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