Melafix Not Working

Well I'm still a new guy at this.

Flavobacterium colmnare

Anti-bacterial medications should cure this disease if used promptly. At later stages, the bacteria may invade internal organs, in which case only antibiotics may be effective. Several strains exist which vary in their virulence (how 'aggressively' they cause disease)..



treecat

Hi, ok I have been treating my angel fish for 32hrs now with tetracycline. I have used the drug before and I know there is a brown scum that accumulates on the surface,,,,can I remove this scum?

I am wondering if I remove the scum, am I removing some of the drugs activity?

Thanks

Anytime I have used tetracycline I did a 50% water change daily & remedicated at full strength. Changing the water included siphoning the bottom, as well as the crud off of the surface. I use a bare tank, nothing but heater & filter. I also light the tank with only room light, subdued light eases stress.

Tolak said:

Anytime I have used tetracycline I did a 50% water change daily & remedicated at full strength. Changing the water included siphoning the bottom, as well as the crud off of the surface. I use a bare tank, nothing but heater & filter. I also light the tank with only room light, subdued light eases stress.

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Thanks Tolak, your response was prompt and very informative....

I would like to comment though, if you removed 50% and did a full-rededication each day, after 14 days your dose will have increased ALLOT! I wont bother with the math but, are you aware of this?

also, I have a moderately planted tank , would you remove your plants?

Also, I just fed my angel bloodworms laced with tetrac., she wont eat, I understand this is common when antibiotics are used in the tank in high doses but, my angel has NEVER refused bloodworms before and it makes me nervous....

also......what temp would you recommend for this treatment?

Tetracycline breaks down, usually within 48 hours. This is common with many, but not all fish medications. Some, like metronidazole, will break down in as little as 8 hours, while copper treatments don't break down at all.

The fish may be put off by the taste a little. I've found that even if they mouth it & spit it out they start to show an improvement. Once they get hungry enough they will eat the medicated food.

I medicate sick fish in a seperate tank, it's easier to moniter any differences, as well as being easier on the pocket medicating a smaller tank. None of my tanks have live plants, and only a few have substrate. If you have to med your main tank, there is no reason to go tearing it up.

I have gone back & forth on the subject of tank temp when using antibiotics on several occasions in the past. Bacteria multiply more slowly at lower temps, but this also slows the fish's metabolism, which can slow the natural disease fighting process. Raising the tank temp raises the fish's metabolism, making it's natural defenses better at fighting the disease, but also increases the rate that the bacteria multiply at. This being the case, I would leave the temp where you've had it, this is probably what the fish is most comfortable at.

*Edited for me only half answering! *

Tolak said:

Tetracycline breaks down, usually within 48 hours. This is common with many, but not all fish medications. Some, like metronidazole, will break down in as little as 8 hours, while copper treatments don't break down at all.

The fish may be put off by the taste a little. I've found that even if they mouth it & spit it out they start to show an improvement. Once they get hungry enough they will eat the medicated food.

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Excellent info. tanks again Tolak.

Sorry for the half answer edit, dog started squeaking for a biscuit.

Tolak said:

Sorry for the half answer edit, dog started squeaking for a biscuit.

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no worries, Tolak, thanks for the help.

With only one angel and one tetra in my 29g , how do you feel about 30% changes instead of 50%? I have always found that a 50% changes killed any fry I am raising thus; it must be stressful on fully grown fish?

You could probably get by fine with 30%, I've read between 25% to 50% from different pharmaceutical suppliers for the same meds. Part of the problem with fry dying with larger water changes may be the water conditioner you are using, and any seasonal treatment fluctuations from your water supplier.

A fellow club member who has been breeding angels a lot longer than I have was having die off problems with water changes. He was changing 50% weekly, and loosing several fry after each change. We are both on the same water supply, I was changing my usual 50% to 80% without any problem.

In the winter months, they add more chlorine & chloramine to the water here, along with additional buffers. This is due to less water usage, and some runoff from road salt. He was using Novaqua, a product that deals with chlorine & chloramine, but does nothing to ammonia. Chloramine is a combination of chlorine & ammonia, if you have nothing to neutralize the ammonia, you will get a spike that isn't anything to worry about with lesser amounts of chloramine, but can get pretty severe if they jack up the chloramine. I have been using Prime for years, a product that also neutralizes ammonia. In the winter, or after a period of heavy rain, I double dose with Prime.

I gave him a couple of ounces to try, we swap stuff back & forth on a regular basis. He didn't lose a single fish after that, soon after we split a 2 liter bottle. Everything has been fine ever since, so you may want to look into what you are using, or increase the amount. I change 50% daily on freeswimming fry, and rarely lose more than 10% in the first few weeks. After 2 or 3 weeks they get transferred to a larger tank, with 50% once or twice a week, depending on tank & spawn size.

I do use prime and I calculated how much to use based on the cities lab water results and my own chlorine/chloramine strips; then I add about 25% extra just to be safe. I also add 80% more durring heavy rains or spring snow melt. I ensure that the water temp is within 0.5 degress C with my "show" tanks and within 0.2 C with my breeding tank. so Im not sure...

My angel fish is getting WORSE! I have had the worst luck possible: I live in Canada and its not hot very often. It was just 30C+ for three days and the tank Im treating my angel in went to 28.3C; so the columbnaris got a bit worse.

My parents had all my room fans and they were on holidays so I couldn’t get them, I am now using a room fan to SLOWLY cool my treatment tank to 24-25 degrees (I read this was important for treating columbnaris).

I read allot about it and many suggested to use salt and antibiotics, is this a good plan?

I have aquarium salt, now I am just using tetracycline.

Try to get a small fan to blow across the surface of the tank, this will cool it best. I rarely use aquarium salt with angels, others swear by it, if they look a little off, they get a scoop of salt. I don't see how it could hurt.

BTW, if you could post a pic, it may help. Another possibility is that it may be a resistant strain. I'll look into alternatives & get back to you.

Tolak said:

Try to get a small fan to blow across the surface of the tank, this will cool it best. I rarely use aquarium salt with angels, others swear by it, if they look a little off, they get a scoop of salt. I don't see how it could hurt.

BTW, if you could post a pic, it may help. Another possibility is that it may be a resistant strain. I'll look into alternatives & get back to you.

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Some more info:

The angel eats and seems fine, but "she" is a bit slower than usual...

She wont eat food with tetracyclene in it, Im tyring to use a lower dose in the food to see if that helps...Is there some gralic stuff that can help?