Use Of Penbritin Capsules

[Nini]

Hi all,

I wonder is anyone can confirm with me that Penbritin Capsules are safe to use for the treatment of fungus/cotton mouth in tropical fish? This was advice given to me by a petshop. I am struggling to get rid of this contagious pest in my tank and it has now struck my 2 beautiful Angelfish (a dark Angel and a Zebra Angel) who are prized specimens and I am willing to resort to drastic measures to save them. I am going to try Waterlifes, Protozin medication tonight, (also advised to me by the people at the petshop) I am just carbon filtering my tank for today, as I have been using Marltons Bacterial cure since Saturday (also under advice from people) and do not want the medicines reacting against each other or overdosing my beautiful fish. I also have corydoras species in my tank ( 1 pepper, 1 bronze, 2 Albino, 2 Julii), a flying fox, a Raphael catfish, and a Mystus catfish as well as 2 silver dollars and 1 congo tetra (his mate died about a month ago from cotton mouth), and 2 glass cats. I have excellent filtration and aeration in my tank and do regular water changes. I do not overfeed etc and in general am a seasoned fish keeper BUT NOT A PRO! I have disinfected nets etc, but I don't use my nets a lot as I do not bother my fish, and generally leave them alone. I'm at my wits end and don't want anymore deaths in my tank. I know from what I have read that it is best to just get rid of the sick fish, but I can't and am willing to do what I can to save them. Any and all advice will be appreciated, as I feel my poor fish shouldn't have to continually go through all this treatment. There must be something out there to nip this in the bud. Thank you all!!!

 

[Nini]

Hi all,

I wonder is anyone can confirm with me that Penbritin Capsules are safe to use for the treatment of fungus/cotton mouth in tropical fish? This was advice given to me by a petshop. I am struggling to get rid of this contagious pest in my tank and it has now struck my 2 beautiful Angelfish (a dark Angel and a Zebra Angel) who are prized specimens and I am willing to resort to drastic measures to save them. I am going to try Waterlifes, Protozin medication tonight, (also advised to me by the people at the petshop) I am just carbon filtering my tank for today, as I have been using Marltons Bacterial cure since Saturday (also under advice from people) and do not want the medicines reacting against each other or overdosing my beautiful fish. I also have corydoras species in my tank ( 1 pepper, 1 bronze, 2 Albino, 2 Julii), a flying fox, a Raphael catfish, and a Mystus catfish as well as 2 silver dollars and 1 congo tetra (his mate died about a month ago from cotton mouth), and 2 glass cats. I have excellent filtration and aeration in my tank and do regular water changes. I do not overfeed etc and in general am a seasoned fish keeper BUT NOT A PRO! I have disinfected nets etc, but I don't use my nets a lot as I do not bother my fish, and generally leave them alone. I'm at my wits end and don't want anymore deaths in my tank. I know from what I have read that it is best to just get rid of the sick fish, but I can't and am willing to do what I can to save them. Any and all advice will be appreciated, as I feel my poor fish shouldn't have to continually go through all this treatment. There must be something out there to nip this in the bud. Thank you all!!!

P.S: I did lower my tank temperature on Saturday to 25 degrees so as not to encourage anymore fungal growth and all the fish still seem very happy. Also, although the Angel is covered in fungus, he is still very very active, and eating like a little pig actually, so are all the other fish. I have also stopped feeding the frozen bloodworm I had, as all this seems to have started with the last packet I brought, even though I feed the fish sparingly with it and do regular water changes. I suspect the disease my have been triggered by the bloodworm, although I'm not entirely sure this is possible.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Nini

Welcome to the forum!

I'll move your thread to the Emergency section where it is likely to be read by more members who might be familiar with this product.

 

[Nini]

Hi Nini

Welcome to the forum!

I'll move your thread to the Emergency section where it is likely to be read by more members who might be familiar with this product.

Thank you!! I'm new so it's great to know people will help!!

 

[WILDER]

Never heard of the med i'm afraid. If its not for fish I wouldn't risk using it.

For columnaris in the uk myxazin by waterlife and pimafix.


