofurazone combines well with Kanamycin (which is skin absorbing), and is very complimentary/synergistic to each other when used concurrently since Nitrofurazone is often effective topically for Aeromonas & Furunculosis while Kanamycin is often helpful to be combined for Columnaris.
Since these bacterial infections are often hard to differentiate by the average aquarist, this can be a good combination when unsure.

*As noted, Nitrofurazone can be combined with Kanamycin/Kanaplex to make an even more wide spectrum treatment, especially for difficult cases of Columnaris or Aeromonas.
AAP Yellow Powder is currently the best and most effective blend of Nitrofurazone (combining nitrofurazone with acriflavin) and this should be the product of choice for any serious aquarium/fish keeper looking to treat Columnaris, Aeromonas, Vibrio, or Furunculosis..
This blend of AAP Kanaplex and AAP Yellow Powder provides for an easier to use and more importantly, more synergistic and effective combination since these two medications are not used in a somewhat conflicting treatment regimen as in the Kanaplex/Furan 2 combination which is less effective due to the lack of concurrent use and lower grade nitrofurazone lowering the synergistic combination affect.

Please also beware that Carl Strohmeyer was the first to bring the nitrofurazone combination to the internet in 2005, however many parasite/plagiarizing websites have copied this method without proper accreditation to known fish guru Carl Strohmeyer.
This is wrong, and sites like this should be avoided as often they use expert sounding names such as "Labs", but in reality are not the true experts with decades of experience professionally and peer recognition for decades of such experience as with Mr. Strohmeyer. Many of these sites often are set as affiliates to shill for Amazon products that are often inferior (as compared to products such AAP Yellow Powder).
It is worthy of note, that some search engines, most notably Bing's AI experiment (which is highly inaccurate and subjective in many if not most searches), will often bring up these shill or spam sites (such as Spruce) over authoritative sites such as American Aquarium Products.





For Bettas and other smaller long tailed fish such as Guppies, as well as colder water fish such as goldfish or koi, an excellent preventative and treatment of moderate fin/tail infections, as well as ammonia poisoning, loss of color, and listlessness is AAP Nitrofuracin Green. This product safely blends Synergistic Nitrofurazone, Sulfathiazole Sodium, Methylene Blue, and NaCl.

*Nitrofurazone/Kanamycin can be combined with Metronidazole for parasitic, fungal, & bacterial infections.

DIAGNOSTIC CHART
Please realize diagnostic charts are generalizations.
Please click on the picture to enlarge for better view



"API Furan Two" (Nitrofurazone + Furazolidone) can be purchased here (A business with professional aquarium medication experience dating back to 1978):
Furan 2

OR BETTER, higher quality Nittofuarzone blend that generally only needs 1 or 2 doses:
AAP Yellow Powder; Premium Nitrofurazone Blend

Source for Kanamycin: AAP Kanaplex

Suggested other aquarium information resources & products:

Fish Diseases | How to Treat Sick Fish

Freshwater Aquarium Care

Triple Sulfa & Sulfathiazole; For Aquarium, Pond

 

This article is copied in part courtesy:
"Aquarium Medications 2, Antibiotics/ Anti-microbials


Updated 11/27/21

Sulfas drugs are among the oldest in the medicine and are considered anti-microbials.
Sulfas are bacteriostatic, meaning they inhibit the growth of the bacteria but do not kill them. Sulfas are generally most effective against aerobic gram-negative organisms but are not reliable against aerobic gram-positive bacterium.

Sulfa drugs arrest cell growth by inhibiting the synthesis of folic acid, a component required for growth by bacteria. Folic acid is a large molecule and is unable to enter bacterial cells, so the bacteria must synthesize the compound intracellularly. Animal cells are unable to synthesize folic acid and it must be provided in the diet. For this reason sulfa drugs are not toxic to animal cells.

Sulfa drugs are among the oldest in the medicine, the first being a sulfonamide was trade named Prontosil dating back to experiments by Bayer in 1932.
For aquatic use Sulfa are often maligned by many aquarists as not effective or out of date, yet in reality Triple Sulfa often will work where other antibiotics fail and sometimes with less side effects as well (this is not to say Sulfas do not have side effects as they are somewhat toxic, producing blood abnormalities and kidney damage when indiscriminately used). Sulfas also do not tend to be as sensitive to poor use (meaning not following the full treatment regimen).

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TIPS

• As a broad spectrum primarily gram negative antibacterial medication; Triple Sulfa can be used for fin and tail rot, mouth fungus and collapsed fins, Columnaris, and hemorrhagic septicemia.


• Triple Sulfa is also useful for fin rot or damaged fins caused by fin nipping.


• Since Sulfas are more effective at higher pH levels, this can be a good choice for livebearer or goldfish fin rot (as well as any other fish generally kept at a higher pH)


• Sulfas can also be safely used with other mild broad spectrum parasite/fungal treatments to boost anti bacterial effectiveness,; a good example would be the Medicated Wonder Shell.


• Sometimes effective when other often first choice gram negative treatments (such as Kanamycin) fail.


• An old standby that is still useful and can be used in combination with Malachite Green (especially effective in combination with MG at ½ strength when treating Ich in scale less fish) or Acriflavin (do not combine with copper sulfate).
  As an example, using Sulfathiazole (Seachem-AAP Sulfaplex) with AAP ParaGuard or AAP Super Ich Plus will render it safer for sensitive fish such as a Clown Loach.


• Sulfas are also more effective at higher pH levels, unlike Nitrofurazone, so often a good choice over Nitrofurazone or Nitrofurazone/Kanamycin combinations in lower pH aquariums. For this reason the synergistic combination of Sulfamethazine and Trimethoprim found in Maracyn Plus might be a good alternative when Nitrofurazone/Kanamycin combinations fail.
  Please note though; Trimethoprim can lower blood platelets in fish which means any use with fish suffering from any bleeding issues can be much worse, often fatally worse since these platelets ("thrombocytes"), are blood cells whose function is to stop bleeding.
  Reference: Wikipedia; Platelets

IMPORTANT NOTE: While I strongly recommend the use of a UV Sterilizer both before and after treatment (24/7), use of UV-C Sterilization should be discontinued during treatment with Sulfa Drugs.

As with ANY treatment regimen, it is extremely important to follow correct procedures that includes addressing ALL water parameters and stressors (including oxidative stress.
Please read this easy to read article and follow ALL advice given as to proper treatment regimens:
Fish Diseases | How to Treat Sick Fish

Diagnostic Chart
Please realize diagnostic charts are generalizations

Sulfathiazole or Triple sulfa can be purchased here (A business with professional aquarium medication experience dating back to 1978):

Sulfathiazole (Seachem-AAP Sulfaplex) (Superior Blend)
*AAP/API Triple Sulfa
*AAP Bettamax
*AAP PolyGuard
*Maracyn Plus (Contains Sulfamethazine and Trimethoprim)

Suggested other aquarium information resources & products:

Fish Diseases | How to Treat Sick Fish

AAP Wonder Shells
The ONLY Authorized online seller of the full line of this unique product. Only FRESH product, not clearance product!!

If you are looking to expand your planted aquarium or reef lighting and want to know how to determine the best lights, this article is the most researched and regularly updated for this subject available free:
*Aquarium Lighting

*Aquarium Chemistry; In depth

For the best, patented high bio capacity aquarium sponge filters:
*Sponge Filters