COLUMNARIS
The hospital tank should be heated to approx. 74 degrees. 76 and above is the ideal breeding temperature for columnaris. Though there is some dispute over lowering the temperature, my experience has been that 72 is too low for the medication to work rapidly, 76+ causes the disease to breed more rapidly than the anti-biotic can kill, and 74 is "just right." Remember to keep this temperature stable!

 

[Nini]

Never heard of the med i'm afraid. If its not for fish I wouldn't risk using it.

For columnaris in the uk myxazin by waterlife and pimafix.


COLUMNARIS
The hospital tank should be heated to approx. 74 degrees. 76 and above is the ideal breeding temperature for columnaris. Though there is some dispute over lowering the temperature, my experience has been that 72 is too low for the medication to work rapidly, 76+ causes the disease to breed more rapidly than the anti-biotic can kill, and 74 is "just right." Remember to keep this temperature stable!

Thanks so much,for the advice. Oh I'm in South Africa by the way. Penbritin is a type of antibiotic (for humans) but have been told you can use it in the fish tanks (also for dogs etc), but I'm with you on that one, don't use it if it is not for the fish. I will try and find Myxazin because if I could get Waterlifes Protozin then I'm sure I can find the Myxazin somewhere. I must say, I worked at a Pets@Home in the UK a few years back (I'm actually a UK citizen), and UK pet shops really do have a better variety of meds and food for all fish. Our pet shops here suck, have to go to about 4 different ones every time just to get all the basic food for my fish and when sickness hits like now, it's impossible to find exactly the right meds. But I'm afraid by this morning my beautiful Angel's tail has started fraying on the edges and not in a good way, slight whitening on the edges. But he is still very active and eating very well. And my tank is stable on 74 degrees, have 2 thermometers on different sides so I can make sure it's keeping a constant temp. Unfortunately I do not have a hospital tank stupid I know, but my place too small, but I'm moving end of month then I will invest in one, as I can see the benefits of one now especially as I am losing prize fish. Will keep you posted.

 

[Tolak]

It's ampicillin trihydrate, and is safe for fish. Treats gram positive & some gram negative bacteria. I would go by the dosage suggested by the shop for now, if it has been working for them. Antibiotics generally work best when mixed with food, if mixed with water a daily 50% water change & redose is suggested.

 

[Nini]

It's ampicillin trihydrate, and is safe for fish. Treats gram positive & some gram negative bacteria. I would go by the dosage suggested by the shop for now, if it has been working for them. Antibiotics generally work best when mixed with food, if mixed with water a daily 50% water change & redose is suggested.

Awesome, thank you. I think what I will do is just see if the fish come right with "fish" medicines, but if no improvement in the next 5 days maximum, I will go search for the antibiotic. Our chemists are very strict and I'm not sure if I will get it over the counter without a script. Do you think anything containing Ampicillin Trihydrate will work? The pet shop said 1 capsule Penbritin per 45 liters, so I'm thinking 1.5 capsules as I don't want to overdose and I'm just compensating for displacement and air space in my 3ft tank. Also, won't a 50% water change everyday stress the fish out more and cause new tank syndrome by removing too much good bacteria? I do have Bio Vital, but I'm not sure if I can dose them with it everyday and still treat with medicine. What do you guys think? I just don't want to freak these guys out anymore than necessary and it's probably my own fault for not having a hospital tank but I have never in all my years had problems with my fish so never thought it necessary. Boy was I wrong!! I will see if I can post some pictures in the next couple of days of my beauties and you will see why I'm freaking out. Oh well, we all learn by trail and error.

 

[Tolak]

This question intrigued me, so I looked into it a little further. Amoxicillin is more commonly used than ampicillin, and from looking through a few books late last night I did find a dosage rate for mixing in food, but none for a long term bath; medicating in the tank. The feed mix was for ampicillin sodium, which is slightly different from ampicillin trihydrate.

Herwig's Manual of Fish Pharmacology got me the generic ingredient's but neither Herwig's nor Noga's references had anything about a long term bath. I had to wait until today to make a call to National Fish Pharmacy, talked to a chemist. For a long term bath the dosage rate is 250 mg/10 gallons of water, daily 50% water change & redose. Continue for 10 days. This gets scribbled in the margin of Herzog's book, my most often used reference.

Don't be concerned with the water change amount, the water in your tank holds no beneficial bacteria, and has nothing to do with cycling. Your filter media holds your nitrifying bacteria, in a mature tank you can do as large a water change as you like provided the replacement water matched within reason the water removed. I don't bother doing anything less than a 50% water change on my tanks. There is no such thing as cycled water, or a cycled tank, the filter media, which holds the nitrifying bacteria, is what cycles.

Another reason for large water changes when medicating, especially with antibiotics, is that many antibiotics will affect the nitrifying bacteria in your filter. This means risking cycling issues with the tank when you are done treating if you don't use a separate medication tank.

Thank you for the question, I learned something today, and BTW, welcome to TFF!

 

[Nini]

This question intrigued me, so I looked into it a little further. Amoxicillin is more commonly used than ampicillin, and from looking through a few books late last night I did find a dosage rate for mixing in food, but none for a long term bath; medicating in the tank. The feed mix was for ampicillin sodium, which is slightly different from ampicillin trihydrate.

Herwig's Manual of Fish Pharmacology got me the generic ingredient's but neither Herwig's nor Noga's references had anything about a long term bath. I had to wait until today to make a call to National Fish Pharmacy, talked to a chemist. For a long term bath the dosage rate is 250 mg/10 gallons of water, daily 50% water change & redose. Continue for 10 days. This gets scribbled in the margin of Herzog's book, my most often used reference.

Don't be concerned with the water change amount, the water in your tank holds no beneficial bacteria, and has nothing to do with cycling. Your filter media holds your nitrifying bacteria, in a mature tank you can do as large a water change as you like provided the replacement water matched within reason the water removed. I don't bother doing anything less than a 50% water change on my tanks. There is no such thing as cycled water, or a cycled tank, the filter media, which holds the nitrifying bacteria, is what cycles.

Another reason for large water changes when medicating, especially with antibiotics, is that many antibiotics will affect the nitrifying bacteria in your filter. This means risking cycling issues with the tank when you are done treating if you don't use a separate medication tank.

Thank you for the question, I learned something today, and BTW, welcome to TFF!

Hi again,

thanks so much for the welcome. I am new to the business of forums and in that regards suck when it comes to the general knowledge of etiquette hahaha. Sorry about that. Let me make it up by saying HELLO EVERYONE!!

Thank you so much for your advice!! I only managed to get back on the net now. I'm afraid the area I live in sucks as half the people don't have a clue what I'm asking for in regards to the medications you mentioned, or even having them as active ingrediants-what brands would find them in, or what medications, maybe I should try that approach instead. I have one place that will try and get hold of Waterlifes Myxazin for me, thats about the best I can do now. As I'm afraid the Protozin is not helping and the fungus seems to be flourishing rather than backing off. I wouldn't mind chucking in a handful of salt but my catfish and corys are not going to love me for that. If all else fails I will have to put "Angelus" down and Darla will lose her beautiful friend. But I don't wanna!!! The only thing I have noticed is the fungus has cleared up ever so slightly on and around the mouth but on the pectoral fin it is packing on and there are some "fluffy" spots here and there on his body, which are hard to miss as he is so black in colouration. But once again, he is swimming around and eating well, my water quality is good for a tank running 3 days with no carbon in the internal filters.But mind you I don't over feed and have alot of piggy's swimming on the bottom that eat anything that even looks like food. Am I perhaps being too hasty in wanting a result now? Must a wait a few days more? I have to dose again on day 6 according to the instructions, today is day 3. I unfortunately do expect a miracle of sorts, especially for the exorbitant price I paid in South Africa for this medication. Let me know what you think, as I am keeping all the information you supply on a word document, I'm compiling my own home fish encyclopaedia hahaha!! I find you can never know enough! Thanks again. EEEuuuuww hang on................. I just noticed Darla eating the white fungus off of Angelus hmmmm is she not making the problem worse now!! W.T.-!!! Is she trying to clean it off of him or what, just nipping him??? Ok that was positively weird. I only noticed it now because the PC screen is next to the tank and they are in this corner, watching me. Any ideas? Anyways, thankyou. have a great day.